mommytothreeboys
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2007
- Messages
- 3,504
Tuesday May 4, 2010Day 2, CoCo Cay
After retiring to our stateroom early the night before to catch up on some much needed rest, we awoke rested and ready to enjoy our first full vacation day. The first thing I did was to look out our porthole and take a peek at where we were. We had sailed all night and arrived at CoCo Cay, the private island in the Bahamas owned by Royal Caribbean. (Just how one goes about acquiring a Bahamian island, I do not know. But..if someone can tell me, I'm in the market!) As I looked out our porthole, I could indeed see that there was an island in the near distance. There is no place for a large ship to dock on the island, so we had dropped anchor just offshore. There would be small boats (tenders) that would take us to and from the island.
Jeff and I got up and dressed and headed up to the Windjammer Cafe to enjoy our beautiful buffet breakfast. No matter what type of food you enjoy for breakfast, this buffet had it! There was a make your own omelette bar, pancakes, waffles and french toast, cereal and yogurt, fruit, pastries, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes (both hash browns and home fries), biscuits and gravy, oatmeal......I'm sure I am forgetting something, but you get the idea! There was also coffee, tea, water, juices, iced tea, and lemonade. Believe it or not, the coffee was not half bad. I am a coffee addict and my coffee is very important to me! The Windjammer Cafe is surrounded by windows so we could see the gorgeous ocean and the island as we enjoyed our breakfast. What a way to start the day!
Our plan for the day was to snorkel and relax on the beach. We had booked a snorkeling package that included use of snorkel gear for the entire day. As we were eating, the captain came on and announced that the tender service to the island had begun and we were welcome to disembark at any time. I breathed a sigh of relief at this news as I had read that if seas were rough or the wind was not right, the tenders would not be able to get near enough to the ship to get passengers off safely. In this case, we would skip CoCo Cay and head to our next port. I had heard how beautiful CoCo Cay was and I was so looking forward to snorkeling with Jeff. I certainly did not want to miss it!
As we were headed back to our room to pack up for the day, we saw that the lines for the tenders was really long! We decided to pack up our gear (swimsuits, sunscreen, books, iPods, towels, etc.) and head up to the observation deck to take a look around before getting off the ship. It was a gorgeous day and temperatures were supposed to hit 86 degrees. As we were enjoying the view, I said to Jeff, Look honey, we went to bed and woke up in Paradise. It truly was beautiful and I was grateful that we were enjoying this experience together. Here are a few pictures of our little walking tour.
The island of CoCo Cay in the distance
Jeff packed and ready for a day of fun in the sun!
We saw this parasailing boat....Jeff vowed never to do that as it is way too HIGH!
But Green Cat wanted to try!
This is the Norwegian Jewel. Norwegian Cruise Lines has an island just next door to CoCo Cay.
I like the flags...not sure why. LOL!
Finally we made our way down to get in line to head over to the island. I think it was about 9:45 and we were on the boat by 10:00. The line looked long, but they can put 250 people on each boat and there were 2 tenders running. It went fairly quickly. As we were sitting on the tender boat waiting to depart, I took this picture looking UP at the side of the ship. I was trying to get a perspective on its size, but I'm not sure I accomplished that.
Jeff took this picture of my now wind-blown hair!
And Green Cat is waiting patiently to set off!
It took about 10 minutes to make our way from the ship to the docking area at CoCo Cay.
Welcome to beautiful CoCo Cay!
The first order of business was to redeem our snorkel tickets and pick up our gear.
We filled out all the waiver forms and picked up our vest, snorkel, mask, and flippers. They were running a little orientation on the reefs and how to use the equipment, but there was no one else there so we decided to go get changed into our suits first. Then we did our orientation and set off in search of some good lounge chairs on Snorkel Beach!
We found a great spot just under a palm tree....gotta love the view!
Anxious to get into the water and get started, we put on our gear and went right in! The water was a little chillier than I expected, but felt so good! We began our snorkeling adventure by heading out to the reef. They had several areas set up in the snorkeling area. There were 2 reefs, a sunken airplane wreck, and a sunken ship. There was also an area of deeper water where they said we might see rays. Since Jeff had never snorkeled before, we chose to head to the reef first and give him some time to get used to the gear and breathing through his mouth. This was a true test of how well my motion sickness medication was working as well. The seas had been calm so far while on the ship, but snorkeling puts you right in the motion of the ocean. I went snorkeling in Jamaica and ended up feeding the fish for 45 minutes....if you know what I mean! In that case we had taken a boat out to a reef, so there was no escape. This time, I knew that if I began to feel sick, I could just head in to shore, but I still had concerns. Once that seasick feeling hits, it's hard to shake.
