Castaway scare

[tross]

We're just back from 3/14 Wonder and had a wonderful time. I thought I would share something from our day at Castaway.

We went snorkeling with our 3 DS 7, 10 and 12. We had just made it to the Mickey when the lifeguards outs on the platforms in the water stood and started saying something through their horns. Though a strong swimmer my 7 yr old paniced and said he heard "wild shark - go ashore now." He practically drowned me with his arms around my neck crying for me to get him in. All I could make out clearly was the ..go ashore now." I managed to get over to the lifeguard clearly enough to hear "wild teen excursion..go ashore now." By that time even when I got my DS7 to understand what the lifeguard said he was done and wanted to "go ashore now!" I think at that point seeing how far away the shore was worried him just in case there was an emergency. The mickey is pretty far from shore.

Getting back to shore is more difficult than getting out particularly with a child holding on. We have all shared a laugh about it since but I was exhausted when I got him back in. He however was suddenly full of spirit and very grateful to mom.

I think go ashore now might not be the best wording for the lifeguards given the warnings posted on the beach! Castaway is a beautiful place. We were blessed with wonderful weather and I wish I was going back to tomorrow. I would like to get another look at that Mickey as I didn't get a chance to get back out that day.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

do you have any idea of what kid of shark it was? i would really like to know if you do. thanks

 

[tross]

I am sorry if I wasn't very clear there was no shark. My son just thought that was what he heard. We only saw pretty tropical fish.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

ok i know snall sharks make it to the adult beach and have yet to hear of sharks in the kids area. thanks

 

[Penny12]

The family beach is netted in - you shouldn't get large fish of any sort there, let alone sharks

 

[tevagirl]

Your poor son...he must of have been terrified. (But I have to tell you...it did give me a chuckle!)

 

[JJsmama]

I agree. I would not want to be in the ocean with water in my ears and hear, Go Ashore Now through a bullhorn. You should write them and explain the situation and suggest they say something else. They may not know it sounds so scary to a swimmer.

 

[tross]

Tevagirl I am glad you got a chuckle that's why I posted as it had that same affect when we told of our adventures back home.

Penny thanks for the tip about the net. If we are lucky enough to go again I will remind my DS7 of that before he gets in the water.

There is some type of warning board near the pavilion as I remember. That must have been in his subconscious for him to have had the reaction he did. Although there are a lot of people swimming near the shore, if you venture out in the snorkle area as we did there were very few people directly around us.

 

[KathyTX]

This is the Castaway Cay warning sign. It does make you think twice about what you might encounter!

 

[tross]

Kathy,

That's the exact sign my kids pointed out to me! That's so neat that you had the picture. I suppose they have to post something for liability reasons.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

Mu Hubby and I were near the Mickey statue when we encountered 2 huge sea turtles swimming under us. My husband thought it was so neat, I was scared to death!! When you are that far from shore it is easy to panic. We still laugh about me trying to swim away from the turtles.


Teri

 

[KathyTX]

tross, I just HAD to take a picture of that sign. I remember standing and pondering the warning for several minutes, trying to decide whether to proceed to the beach or run back to my safe cabin on the ship!

 

[dzneprincess]

Originally posted by Tluvs2talk
Mu Hubby and I were near the Mickey statue when we encountered 2 huge sea turtles swimming under us. My husband thought it was so neat, I was scared to death!! When you are that far from shore it is easy to panic. We still laugh about me trying to swim away from the turtles.


Teri

Oh wow! That would be sooooooo cool!

 

[BWVDenise]

But if "2 huge sea turtles" could get in, why couldn't sharks? Hmmm....

 

[gamom]

Whenever you are swimming in any ocean or sea you risk running into sea creatures. Not even the Mouse can protect you from that. However, the risk is extremely low, and even if you see a shark, chances are he'll just swim right by. There are only a handful of shark attacks worldwide each year. Thousands are killed in automobiles. You should be more afraid to get in your car. I do agree that they need to change thier alert system for the teens. They should be trained like pilots to talk calmly.

 

[Tluvs2talk]

Thr turtles were very cool but a little scary being so close we could touch them. The lifeguard said she had never seen any turtles there before so it was neat.


Teri

 

[ADisneygirl]

That was a funny story about how we can easily misinterpret things that are said. Sorry for your son getting so scared though.

Let me tell you something about those "nets" around the snorkeling area. We have been to the island twice, and it was on our second trip when this occured. We left the ship early because we didn't want to get to the snorkling area after a lot of people had already been there. On our first cruise we got out there about 11:30 and all that motion stirs up the sand on the bottom making it nearly impossible to see anything.

Well, we were one of the first people venturing out into the water on our second trip. The water was amazingly clear, even by the shoreline. We are strong swimmers, and planned on seeing all we could see out there. All the way to the far end of the "net" area is quite a distance from shore when you are in a hurry. And I was in a hurry that day because way out near the net we saw a baracuda. All I remember was seeing my husband waving his hand at me, trying to get me to swim the other way. I saw that fish and I turned around and swam as fast as I could. I just remember all the bubbles and I remember swallowing salt water because I kept turning my head to look behind me and all that turning tipped my snorkle breathing tube under water over and over! hahahahaha

Afterwards, we laughed about how scared we were. Well, I was scared anyway. But the moral of this story is that there may very well be a few dangerous fish out there. Disney can't keep everything out all the time. All I kept picturing about that net was a bunch of hungry fish and sharks holding knives and forks while looking through.