CASTAWAY CAY!!!

Yup – that it was. The best day of the cruise, anyway.

Like most cruise lines, Disney has a private island. Most of the sailings that depart from east and gulf coast ports make at least one stop there. John and I had nothing but amazing memories from our stop there in 2001. We held Castaway Cay (pronounced key) dear in our hearts, but both acknowledged we had forgotten more about the island than we remembered.

Again, I woke early and headed up on deck for a few photos.

I loved getting shots of the empty decks. They call that big movie screen “Funnel Vision” and even in the height of sunlight it was clear as can be.

I walked the long way to meet up with John and the kids for breakfast so I could take some shots as we were approaching the island. As we began to dock I was mesmerized. It was so pretty and inviting. My mind clicked back that I needed to hurry up and eat so we could disembark as soon as they gave permission.

Breakfast in Cabanas. Again. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

We were off the ship pretty early, but I have no idea what time, really. 8:30? 8:45?

This.

I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I was just happy. Very, very happy. So glad to share this sand and sunshine and warmth with my favorite people. We took the tram out to the more distant family beach.

We grabbed a complimentary wagon and a sand-friendlier-than-most stroller.
John and the big four enjoyed Pelican Plunge. Actually, Stewart, Nigel and Marie spent the most time out there.

We had no trouble finding lounge chairs and Nan, Kelly, the little girls and I went to the beach/play area. It felt a little more crowded than I had hoped. None of us were interested in swimming per se so it didn’t really bother me.

After a while we left John and the big three at Pelican Plunge and the rest of us went to check out the splash area.

We splashed.

We decided to explore a little bit and moseyed back toward the first family beach.

This was ~~empty~~ decidedly less crowded. We seriously made ourselves at home in this area.

Somewhere in here we took a break for lunch at Cookies. They have two identical buffets set up on the island which are included in cruise fare. They were delicious and we found the same attention to detail with food allergies there as we did on board. They also had free standing beverage stations and soft-serve stations just like on board.

At some point we decided to check out more of the island. We did not rent bikes, or do the 5K, or parasail.

We did rent these water trikes and took turns.

Okay – truth be told John did all the escorting except for once when Marie and I went out. God alone got us back to shore as my gams are pretty wimpy and Marie could barely reach the pedals. I trust that they wouldn’t let us float out to sea.

Then more swimming.

And a nap.

At 4:15 P.M. they announced that it was, well, 4:15 P.M. And seeing as how they wanted all aboard at 4:45 P.M. we thought it wise to get moving out.

We were not the LAST people to board. But I know we were in the last 10%. 5%?

Saying good-bye was hard. I positioned myself on deck as we were pulling away. And I was sad. Yup – another confession. For a minute I did want to cry. ~~Then I grew up.~~ The ship had backed into place so we truly did pull away. As I watched the island get smaller and smaller I just thanked God. Over and over and over. Nothing terribly meaningful at all. Just genuine thanksgiving and awe that He had allowed that day to happen. There is so much going on on His world. And for reasons I will never deserve, He allowed our family this amazingly awesome day on this GORGEOUS ISLAND. I accepted at that moment that I could very likely never see that island again ever, ever, ever. And that just prompted me to thank Him some more.

And you know what is SO good to remember? That GORGEOUS, AMAZING ISLAND will look like gum on the bottom of my sandal compared to HEAVEN. And Heaven? I get to live there, FOREVER and EVER and EVER. And I won’t be looking to any sun to warm me. The SON will be life-giving FOREVER and EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As the island disappeared from sight (ships move much more quickly than I imagined) I headed back into our staterooms to pass out our pirate gear. We’d worked all winter assembling our ensembles from stuff we picked up at Goodwill and WalMart. They do a whole Pirates IN the Caribbean theme on most of their cruises.