We woke early today ate breakfast at Topsiders and arrived in the Walt Disney Theater at 7:30 am to pick up tender tickets. We opted to book our own excursion to swim with the Stingrays here, so we had to get the tickets. Oh, look, there's Mailman again; he and his friend are going diving. The whole ticket for tender process was painless and we arrived on the pier at 8 am.
We found the gentleman with the "Nativeway Watersports" sign, and he said that the waters were a bit rough yet, but should be clearing; we should meet him back at the pier at 9:45. No problem, Jim (DH) was itching to shop. The kids and I explored the Del Sol store (very fun), and Jim managed to find the watch of his dreams for a good price.
Returning to the designated spot for our meeting with Nativeway we met Mississaguamom and family. The Disney excursion for swimming with the stingrays was cancelled due to rough waters, so they came ashore and found the Nativeway rep. Both of our darling daughters quickly bonded and played while we waited a bit more. In the shuttle van they were inseparable.
We arrived at the boat and met Mark and Alan, our guides for the trip. So far it is just my little family and our Mississagua friends. The boat was 32 foot with a flying bridge. The kids got to ride up top with Alan on the way out. Part way out of the channel we ran across a roughly 18 foot boat filled to the brim with about 8 people plus a guide. He was one of the people at the dock promising the stingray city tour, but his craft had stalled and was drifting in the channel. Mark and Alan towed it back to the dock and took the passengers instead. I would not reccomend taking a tour with anyone other than those names you've seen on this board (Nativeway, Capt Marvins, Capt Bryans). What these people were stuck on wasn't pretty.
It was a beautiful ride across the bay to the sandbar. Waters turquoise and then darker, depending on depth, but clear as a bell. There were about 7 boats already at the sandbar, and Mark and Alan anchored us on the edge. We suited up with snorkels, masks and life jackets and jumped in with the stingrays. There was a short swim from the boat to the sandbar, during which my DD6, Sammy, dunked me pretty well, before I got her swimming on her own. My DS9, Austin, turned out to be terrified of the stingrays and wouldn't go in the water. So he just watched from the boat. We pet the fascinating creatures and discovered they feel just like wet mushrooms; slick and slimy. My DH Jim got to hold one and said they were like funny shaped dogs, very gentle. The waves made it a little tough to do the "stingray shuffle" (not pick up your feet), but we managed well enough. Sammy was tickled to learn that the "baby" stingray was really the male; he was just one third the size of the female and a light grey color. We had about half an hour in the water and then packed up our crowd. A few minutes later we were at the Coral Gardens and stopped to snorkel. Austin got out here and snorkeled a bit with Jim, I was glad he'd tried it. I helped Sammy snorkel for a few mintues, but she got tired and went back up on the boat, so I got to snorkel some on my own. It was amazing. The water was about 15 feet deep and the fish were everywhere. Mark was sitting on the back of the boat throwing bits of squid in the water, so it was no wonder the fish were swarming about. Wow, the fish are so colorful and beautiful, I feel like I'm swimming in a giant aquarium.
We said goodbye to the coral gardens and set off back across the bay. Near the entrance to the channels back to the dock, Mark slowed to show us Sylvester Stallone's little beach house. Jim was pretty sure that Sly's cannon would be a functional one, as opposed to all the decorative ones we'd seen. He wasn't out taking aim at us or anything so we returned to the dock and thanked our guides profusely for a wonderful time. A quick shuttle back to the pier and it was only about 1:30.
Sammy and Lara (little miss mississagua) parted reluctantly and we set off on our separate ways again. We stopped to buy the kids some cute plush stingrays and turtles (we just don't see those at home). When we went back to the pier we saw a huge line, but upon closer inspection, this was for a different ship. The Disney tender didn't have a line, it had a nice fellow serving punch, which was wonderful because by now we were thirsty and slightly sun burned (me, not the kids). The day had turned out to be partly cloudy and very nice (80 or so degrees). After a short tender ride, we were back on the ship and had pizza and cheeseburgers at Pinnochios and Plutos.
Austin went back to the Lab for a soap derby-he carved a piece of soap and put wheels on it and raced to fourth place. Jim checked out Bingo while Sammy and I relaxed for a bit.
After rounding up the family again we made it to Lumiere's just in time. I had quesedeas appetizer, lobster bisque, then baked salmon for the entre, yum. Several bites from an assortment of desserts finished off the meal (pudding, apple pie, ice cream sundae, strawberry shortcake...)
Stopped by Shutters, and so did everyone else. They had been closed most of the day since we were in port, so everyone wanted to check them out after dinner, crazy. Austin escaped back to the lab until about midnight.
Jim, Sammy and I went to the show, Hercules the Muse-ical. It was very funny. I had a small panic attack after the show thinking I'd lost the pager; fortunately it was in the room (Austin hadn't tried to page me). We ran into some princesses and got Sammy's picture taken with them. There was also a formal portrait opportunity with Lilo and Stitch. They let me take my own photo of them, so we didn't buy this portrait.
Jim managed to do two loads of laundry between 11 and 12:30 am, we were running low on a few things. Proximity to the laundry room is not a bad thing. Picked Austin up at midnight, he was watching a movie.
