Tracy's Running Journal

Day 3 - Castaway Cay

I got up before the rest of the family and decided to go for a morning run. I went up to deck 10 so I could watch us sailing into Castaway Cay. All I can say is, it was so beautiful running around the deck and I would run faster just so I could get glimpse of Castaway Cay and when CC was in my view I would slow down the pace. I remember at one point the boat turned around so the boat could back into the dock and there was CC right there, I was running along side it. AHHHH There were a few people just taking a look at the sight. Nobody was running, one walker. I was in heaven.

I looked at my mileage and it said I ran 3 miles, so I decided to quit. I felt that 3 miles was good enough. After walking and stretching I was thirsty, so I stopped by Beach Blanket for some OJ. I took like 4 glasses of OJ (the glasses were small) and drank them on the deck of Beach Blanket overlooking CC. When I finished, I walked over to the server to give him my tray of empty OJ glasses and who was there? Brenton!

Me: You work here too?
Brenton: yes, where is the family?
Me: Sleeping, I got up early to go for a run.
Brenton: Really, I just started running myself. I ran my first 5K in 21 minutes.
Me: Holy Cow. That is like 7 minute miles. I am much slower than that.
Brenton: Keep running, it is good for you.
Me: You too. Bye

Next, I was off to wake the family. I showered, and woke Steve up and then we knew we had to wake the kids. They were tired, really tired, but I knew they could not miss there day at CC.

I woke the girls and told them we were in CC. I smiled and they were so excited. They got dressed in a flash. I blocked the kids and myself in the room and we headed to Beach Blanket for some breakfast. This was the view from our window.

Steve got his omelet this time and the girls got some Mickey Waffles. I think I got some cereal and fruit. After eating we went back to room to grab our rolling cooler, and snorkel gear.

We decided that we would take the tram instead of walking (Not my decision). While we waited we took a few shots.

The tram came rather quickly and we boarded. Right in front of us was a bride and groom. Everyone was in awe of them. They said that they were married yesterday, but they wanted to take some pictures on CC. They looked so nice, those photos must be breathtaking.

As we drove down the path we also saw the Flying Dutchman and guess who was there taking pictures with the walkers? Jack Sparrow! aka, my boyfriend. How on earth could I be missing Jack. So sad!

When we got off the tram, we found a great place to sit. Here we are walking:

I picked a spot in front of the water playground. We had a couple palm trees and a couple umbrellas. It was the perfect spot.

Elise headed for the water playground and Ashley insisted that we go snorkeling. Steve thought the water was “cold” (so not true) so, I went snorkeling with Ashley. At first, I tried the flippers, but my feet are way too big, size 10. I ditched the flippers. I was dieing to see the Minnie or anything that they placed in the snorkel area. We swam and swam, and swam...... Until we finally saw some fish. Ashley screamed. I laughed.

Then we swam some more, and more. About an hour later we gave up and asked the lifeguard where Minnie was. She says, over there where the buoy is. I felt like such a dork. There was Ashley and I swimming around randomly hoping to just bump into Minnie and she is marked! There you go, another tip. All the objects are marked with a buoy. Don’t be a dork like me.

Well, as it turned out Mickey was closer so we swam to him and took some under water shots, but those are on the disposable camera that I have yet to develop. Once we found Mickey we took a look at how far our swim to shore was. Far, really far. We swam and swam and swam until we were able to kiss the sand on the beach.

Back at the beach, Steve said we were gone for like two hours and he was getting worried about us. He said, he and Elise checked out the beach.

I was really exhausted after our excursion so, I asked Steve to get me a drink, the infamous Konk Cooler. Steve laughed and reminded me that it was still morning. I reminded him that it was 5:00 somewhere. He took off and got me a drink. He got one for himself, but he got some berry thing. My drink was much better.

As we were sitting there watching the kids play, all of a sudden I see is Jack Sparrow running on the beach and all the kids were chasing him. It was kind of funny. Well, Jack decided to make a turn and he runs in front of Steve and I. At the recommendation of my husband, I yelled “Hey Jack, Where’s me rum?” Just then he stops at the palm tree next to us to take photos. I of course could not resist a photo opportunity with my boyfriend. Now I can’t believe I am about to display pictures of myself in a bathing suit on the web, but it is a picture of me and the beloved Jack. How could I not show you a picture?

After Steve finished his beverage, he wanted to take some photo’s so I took up shop on my lounge chair and watched the kids. Ashley came along for another application of sun screen and she said that she ran into one of her pool friends from last night at the beach.

Now let me tell you about Elise, she is always hungry. The kid eats all the time. She does not eat a lot at once, she just grazes all day long. Well, right around this point, she was hungry. I told Ashley where we were going and took her up to Cookies and hoped that they were open. Just as we got there they were opening the doors. Elise got some lunch, but I decided to wait. After she ate, we went back to the lounge chairs. Ashley came along at some point to say she was hungry and wanted to get some lunch with her friends. Since, Cookies was right behind me, I told her she could go along with her friends. Elise wanted to join them, I told Ashley she needed to watch her sister.

The kids came back and Steve was still gone. I just sat there and watched the floats blow away. At one point, Steve and I were counting how many floats blew away, but I can’t remember the total. A CC CM would go on a jet ski and collect them.

Since Steve was still missing, I figured I would check on the kids. They were getting along great just sitting at a table in the shade talking. I thought I should get some food too. I sat a table with another family and felt like a total loser eating by myself.

I went back to the chairs and Steve finally returned and decided to get food himself. He checked on the kids and he saw this:

Here are some pictures he took on his voyage:

The kids returned shortly after Steve. They were playing in the water with their friends. CC is just so beautiful and relaxing. Steve and I thought we could just live here. The kids told us that they made an announcement that it was happy hour, 2 for 1 drinks. I sent Steve to go buy me another konk cooler. I am not sure what happened next, I know we went in the water and I know we relaxed in the lounge chairs. Other than that, we really did not do much and it was fabulous!

At about 3:30 we decided to rent some bikes and check out the island. During the ride, I started getting nervous about Ashley’s shoulders. They were getting pink and I did not have any block on me, I left it on with the chairs. Needless to say, we rode rather fast. I think we did all the paths and the lookout tower in about 30 minutes. We must be fast bike riders. Here are some pictures:

After the bike ride, we collected our stuff and walked back to the boat.

Up next........... AARRRR - Pirate Night