Bright and early, the family got dressed and hit up the breakfast buffet. Once they called us down to the club for our group check in, we waited for almost an hour to go to the tender boat.
Because the island wants to preserve their amazing reefs, ships are not allowed to dock directly to a pier there. Instead, the ship anchors close to the island, and small boats pull along side the Magic and we board that boat. It's a taxi so to speak.
When the taxi arrived and we finally made it to the island, we boarded a bus that took us to the Cayman Island Turtle Farm. This was a cool excursion for the family.
This place had a ton of turtles! We toured the hatchery to find out the whole birthing process. We saw the tanks where they grow, and were even able to get in an hold a few.
By the way, iguanas are everywhere. They are just hanging out on rocks and walking up beside you like it's no big deal. Um, it's a big deal to me!
The farm served us lunch that was included in the price and it was pretty good. We ate fried fish, cole slaw, french fries, beans, bread, and juices. The lunch area overlooked the aviary and the snorkling area...and it was just beautiful!
Once we ate, we went through the aviary to see some of the many types of birds living on the island. One bird was the exact same neon orange of Jansen's swim shirt!
The highlight of the boys' trip was the lagoon/waterfall/waterslide. Josh and I were able to swim with them for a bit and then relax under a canopy for a couple of hours listening to our tunes. What I was most happy with was the bathroom situation! I brought a full change of clothes for each of us so that we wouldn't have to take the trip back sticky and half dry. They had showers, lockers, potties, and everything was pretty clean. Two thumbs up for a fully accessible bathroom right next to the lagoon.
After the bus ride back, and waiting in a long hot line to get back on the tender taxi, and a longer wait to get back on the ship (and a bit of nausea), we were quick to take showers and get ready for the most fun evening on the ship...The Pirates IN the Caribbean Party!!!!!
Check out my hubs and boys...
The kiddos wore the shirts I made them, eye patches and paper hats from the party store, and carried glow swords. The hubs purchased a costume that he then took off because it was just too hot and sweaty for him. I wore a white blouse, black jeans, grey boots, and a skull feather clip with skull earrings.
We all went to dinner where 80% of the people were dressed in pirate gear. The cruise line gave us all pirate bandanas and we all had a pirate parade. Once done with dinner, we headed to the lido deck for the interactive Lego Pirates of the Caribbean game. Caleb LOVED this!
Jansen wanted to go back to the lab so he missed all the fun. But if I learned nothing else on this trip....I learned that it is his vacation too. We spent so much time with these grand plans in our head of how much family time we could spend together doing these certain activities, and Jansen just wasn't interested. I wasted a lot of time trying to guilt him with..."Why aren't you having a good time. You know we paid a lot of money and spent a ton of time planning this vacation for you guys, and you are being really rude." But hey, he wanted to go have fun in the Lab. Once we realized it was his vacation too, we just let him choose what he wanted to go and let it go.
Caleb was surprising me because he was up for anything. He would just show up and have fun. I couldn't believe it! He just lit up light a Christmas tree. It was awesome. He was in the front row for the character pirate show and he made it onto the jumbotron. He was ecstatic!
The evening ended with a beautiful firework show off the ship. It was magical!
Once everyone began to clear the deck, we were able to watch Pirates of the Caribbean under the stars. Awe.
It was a wonderful day!
.JPG)
