Trip Report How did you ever get the kid to like cruising? Sea turtles, mate… sea turtles. Surf n’ Turf 2017

To quote the Jewish Elvis, “Hello Again”. For those interested in a back story leading up to this short and sweet journey towards a series of firsts you can have at it here:
Going for gold, a Disney trip full of firsts!
What turned into the most stressful and ridiculous two day work week, we slept hard and fast to a 04:00 wake up on Wednesday morning. I opted to make breakfast and coffee for the ladies this morning to reduce our number of stops on the way down. I even filled up the night before to make our drive smoother. We cruised through the ATL and soon were filling up in Tifton before 9, half way there! Another 3.5 hours and we were turning on to 192. Lunch was the first order of business and the ladies outvoted me and chose Cracker Barrel. I was hopeful we would hear about our room during lunch but we had not. After lunch we hoped for the best and made for The Grand Floridian and soon we were passing through the gate.

As we pulled into the parking lot we still had not heard if our room was ready so I ran in and checked with the DVC desk. Our room was ready! We parked and made our way to our room.

Up next: What a lobby!

 

[Zipadeelady]

I was wondering what happened to you. Glad to know your still alive.

 

[lostpro9het]

So still exploring, I made my way towards Heads Up bar to look around when I think I came across a small wedding setting. I didn’t stick around any longer than to snap a few pics.

Here you can see Pelican Plunge, video below of it in action too.

Still to come: Getting our snorkel on…

 

[imahistorygeek]

The water was so calm on the family side. The Serenity side not so much. I wish they would build the same types of walls to break the waves on the Serenity side.

Make note of the faux pelicans on the posts. Well, there's one at Serenity as well. I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to figure out that it wasn't a real pelican. Didn't happen the first trip.

Before Sean moves into the next phase with snorkeling, I must say this was one of the best experiences we've had on CC. I have a little fear of water because I don't like the sensation of not being able to breath, but I'm glad I did this. It was so much fun! Sophie had a great time as well. Turns out we didn't even cover half of the snorkeling lagoon. I think we are going to purchase our own snorkel gear to bring on our next trip in May 2018.

 

[lostpro9het]

The beaches were still quiet and we pretty much had the run of the place. We slowly made our way into the water and noticed the wildlife was still hanging around. I was able to get a few pics and a video of them. This would just turn out to be the first taste of Castaway wildlife we would experience today.

Up next: Snorkels and flippers please.

 

[imahistorygeek]

This is semi-related to the trip report.

Earlier on I discussed my fear of flying. Well, that fear has been replaced by riding with a 15-year-old new driver on curvy roads. Flying is small potatoes compared to riding in a car with my daughter.

If you do have a fear of flying, I can almost guarantee it will be cured by teaching a 15 year old to drive.

 

[Zipadeelady]

This is semi-related to the trip report.

Earlier on I discussed my fear of flying. Well, that fear has been replaced by riding with a 15-year-old new driver on curvy roads. Flying is small potatoes compared to riding in a car with my daughter.

If you do have a fear of flying, I can almost guarantee it will be cured by teaching a 15 year old to drive.

I have been through this. I understand your fear.

 

[LeighM]

This is semi-related to the trip report.

Earlier on I discussed my fear of flying. Well, that fear has been replaced by riding with a 15-year-old new driver on curvy roads. Flying is small potatoes compared to riding in a car with my daughter.

If you do have a fear of flying, I can almost guarantee it will be cured by teaching a 15 year old to drive.

Good luck!! My Mom had the genius idea of taking me to a local cemetery where our family is buried to teach me how to drive. She thought the lack of traffic would calm me and the narrow, one way roads would make it easier once I got out on the local roads. Horrible, horrible decision. I didn't take the turn well enough for her and she tried to take the wheel bc I was close to scratching the car on an overly large bush. My reaction was to take the wheel back which made the car go over a concrete road barrier and into a tree barely missing a 100 year old tombstone! I'll never know how Mom got the car off of the concrete block and drove it home. When Granddaddy took the car to the body shop, they said it was totaled because I somehow messed up the frame of the car only going a max of 15 MPH

 

[imahistorygeek]

Good luck!! When Granddaddy took the car to the body shop, they said it was totaled because I somehow messed up the frame of the car only going a max of 15 MPH

Wow! We were halfway home yesterday and I asked her to pull over and let me out of the car. I was willing to walk home.