It took Jeff a while to feel comfortable with the equipment, but once he did, he was off and running! We saw so many cool, brightly colored fish! We spent about an hour and a half just exploring. At one point, there was a large school of blue colored fish that were in no way afraid of me. For those of you who are new to my Trip Reports, I am NOT A FAN OF FISH! I don't like aquariums nor do I like to eat them. However, snorkeling is a pretty cool experience and I wanted to share it with Jeff, so I endured the fish. He kept telling me that they would swim away from me, that they were afraid of me. LIAR!!! This one particular type of fish would not veer away if you were in the path. They just swam right by and TOUCHED all over me! Oh my goodness, you could have heard me scream back on the ship. They really freaked me out and I did my very best to steer clear of them in the future! We did have an underwater camera, but I haven't picked up the prints yet. When I do, I promise to post pics if any of them turned out at all!
After about an hour and a half of exploring the sea and getting touched by fish, we called it quits and headed back in to enjoy our lounge chairs. We would go back later, but we needed to soak up some sun and do some island exploring. It was so nice to just kick back, close my eyes, and feel the sun on my face knowing I had absolutely nothing that I had to do! Here's Jeff enjoying his lounge time.....
Next we decided to take a walk and check out the rest of the island. There was a barbecue going on and we knew we needed to get food before 2:00 and it was almost 1:00. We took a leisurely, hand-holding stroll around beautiful CoCo Cay. Enjoy it with us......
Our ship off in the distance.
Cool lighthouse, lookout area.
This was the other side of the island, set up for swimmers, not snorkeling.
You can see the little water park area set up in the distance. Lots of cool inflatables!
I'll have to finish up our walk and the rest of our island day in the next update....too many pics in this one! Not to mention that Photobucket is acting up and frustrating me....good time to call it a night!
After retiring to our stateroom early the night before to catch up on some much needed rest, we awoke rested and ready to enjoy our first full vacation day. The first thing I did was to look out our porthole and take a peek at where we were. We had sailed all night and arrived at CoCo Cay, the private island in the Bahamas owned by Royal Caribbean. (Just how one goes about acquiring a Bahamian island, I do not know. But..if someone can tell me, I'm in the market!) As I looked out our porthole, I could indeed see that there was an island in the near distance. There is no place for a large ship to dock on the island, so we had dropped anchor just offshore. There would be small boats (tenders) that would take us to and from the island.
Jeff and I got up and dressed and headed up to the Windjammer Cafe to enjoy our beautiful buffet breakfast. No matter what type of food you enjoy for breakfast, this buffet had it! There was a make your own omelette bar, pancakes, waffles and french toast, cereal and yogurt, fruit, pastries, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes (both hash browns and home fries), biscuits and gravy, oatmeal......I'm sure I am forgetting something, but you get the idea! There was also coffee, tea, water, juices, iced tea, and lemonade. Believe it or not, the coffee was not half bad. I am a coffee addict and my coffee is very important to me! The Windjammer Cafe is surrounded by windows so we could see the gorgeous ocean and the island as we enjoyed our breakfast. What a way to start the day!
Our plan for the day was to snorkel and relax on the beach. We had booked a snorkeling package that included use of snorkel gear for the entire day. As we were eating, the captain came on and announced that the tender service to the island had begun and we were welcome to disembark at any time. I breathed a sigh of relief at this news as I had read that if seas were rough or the wind was not right, the tenders would not be able to get near enough to the ship to get passengers off safely. In this case, we would skip CoCo Cay and head to our next port. I had heard how beautiful CoCo Cay was and I was so looking forward to snorkeling with Jeff. I certainly did not want to miss it!
As we were headed back to our room to pack up for the day, we saw that the lines for the tenders was really long! We decided to pack up our gear (swimsuits, sunscreen, books, iPods, towels, etc.) and head up to the observation deck to take a look around before getting off the ship. It was a gorgeous day and temperatures were supposed to hit 86 degrees. As we were enjoying the view, I said to Jeff, Look honey, we went to bed and woke up in Paradise. It truly was beautiful and I was grateful that we were enjoying this experience together. Here are a few pictures of our little walking tour.
