2017 Disney Cruise - Back to Castaway Cay
As the 2017 Disney Cruise trip report continues, it is now time for the last full day of our cruise…
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Even with our late night of pirate fun and movie watching, we chose not to sleep all that late. So instead of getting up at 6:00 as we had done the previous mornings, we slept until 7:00. That extra hour made a difference, too.
As we were getting up and getting ready for breakfast, the ship was already backing in at Castaway Cay, which was to be our destination for the day. We were quite excited to have another day at one of our favorite places, and maybe this time the rain would stay away a little more. However, the clouds in the sky were a sign that the rain would probably not stay away entirely. But we knew we would make the most of it, whatever the rain decided to do.
Laura enjoys the view from the verandah in the morning
Once again, we met the rest of the family at Cabanas for breakfast. It was a little sad knowing that this would be our last Cabanas breakfast for this cruise, but not too sad because of all the other fun things that were still waiting for us to do on our last full day. And of course, breakfast was delicious once again, and I had a Mickey waffle with syrup and strawberries, a sausage link, some fresh fruit, and some tasty juice. Also, judging by the lack of crowds at Cabanas, we were not the only ones who slept in a bit after the late night.
Steve on the verandah with Castaway Cay in the background
After breakfast we went back to our rooms to get ready to go to the beach. It was even more cloudy outside than when we first got up. But a quick check of the weather radar on the room TV showed that the rain was not imminent, so we made our way down to Deck 1 to head out to the island.
This time, since all of the Burnses and Bramletts were together, we got one of the ship photographers to take a couple of group photos of all of us. It was funny how we were so often together on this cruise, but we did not have many photos of all of us together. We knew we would probably add that one to our photo purchase at the end of the evening.
Laura strikes her “I am Moana” pose on Castaway Cay
A tram was waiting for us after our quick photo session, so we hopped on and rode to Pelican Point once again. This time around, we set up camp at the far end of the Family Beach instead of just across the way by the water slide as we had done before. We were still pretty close to the slide, but on our previous stop here this area seemed to be a little less crowded than where we had been a couple of days before. Of course, there were hardly any people at all around when we arrived, but we knew that some would be coming later. Plus, there were no shells to walk over at the edge of the water at this beach, so everyone found that to be a great benefit of this location, too.
Our spot on the beach with all of our closest friends nearby
Of course, we still took advantage of being close to the Pelican Plunge water slide, even if were were not sitting right in front of it. Some of us went down it twice each, while others may have gone down it even more than that. I started to lose count of everyone’s slide trips. Because of the clouds, it was not all that hot out, and the water was a little cool, but overall it wasn’t too bad. And at least it wasn’t raining. Plus, we did not have to worry about getting a sunburn.
The ship looks small from all the way over here! From the previous post Enjoying the Family Beach at Disney’s Castaway Cay - read more about it there.
At one point I was enjoying the view from the beach chair when Laura suddenly came up and said, “Come quick! And bring your camera!” So I grabbed my camera and followed her to see what she might have found. Mom was there, too, and they had found a lizard with a curled tail, which Laura had seen by the restroom building near where we were sitting. He was a fast runner, too. Unfortunately, the lens I had on my camera was the fisheye lens, so I was not able to zoom in to get a good close-up photo of him, but he was friendly enough that I could still get rather close to him anyway. After a bit he darted into the growth just beside the finished floor, and stayed there for a bit. Mom had found Beth to come see it, too, and all of the Bramletts soon followed. We Burnses and extended family do like seeing our wildlife when we can.
We should start a Lizard Hunter show on television
After a while, the Jamersons arrived, coming over to let us know they were over where we had been a couple of days before. We decided to stay where we were for a while. But then eventually the Bramletts and older Burnses decided they were going to go back to the ship, because it looked like the clouds were getting a little darker and thicker. They did not want to be caught out on the island in the rain. We walked with them for a while just to spend time with them a little longer. We also wanted to do a little shopping in the shop, and Laura found a few things to buy there. Fortunately, we could have the purchases sent to the ship so that we could pick them up later and not have to carry them all over the island with us. Pretty cool! Too bad they can’t offer that same service on Nassau. We also took a few photos at Mount Rustmore with my parents for good measure, because the Bramletts had already gone on ahead. But then the three of us went back to the beach when they went back to the ship.
