Photos: Castaway Cay, Disney's Bahamas Island

This time last year, we were preparing to go on a cruise with the Disney Cruise Line. Unfortunately, that isn’t an annual event. Although it could be, if anyone would like to make a sizable donation to our travel fund. Anyone? Hello?

Anyway, one of our favorite things about the Disney Cruises has always been Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. Sand, beaches, sun, activities, food, cool scenery. It is all just about perfect. And just think about it: a whole island of just Disney stuff! What could be better than that? No, it isn’t like Walt Disney World on a tiny island, because the only rides there are the trams to take you to different areas and a water slide or two. But it is much more relaxing than a day at the Disney parks. And much less crowded, too, since the only people there are the people who are on the ship with you.

Castaway Cay is a really neat place, even on a cloudy day like the one we spent there. Here are just a few of the many photos from our day.

Land, ho! I always like how you can go up to the top decks of the ship and see all the way across the island. No theme park trickery here - this really is a small, self-contained island surrounded by water. Pretty cool. And look at those clouds. Yes, it was a cloudy day when we were there, and there were even a few sprinkles from time to time. But that didn’t slow us down from having fun at all.

As you make your way over to the main areas of Castaway Cay, you can get some nice views of the ship that brought you there, such as this view of the Disney Dream. Confession: I have way too many photos like this, because every few steps gives you a slightly different view. And I like them all.

Some of the beach areas have things out in the water, such as this elevated play area. It looks like fun, but we never did make it out there to it. Some of our group did go out to another water slide that you had to swim out to, and they all enjoyed it.

Yes, there are lifeguards there to watch over things, in case you are worried about that. And you can see that there are several people in the water, too, although it never was really overcrowded. On our past cruises when it was just the two of us, we had spent our time at the quiet adults-only beach. But because our group had kids with us this time, we just stayed at the family beach. More people, but it was still fun.

Palm trees fill the eating area as clouds fill the sky. The clouds stayed with us most of the day, although the sun and some blue sky did peek through from time to time. But the clouds, along with our sunscreen, probably kept us from getting too much sun. So they weren’t entirely bad. They didn’t keep the humidity down, however, so you still could work up a good sweat walking from one area to another.

There are lots of colorful flowers on Castaway Cay. And some interesting benches, too, many of which look like they are made out of parts of wrecked ships. I probably should have gotten some closer photos of some of them.

Mount Rustmore, a popular photo spot, is the highest point on the island. Which really isn’t saying much, because there isn’t that much of an elevation change over the island. It is actually a little rare to see this without someone there trying to get a photo. I must have caught it right in between groups.

Castaway Cay’s beaches have lots of beach chairs and umbrellas. But just to make sure we got one, we headed out there pretty early and staked out our spot. And by the time we got there, most of the umbrellas closer to the water were already taken. But that’s okay, we were still happy with where we were.

Hey, look - it’s sunny out! And still cloudy, too. Little did we know that these clouds were the edge of a tropical storm that was in the Atlantic. I guess we should have been even more thankful for the sun that we got. It could have been worse.

There used to be more of these markers around the island, but there aren’t as many of them now. I still like finding them around in places. Hopefully, they won’t all go away forever.

As the day went on, several people started returning to the ship. But we stayed for as long as we could. Well, not quite, because we didn’t stay until they absolutely made us leave. Some of our group wanted to go to the evening’s stage show on the ship, and others wanted to go to a movie, so we went in time for them to get to those events. But we did stay out there a good bit longer than a lot of people.

Some of us took a walking tour of the island, which took us past the bike rental booth with its whimsical pole thing next to it. We did see lots of people on bikes, but walking is more my speed. Much easier to stop and take photos often that way.

If you ever wondered what Castaway Cay looked like before it was developed, my guess would be that it was something, except maybe without the palm trees. You can see areas like this along the road (actually an old runway) that leads to the adult beach. Pretty cool, and much different from what we have at home.

Palm trees! As you may know, I like palm trees. So I always like seeing them here on Castaway Cay. I wonder if that is the reason why I like Castaway Cay so much? Well, that isn’t the only reason, and it probably isn’t even the main reason. But the palm trees do make me like Castaway Cay even more.

And here to finish up is the Burns family after a fun day of enjoying Castaway Cay. We are already looking forward to our next visit there, whenever that may be. Still gladly accepting your donations now!

Read more about our Disney Cruise adventures in Three Disney Cruises - an eBook from Burnsland.com!