 

[MegRuss626]

This is semi-related to the trip report.

Earlier on I discussed my fear of flying. Well, that fear has been replaced by riding with a 15-year-old new driver on curvy roads. Flying is small potatoes compared to riding in a car with my daughter.

If you do have a fear of flying, I can almost guarantee it will be cured by teaching a 15 year old to drive.

I'm the same way with my younger sister since she started driving...and with her at 24 years old now, I still avoid riding with her at all costs!

 

[PacNWTigger]

My mom actually paid others to teach me how to drive after her trying. One time she tried the grabbing the steering wheel thing with me except I was on the freeway! Nothing bad happened except the whole thing freaking the BOTH of us out. It was after that when I was the one who refused to drive with my mom in the car. I didn't have her in the front seat of my car while driving until I was in my late 20's...I still prefer her to be in the back seat whenever possible, and I'm now in my 40's...LOL!!

My dad's idea of teaching me how to drive was having me BACK UP through a windy ATM bank lane before the bank was open. He said that when I could do that he would be willing to go forwards. I think I backed up at that bank for at least a month before I could drive the car forwards. I have to admit though that I have never had any accidents and only had warnings for speeding due to my parents' diligence and scaring me half to death while teaching me how to drive.

 

[gdisneyfans]

Yay you're back! Really enjoying your Castaway Cay pictures.

 

[gdisneyfans]

This is semi-related to the trip report.

Earlier on I discussed my fear of flying. Well, that fear has been replaced by riding with a 15-year-old new driver on curvy roads. Flying is small potatoes compared to riding in a car with my daughter.

If you do have a fear of flying, I can almost guarantee it will be cured by teaching a 15 year old to drive.

I have been through this. I understand your fear.

I'm almost there too and I am already having those fears I think I'll let her dad teach her. He drives like an old man (no offense to old men, but you know what I mean)

 

[Tiggerish]

Sipping my very first Golden Monkey.

ME LIKEY!

 

[GoofyDadKB]

Sipping my very first Golden Monkey.

ME LIKEY!

Wow, did I read that wrong the first time.

 

[Tiggerish]

Wow, did I read that wrong the first time.

Well, then, I'm glad you gave it a second look.

 

[lostpro9het]

So after some exploring we made for the snorkel rental shop. The gear isn’t really cheap but its also not very expensive either. IIRC it was $18/person for flippers, snorkel, and mask for an all-day rental. In addition to the snorkel gear, we were equipped with an inflatable vest. There was no charge for the vest so if you wanted to just use one to swim out into the snorkel area you could for no fee. So the ladies suited up and made for the designate snorkeling area

It wasn’t long before we started seeing some wildlife and artifacts.

Still to come: More sunken treasures and wildlife.

 

[imahistorygeek]

This was such a great experience. There was hardly anyone out there, so we basically had run of the place. It's now on my must-do for every trip. Those yellow-tailed fish were everywhere. Can someone tell me the type of fish?

 

[Zipadeelady]

I'm just guessing but when I typed in yellowtail fish on Bing. It said Seroila. So that's my guess

 

[lostpro9het]

One thing that was nice about the designated snorkeling area is that they had buoys marking where larger sunken objects were. They were not really close to each other so you had to do some swimming to get to them all, this made the inflatable vests invaluable! We were out there a couple hours and I know on a few occasions I just rolled over and floated to rest between exploring.

Im not exactly sure what this guy was but it was neat to look at.

Still to come: Some WDW nostalgia and some sea turtles!

 

[imahistorygeek]

In addition to the vests, there are lifeguards stationed out in the water.