The island of CoCo Cay in the distance
Jeff packed and ready for a day of fun in the sun!
We saw this parasailing boat....Jeff vowed never to do that as it is way too HIGH!
But Green Cat wanted to try!
This is the Norwegian Jewel. Norwegian Cruise Lines has an island just next door to CoCo Cay.
I like the flags...not sure why. LOL!
Finally we made our way down to get in line to head over to the island. I think it was about 9:45 and we were on the boat by 10:00. The line looked long, but they can put 250 people on each boat and there were 2 tenders running. It went fairly quickly. As we were sitting on the tender boat waiting to depart, I took this picture looking UP at the side of the ship. I was trying to get a perspective on its size, but I'm not sure I accomplished that.
Jeff took this picture of my now wind-blown hair!
And Green Cat is waiting patiently to set off!
It took about 10 minutes to make our way from the ship to the docking area at CoCo Cay.
Welcome to beautiful CoCo Cay!
The first order of business was to redeem our snorkel tickets and pick up our gear.
We filled out all the waiver forms and picked up our vest, snorkel, mask, and flippers. They were running a little orientation on the reefs and how to use the equipment, but there was no one else there so we decided to go get changed into our suits first. Then we did our orientation and set off in search of some good lounge chairs on Snorkel Beach!
We found a great spot just under a palm tree....gotta love the view!
Anxious to get into the water and get started, we put on our gear and went right in! The water was a little chillier than I expected, but felt so good! We began our snorkeling adventure by heading out to the reef. They had several areas set up in the snorkeling area. There were 2 reefs, a sunken airplane wreck, and a sunken ship. There was also an area of deeper water where they said we might see rays. Since Jeff had never snorkeled before, we chose to head to the reef first and give him some time to get used to the gear and breathing through his mouth. This was a true test of how well my motion sickness medication was working as well. The seas had been calm so far while on the ship, but snorkeling puts you right in the motion of the ocean. I went snorkeling in Jamaica and ended up feeding the fish for 45 minutes....if you know what I mean! In that case we had taken a boat out to a reef, so there was no escape. This time, I knew that if I began to feel sick, I could just head in to shore, but I still had concerns. Once that seasick feeling hits, it's hard to shake.
It took Jeff a while to feel comfortable with the equipment, but once he did, he was off and running! We saw so many cool, brightly colored fish! We spent about an hour and a half just exploring. At one point, there was a large school of blue colored fish that were in no way afraid of me. For those of you who are new to my Trip Reports, I am NOT A FAN OF FISH! I don't like aquariums nor do I like to eat them. However, snorkeling is a pretty cool experience and I wanted to share it with Jeff, so I endured the fish. He kept telling me that they would swim away from me, that they were afraid of me. LIAR!!! This one particular type of fish would not veer away if you were in the path. They just swam right by and TOUCHED all over me! Oh my goodness, you could have heard me scream back on the ship. They really freaked me out and I did my very best to steer clear of them in the future! We did have an underwater camera, but I haven't picked up the prints yet. When I do, I promise to post pics if any of them turned out at all!
After about an hour and a half of exploring the sea and getting touched by fish, we called it quits and headed back in to enjoy our lounge chairs. We would go back later, but we needed to soak up some sun and do some island exploring. It was so nice to just kick back, close my eyes, and feel the sun on my face knowing I had absolutely nothing that I had to do! Here's Jeff enjoying his lounge time.....
Next we decided to take a walk and check out the rest of the island. There was a barbecue going on and we knew we needed to get food before 2:00 and it was almost 1:00. We took a leisurely, hand-holding stroll around beautiful CoCo Cay. Enjoy it with us......
Our ship off in the distance.
Cool lighthouse, lookout area.
This was the other side of the island, set up for swimmers, not snorkeling.
You can see the little water park area set up in the distance. Lots of cool inflatables!
I'll have to finish up our walk and the rest of our island day in the next update....too many pics in this one! Not to mention that Photobucket is acting up and frustrating me....good time to call it a night!
OMG!
:
Connie
I love your beach cover up - so pretty! 
So a BIG 
...I remeber that beautiful trip your family went on last summer...
