Our first cruise ever- 4 "Wonder"ful nights!-part 3

[oklamomof4boys]

Castaway Cay-the day we had been looking forward to. we got up early enough to make sure we were off the boat right when we docked. The island was beautiful! As recommended here, we did our shopping first and had it sent back to the boat and then went snorkeling. We had been practicing snorkeling in the pool in our backyard. What we didn't count on was how much the salt water would bother the boys. DS8 never adjusted to it and only snorkeled for a bit- at least he did get to see a few fish. So I headed back to hte beach with him while the others snorkeled. They were able to see the sunken Mickey. I was disappointed that I didn't get to snorkel much, but DH said he'd go back out with me later. DS8 and I built a sand castle while the others were still in the water. Soon it was time for lunch. I wasn't really impressed with the food, but it was okay. After lunch, the boys wanted to try smoothies-they all insisted on having their own ( it was their own money so I couldn't really argue). None of them liked it, but they all liked their coconut cups. DH then took all the boys on the scavenger hunt while I laid out on the beach with DF, her husband and DD17. Then the storms started moving in. We kept thinking maybe it would go around us, but it didn't. They said we had to get off the beach so I packed up all our stuff and waited for DH to get back with the boys. DF and her DD went to the post office to mail our postcards while I waited with her DH for the rest. When they finally got to us, the storm was there. we tried to go back to the boat but the CMs said, " There is already a long line to get on the boat. They are not all going to get on before it starts really storming. You can go to the boat and ride the storm outside the boat or stay here under the shelters that have lightening rods on top." We decided to stay. We were b y the shelter by the children's play area- not very big for a lot of people. The lightening was very close-some even thought some hit our lightening rod. Not sure if it did, but it was close-we could even smell the burning. It was scary, but the CMs were very comforting and it was obvious that they were taking every precaution for our safety. It seemed to take forever for the storm to pass but finally we did. I was glad to be back on the boat, but sad to leave Castaway Cay early- I never got to go back snorkeling.

We all showered and got ready for Pirate night. I had convinced everybody to dress up. As we left our staterooms and went to the dining rooms, we saw absolutely nobody dressed up! I was very uncomfortable but DF is much more outgoing than I am and she convinced me it was fine. We did finally see a FEW people dressed up. We were at AP again, and once again the meal was wonderful- as were our servers. We went to the Golden Mickey's after dinner- not as good as Hercules- and then headed to the pirate party. It was a bit disappointing, I thought. Very similar to the sail away party for most of it-I could have waited and just seen the fireworks. B ut some of the boys really enjoyed dancing and they had fun-they had lightened up quite a bit since the sailaway party. But it was very hot. DS10 had on a satin shirt and black pants and he was very hot. After the fireworks, DS8 was worn out so I took him back to the room. I never even saw the buffet. I told DH if anything looked good to bring me something, but he said nothing really impressed him. After the party, DH took DS 10 and 12 and DF's DS12 to the late Pirate movie. We were all dead tired by the time we finally fell into bed.