Problems in Serenity Bay?

[CRSNDSNY]

Is it just me or are the bugs/flies REALLY unruly in Serenity Bay? We were there in the beginning of this month (January) 2003 AND December 2001 and each time we left disgusted from being bitten so much!

Also, there was SO MUCH SEAWEED lining Serenity Bay this time that we didn't even go in the ocean there.

We ended up leaving Serenity Bay and heading towards another beach on the island because of this. I really don't think we'll go back to that Beach next time unless we get Cabana Massages again.

Anyone else notice these problems?

 

[mmouse37]

On the 1/4 Magic at the family beach I noticed alot of seaweed on the shoreline....but no bugs..it was way to windy. This is the first time in 7 DCL cruises that I ever saw that much seaweed on the beach. I wonder if has to with tides or wind direction.

MJ

 

[CRB#33]

We were there the end of June--no seaweed, no flies, just HOT!

We just floated around in the water.

There was a thunderstorm in the distance and we just watched it sweep across the sky. Pretty wild in June!

 

[Michelle]

Serenity Bay never seems to be groomed as well as the family beach. I'm highly allergic to all sorts of bugs and have never had a problem with bugs on Castaway Cay, thankfully. But I definitely notice a difference in rocks, sand and seaweed between the family beach and Serenity Bay.

 

[outahere]

I seem to remember reading in an article, about the man whose family owned Castaway Cay at one point, he said the reason the sand was so powdery on the family beach was because, when they dredged the bay to make it deeper at the dock, they ground up the sand and spread it on the beach.

 

[TeamMom011]

I think this answers a question I needed to ask: Should we take insect repellent with us in February? I assume that since there was bug problems in January, it won't be much better next month so taking spray would be a good idea. Is that past cruiser's experience? Is it "buggy" on the other islands on the Western? TIA

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by outahere

I seem to remember reading in an article, about the man whose family owned Castaway Cay at one point, he said the reason the sand was so powdery on the family beach was because, when they dredged the bay to make it deeper at the dock, they ground up the sand and spread it on the beach.

Here's a quote from that article (<a href="http://web.outsideonline.com/magazine/0199/9901blackbeard.html">link to the article</a>):

I've never seen this beach before. Not this beach. The stretch of rocks is the same; only the fluorescent orange buoys blocking off the entrance to Pumpkin Harbour have been added. But the little half-moon beach that I remember is now tucked up into the corner beside the mangrove lagoon, and has somehow grown to three times its former length and width. It's gotten whiter, too. The sand on this beach was always slightly marshy, not as nice as the beach on the north side. Later I learned that Disney improved on nature by dredging sand from out in the bay, from where they'd dug the ship's berth. They'd also ground the sand before spitting it up on the beach. But scarcely anyone would realize that this lovely beach is man-made.

 

[perdidobay]

I guess I'm spoiled by the fine, brilliant white quartz sand of the Emerald coast, as I found the sand at Serenity Bay to be a disappointment. The two times I've been at SB, however, there was no seaweed on the beach.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

There was a lot of seaweed on the beach at SB a couple days ago. The Disney people said that the weather made the beach look that way, and that they haven't had enough time to get it cleaned up.

 

[disneykins]

Never noticed the bugs but last December (02) we were sitting at the waters edge when a school of very small fish crashed into us. It was like they were herded into shore by a much bigger fish but we didn't see anything. Weird.

 

[cinda65]

Speaking of schools of fish...

When we went in October we were way out in the middle of a school of fish. We floated along for awhile and it was really strangle because any way you looked, left, right, up or down, all you saw were these small fish. When a larger predator fish started chasing them I had to bail because I was freaked out about a shark or something with us in the middle of them! ;-)