Burnses at Mount Rustmore
Other Burnses at Mount Rustmore
We went back to where the Jamersons were sitting, but as we were making our way there, we started hearing thunder. And it started to get closer and closer. We were practically running so that we would not get caught in a downpour, and we eventually met up with the Jamersons at the Cookie’s Too pavilion where we had eaten before. We got there just in time, because the rain really started pouring. Of course, they had closed all of the beaches because of the lightning, and the pavilion was getting pretty full of people wanting to escape the rain.
Hanging with the Jamersons at the beach
Part of the pavilion was also starting to get full of water. We were sitting in a table near the center of the pavilion, and water on the ground was almost to our feet. Not that we were in danger of a serious flood or anything, just that there was a huge puddle on the ground. But even if it were to get to our feet, it would still be better than being out in the rain.
Eventually, the rain let up some, although it still had not stopped entirely. But it did stop enough for us to go quickly from the seating pavilion over to the food pavilion to get some lunch and come back without getting us or our food completely soaked. So we took turns going over there so that we could keep our same table, even though most everyone who was still there already had a table and wasn’t trying to fight for ours. The food offerings were very similar to our previous meal there, but that was fine with me, because I like their hamburgers there. What can I say? I am just a hamburger kind of guy. We were not in all that big of a hurry to finish our food anyway, since it was still raining outside, just not as hard of a rain as it had been.
But then not too long after we had finished eating, the rain had ended, and it was announced that the beaches were open again. So we all went back out and claimed a spot on the beach again, right back where we had been before. There were still a few sprinkles of rain from time to time, but not enough to bother us since we were going to get in the water anyway. We enjoyed some time of going down the Pelican Plunge slide and talking with the Jamersons. It was still a good day even though there had been some rain in the middle of it.
Clouds are better than rain when you are at the beach
After a while, the Jamersons decided it was time for them to head back to the ship, but we three Burnses thought we would stay out a little longer, just to maximize our Castaway Cay time as much as possible. And we decided to live it up in style. Although Cookie’s Too was not serving lunch any more, the soda fountain was still open, so Laura and I each got a nice cold cup of Coca-Cola and enjoyed sipping it while sitting on the beach. Nothing like living the good life by enjoying a sugary drink in a near-perfect location.
Perhaps my favorite photo from our trip. From the earlier post What To Do When It Rains During Your Cruise - read more about it there.
When we had finished our refreshing drinks, we decided to all three go down the slide again. That turned out to be really nice because there was no line. Apparently the rain had driven many people from the island back to the ship, or they had decided to go on back because the time was moving on along and they wanted to do other things or get ready for dinner. So we went down the slide twice, and the only wait was the time it took us to swim out to the slide, climb the ladder, and wait for whoever was in front of us to go down the fast side. If you did not know, there are two slides there. One is enclosed and is much faster, while the other is open and a good bit slower. I think the enclosed aspect scares some away from the faster slide, but that doesn’t bother us any. So we enjoyed our two trips down plus the continuous elevated heart rate from swimming out, climbing the ladder, sliding down, swimming back to go around the rope to swim back out and climb the ladder again. I would probably be in good shape if I did that all of the time.
That is Laura dropping into the water from the left slide
We then decided we would move back to our first location of the day, back on the family beach side a little away from the few remaining people at the beach near the water slide, because the end of the family beach was less crowded. We put our stuff down on some chairs and enjoyed sitting there for a bit. But that was not to last long, because soon more rain drops started falling. Judging from the sky, there were more where those came from, so we decided to leave and head back for the ship ourselves. After all, it was getting closer to the time when we would have to leave anyway, so we might as well do it while not getting soaked with cold rain. So we hopped on the tram and enjoyed a brisk ride back to the first stop, and then a short walk to the ship. And we were thankful that it was not raining as hard as it had been on Thursday when we did that the first time.
One more view of the beach before we headed back to the ship
See more of our final day as the 2017 Disney Cruise trip report continues!
