Day 3
I was awake at about 4:00AM, but managed to go back to sleep after a little while. We both woke up just before 6:00AM. We got up and got ready. I packed our bag with the stuff that we needed for our excursion. We then decided to go up to deck 9 to get something to drink and to pick up some towels. It was raining, which did not fill me with joy. Still, for the most part we would be in the water anyway so it did not matter too much if it was wet. Of course this threw the first part of the plan in doubt. As we were heading to the drink station, I noticed that Goofys Galley was open and serving breakfast. We decided that we may as well have a bite to eat as they were still tying up the ship anyway. Graham had a Cinnamon and Raisin Swirl, a Pineapple Pinwheel and a Banana. I had a slice of Cheese Lattice and a slice of Cherry Lattice. I was delighted when I spotted some Mango Mountain Hike Smoothies that are normally only available at Tritons. So I had one of those, too. It was a bit thicker than at Tritons, but that made it even more delicious.
After breakfast, we took the towels back to the cabin and I put them in our bag. We grabbed our cameras and decided to check if there was indication yet where the gangway would be. There was no sign on our deck so we walked up to deck 3. It turned out that they only had the aft gangway on deck 1 open. We made our way there and fortunately even though we had not had the announcement that the ship had been cleared, they let people off. We touched our Key to the World cards against the reader and we were on our way. Fortunately it had stopped raining by then. Pretty much as soon as we were off the ship, we saw a kiosk for Fury Water Adventures. We had booked our excursion through this company. When we were having breakfast, we saw a catamaran in their colours moored right across the ship. In the instructions, it had mentioned that they are based in the marina for the Westin resort. However, I could not see any evidence of this resort. So we decided to ask at the kiosk if we were in the right place before heading out. We were and she offered to give us our tickets there and then, but I had left our bag with the voucher back in the cabin, as I did not want to carry this around Key West. She asked us to be back at 9:15 and we were on our way.
We had booked a morning excursion. Originally we had planned to go back to the ship for lunch after the excursion and then walk to the Southernmost Point after lunch. Graham suggested that as we would be awake at the crack of dawn anyway, we should do our walk before the excursion. This sounded like a good idea especially when I heard that later in the day, there would be wall-to-wall people there. So we set off. I had printed off a map and directions, but my chief navigator headed off. This turned out to be a more scenic walk than the one Google Maps had in mind. We ended up cutting through the Little White House complex. We ended up on Duval Street, which runs parallel to the street we were meant to be one. However, it looked like we could just cut across at the end of the road. The map did not quite match what we were seeing, but we figured out how to get to the right place soon enough. We were the only people at the Southernmost Point and we could take photos at our leisure. It was then time to head back and this time round we followed the instructions in reverse. For the most part this was quite straightforward and we make good progress even though we stopped every now and again to take some photos. It only came apart when we arrived where the instructions ended and there was no ship in sight. Instead we seem to have ended up at some sports marina. As it was by then getting close to the time we were supposed to check in and we had to get our stuff from the cabin, Graham decided to go for a run back to the ship. He left me his stuff and advised that I am to keep looking right until I saw the ship. Well, I ran out of road before I saw the ship. I did however spot a fountain that I had taken a photo of earlier, which was part of the Little White House complex. I spotted some other landmarks that I recognized as well and made my way back to the ship. I was nearly back at the port when I finally saw the Wonder.
I did get back to the Fury Water Adventures kiosk with about 5 minutes or so to spare before we were supposed to check in. I was a little worried if Graham had made it to the ship in time, as it was not that obvious where he needed to go. I did not have to worry as he arrived shortly afterwards. We went up to the kiosk to ask if we could check in and were directed to a shop that was nearby. We were quickly checked in and given our tickets and were then directed to a meeting point where we were asked to wait. When I checked for excursions in Key West shortly after we booked, there was nothing that took our fancy. That is why we booked directly with the company. So I was very surprised when there was an excursion group from the ship heading towards the catamaran. There were a number of people waiting at the meeting point, but nobody seemed to come for us so we followed the group from the Wonder. We were in the right place. They took our tickets and told us to pick up our equipment. We had our own snorkel equipment so we just picked up a life vest and then went to find a seat. Once everybody was on board, we set sail. Our captain got into a bit of bother with the Coast Guard. There was some kind of paddle boarding competition going on and he maneuvered us straight through the middle of this. I am not quite sure where else he could have gone. We were offered soft drinks and then we got a briefing on what to expect and some rules. We were advised that the water conditions and visibility at the dive site looked good. Oh, if only this had been the case.
As we were approaching the dive site, we were told to get geared up. We were given two options to get into the water: to jump off the side or to go down the staircase on our backsides. The only way back up was on our backsides via the staircase. Graham did not need any encouragement to jump in. I took a bit longer to get the courage. I was definitely not going to jump off the side. The last time I had jumped off the side of a boat in Hawaii, I ended up swallowing a lot of water and that was only from the side of a Zodiac, which is much closer to the water. There was no way I would jump off the side of the catamaran. The staircase looked none too tempting either, but I had looked forward to this so much and eventually I got my courage to make my way down the staircase. The sea was very rough. I am not a quick swimmer, but I am a fairly strong one and usually can hold my own against a significant current and some biggish waves. So turning into a toy for the ocean was quite a disconcerting experience especially as the sea had not looked or felt that rough from the boat. When a member of the crew noticed that I was thrown about a fair bit, he came to my rescue and told me to hang onto a rope that was spanned across the stern of the boat. The water was a lovely temperature and up to a point, it was great fun bobbing around in the waves while hanging on to the rope. The waves became a little too big for my liking. Graham noticed that I was struggling and signaled one of the crew to help me. We made the way back to the staircase and on the second attempt; I managed to sit down on the furthest step that I could reach. I managed to shuffle up two steps and then a massive wave swept me right off the staircase. It was a minor miracle that I did not swallow any water. I surfaced and the crewmember checked that I was OK. I joked that I normally bounce pretty well. After taking a deep breath, I had another go and this time I managed to get back on boat with no further problems. I was a little shaken up, but settled down soon enough.
Graham came back on the boat not long after this and soon afterwards everybody was back on board. They have a novel way of making sure that they have everybody. We were asked to stand up and hold on to one of the railings of the boat while two crewmembers did a head count. Obviously their figures did not agree, as they had to do it again. Eventually we were on the way back. We were offered beer and wine as well as soft drinks. I had some wine and Graham had a beer. They were then asking for volunteers to help putting the sail up. Graham was very quick to volunteer. He got another beer for his efforts. We sailed back to port. Time flew and soon we were back. We said goodbye to the crew and then walked the few steps back to the ship.