Another fantastic day, we could hardly sleep because tomorrow was Cozumel!!
We found the gentleman with the "Nativeway Watersports" sign, and he said that the waters were a bit rough yet, but should be clearing; we should meet him back at the pier at 9:45. No problem, Jim (DH) was itching to shop. The kids and I explored the Del Sol store (very fun), and Jim managed to find the watch of his dreams for a good price.
Returning to the designated spot for our meeting with Nativeway we met Mississaguamom and family. The Disney excursion for swimming with the stingrays was cancelled due to rough waters, so they came ashore and found the Nativeway rep. Both of our darling daughters quickly bonded and played while we waited a bit more. In the shuttle van they were inseparable.
We arrived at the boat and met Mark and Alan, our guides for the trip. So far it is just my little family and our Mississagua friends. The boat was 32 foot with a flying bridge. The kids got to ride up top with Alan on the way out. Part way out of the channel we ran across a roughly 18 foot boat filled to the brim with about 8 people plus a guide. He was one of the people at the dock promising the stingray city tour, but his craft had stalled and was drifting in the channel. Mark and Alan towed it back to the dock and took the passengers instead. I would not reccomend taking a tour with anyone other than those names you've seen on this board (Nativeway, Capt Marvins, Capt Bryans). What these people were stuck on wasn't pretty.
It was a beautiful ride across the bay to the sandbar. Waters turquoise and then darker, depending on depth, but clear as a bell. There were about 7 boats already at the sandbar, and Mark and Alan anchored us on the edge. We suited up with snorkels, masks and life jackets and jumped in with the stingrays. There was a short swim from the boat to the sandbar, during which my DD6, Sammy, dunked me pretty well, before I got her swimming on her own. My DS9, Austin, turned out to be terrified of the stingrays and wouldn't go in the water. So he just watched from the boat. We pet the fascinating creatures and discovered they feel just like wet mushrooms; slick and slimy. My DH Jim got to hold one and said they were like funny shaped dogs, very gentle. The waves made it a little tough to do the "stingray shuffle" (not pick up your feet), but we managed well enough. Sammy was tickled to learn that the "baby" stingray was really the male; he was just one third the size of the female and a light grey color. We had about half an hour in the water and then packed up our crowd. A few minutes later we were at the Coral Gardens and stopped to snorkel. Austin got out here and snorkeled a bit with Jim, I was glad he'd tried it. I helped Sammy snorkel for a few mintues, but she got tired and went back up on the boat, so I got to snorkel some on my own. It was amazing. The water was about 15 feet deep and the fish were everywhere. Mark was sitting on the back of the boat throwing bits of squid in the water, so it was no wonder the fish were swarming about. Wow, the fish are so colorful and beautiful, I feel like I'm swimming in a giant aquarium.
We said goodbye to the coral gardens and set off back across the bay. Near the entrance to the channels back to the dock, Mark slowed to show us Sylvester Stallone's little beach house. Jim was pretty sure that Sly's cannon would be a functional one, as opposed to all the decorative ones we'd seen. He wasn't out taking aim at us or anything so we returned to the dock and thanked our guides profusely for a wonderful time. A quick shuttle back to the pier and it was only about 1:30.
Sammy and Lara (little miss mississagua) parted reluctantly and we set off on our separate ways again. We stopped to buy the kids some cute plush stingrays and turtles (we just don't see those at home). When we went back to the pier we saw a huge line, but upon closer inspection, this was for a different ship. The Disney tender didn't have a line, it had a nice fellow serving punch, which was wonderful because by now we were thirsty and slightly sun burned (me, not the kids). The day had turned out to be partly cloudy and very nice (80 or so degrees). After a short tender ride, we were back on the ship and had pizza and cheeseburgers at Pinnochios and Plutos.
Austin went back to the Lab for a soap derby-he carved a piece of soap and put wheels on it and raced to fourth place. Jim checked out Bingo while Sammy and I relaxed for a bit.
After rounding up the family again we made it to Lumiere's just in time. I had quesedeas appetizer, lobster bisque, then baked salmon for the entre, yum. Several bites from an assortment of desserts finished off the meal (pudding, apple pie, ice cream sundae, strawberry shortcake...)
Stopped by Shutters, and so did everyone else. They had been closed most of the day since we were in port, so everyone wanted to check them out after dinner, crazy. Austin escaped back to the lab until about midnight.
Jim, Sammy and I went to the show, Hercules the Muse-ical. It was very funny. I had a small panic attack after the show thinking I'd lost the pager; fortunately it was in the room (Austin hadn't tried to page me). We ran into some princesses and got Sammy's picture taken with them. There was also a formal portrait opportunity with Lilo and Stitch. They let me take my own photo of them, so we didn't buy this portrait.
Jim managed to do two loads of laundry between 11 and 12:30 am, we were running low on a few things. Proximity to the laundry room is not a bad thing. Picked Austin up at midnight, he was watching a movie.
Another fantastic day, we could hardly sleep because tomorrow was Cozumel!!
. I'll have to ask him.
