Our goal was to run the
Castaway Cay 5K since we enjoy running even though we are not hard core, lol! I ran the Wine and Dine Half marathon with my BFF last year and the kids and I have done several 5Ks locally as well.
So we set out the Room Service breakfast order on the door knob and had it delivered at 6:30am. (On vacation! I know, I'm nuts!) We had hoped to have some time in the morning to ease into things, but that didn't really happen due to us all oversleeping despite the room service delivery, lol! So at 8:15 we headed to Evolutions to sign up for the race. We got our bibs, towels and instructions and we were off. Again the line to leave was longish, but we managed to get off by 8:45.
We got off and they were selling cold bottles of water for $1.75 and I bought one, mostly for the plastic bottle. We had forgotten to bring our reusable water bottles from home, but I knew there would be water on the race route, so I figured we could just refill the one bottle several times.
We walked pretty briskly to the starting point, about 10 min.
They had a big crate with a lid that we could place all our belongings in and a cast member would be hanging around watching it. It was near the Start/Finish. We snapped a quick pic and were on our way.
There were plenty of water stops along the route and a wide variety of people running or walking the race. We saw young, fit runner types, as well as grandparents, families and other chubby Moms like me
We were not last and made it across the finish in 38:47.
We got our Mickey medals and then rewarded ourselves at the very conveniently located smoothie stand with a strawberry smoothie and a virgin pina colada!
After resting for a little bit on a nearby bench, we walked back to the finish line area which is right by the bicycle rental stand and rented bikes. That had been an activity my DD really wanted us to do on the island. The bikes were plentiful (we did not have reservations) and in good repair. We picked the bikes and headed off. It was sweltering hot, but there was lots of breeze and the
water stops were still full and cold. The route for the bikes overlaps with the 5K route, so most of it we had already seen. We didn't make it all the way to the tower, and I didn't take any pics, but we had a great time!
We were done with that with just enough time to change into our suits and take a quick rinse/shower in one of the many outdoor shower stands to cool off. We then headed to the nearby tram stop to get the tram back to the front of the island to go to our Stingray excursion at 12.
At the Stingray check in area we got our snorkel gear and walked to a covered pavilion where we were given an instructional talk about stingrays, safety info and a how-to-snorkel briefing. We were able to leave our things in the pavilion and headed down to the beach.
They had about four stingray ramps set up with cast members leading groups of about 6. We were instructed how to feed the stingrays and given lots of shrimp and stingray feed (long rectangular gelatinous sticks of fish pieces and vitamins for the stingrays) to use. It was a weird sensation and honestly, I was a little freaked out. I did not expect to be so it was a surprise, lol! My DS did the best and fed them several times, while my DD and I mostly threw food at the stingrays and stood back while they gulped it up,
After the feeding session we were allowed to snorkel right there in the stingray pool for a while. This was my kids first time snorkeling and they fell in love! We got to see TONS of stingrays, and a variety of fish. The water was never very deep and it was perfect for beginners.
We had a wonderful time and never felt rushed to leave. When we were done we gathered our stuff and headed to find LUNCH!
TBC
That's great news. Might look into doing this then. Cheers!
I'm loving your report!
