 Well, as I already
said this day
starts out early with a trip to the Walt Disney Theatre to visit with
US Immigration. We needed to be there at 6:45am since we had an
early morning excursion planned. The girls were NOT pleased
having to get up so early, but we made it on time and waited in a line
to be seated while they gave us some danish and coffee or juice.
Can't have any event with more food! ;-) This was fairly
painless - you just needed your passport or birth certificates and
photo IDs for the adults. Then they send you on your way and
stamp your hand to prove you attended. They check the hand stamp
before letting you off the ship. Up to Topsiders for a quick
breakfast, and no one ate much except me. I was hungry for some
reason! :-)
 Off
to Studio Sea to meet our excursion group. Have to remember
your tickets and signed release form. We are doing the 5 Star St.
John Excursion to Trunk Bay. You catch the Layton Sneed right
there at the doc after they pass out boarding passes on the ship.
Each person also gets a character sticker, and then you follow your
guide who holds up a paddle with that character so you can see to
follow them. The lines stretch out pretty thin, so this really
does help keep track of where you need to go. This morning
there are 3 cruise ships in port. Carnival, Disney and Royal
Caribbean. the Carnival and RC ships are quite a bit larger than
the Disney Magic. We walked back almost to the end of the pier to
find the Layton Sneed. Everyone boarded, and found a place to
sit. We selected an edge seat so we could take some photos.
There is a restroom for each men and women as well as a snack and gift
shop area where you can get a drink, snack or buy some souvenirs.
Below deck is where you will be directed to select your gear.
They have inflatable life vests, fins, snorkel and mask all laid out on
tables by size. Try things on to get the right sizes, and head
back upstairs. It takes around 45 - 50 minutes to reach St. John
and Trunk Bay, and they do a bit of tour guiding on the way. In
case anyone is interested - there is currently an island for sale for
around 25 million. Might even find it on ebay! :-)
Maybe if we ALL go in together, we can take up a collection! ;-)
 When
we arrived in Trunk Bay it really was beautiful! Wonderful
turquoise water and beautiful white sand beaches. Kristen
and the girls rode a dingy to shore and I jumped off the back of the
boat! As the guides put it - into 18 feet of crystal clear
water! :-) I adjusted the gear and started looking
around. In a ways was some rocky areas where the fish could be
found. Most were fairly small, but a few were larger and many
were very brightly colored. I headed toward the beach so
that I could meetup with the girls, and had a great time getting
there. Amazing to see all the sea life, and the most impressive
(at least to me) were the HUGE (and I mean HHUUGGEE) schools of tiny
fish all swimming together. It was like swimming through a cloud
of tiny fish.
 (Think
the silver school of fish in Nemo times
about a million) Just very cool. They weren't even that
scared, but gently moved out of the way if you got too close (which was
only right on top of them, they were NOT very skiddish at all.
Finally arrived at shore to find Kristen fruitlessly trying to convince
Madison to try to snorkel. NO WAY! She did NOT like the
mask and the fact that she would have to breathe through her
mouth. So she ended up on the beach enjoying the
sand. Brinn tried a bit harder, but my favorite thing
FREAKED her out. Those huge schools of tiny fish were NOT
impressive to her in the least! :-) So, she joined her
sister on shore as well. Kristen and I went out for a while
(there were quite a group of people on shore to keep the girls company,
and we watched them a lot ourselves - they were never out of
site.  Loved it, and swam back to the
boat for the
underwater camera. (No - I thought YOU had it!) ;-)
Took a few shots I hope come out and enjoyed about 45 - 50 minutes of
snorkeling before the horn on the ship told us it was time to
return.
I was ready by then anyway (the mask was killing my nose) and swam back
to the boat while Kristen again caught the dingy. Enjoyed a
nice ride back to the ship with free punch and rum punch, $1 Bud's and
snacks (for a cost). It was very enjoyable, and we really
liked it.
|
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Back on the ship to
get
Madison to the Oceanears Club. Today they were making Flubber,
and she
REALLY wanted to do this! Brinn, Kristen and I grabbed a
bite to eat
and then headed off ship again. Looked in a few stores in the
Mall
area right at the port, and then walked the few blocks to the Skyway to
ride to the top of the island. Its $15 per adult, and $7.50 for
children. 
But I would have to
say the ride and view are worth
it!
Very smooth ride up and down (little jostling on the towers) and some
magnificent views from up there. I even found a new pair of
sunglasses
to replace the ones I seem to have lost during the morning
excursion.
They have several shops, snacks and even a bar where they serve the
famous "Bushwacker" drink. It started to pour while we were
there,
but it only lasted 15 minutes or so. We waited for it to clear a
bit,
and then headed back down to return to the ship. Final boarding
is by
4:30, and it was pushing 3:30pm by now. 
Came back on board
and headed
to the room. I was feeling VERY tired, and a bit nauseous, so I
laid
down for a while. Ended up not even going to dinner, I was so out
of
it! Kristen came back to get me for the 8:30 show, so I headed
down
then - still feeling a bit dizzy. Too much sun maybe? 
I
felt better
after the show. It was Who Wants To Be A Mouseketeer, and was
very fun
to watch. Would have loved to have been picked. They choose
players
by selecting seats in the audience (random by computers).
No luck for
us, although they did pick someone from our row. :-) No big
winners,
but someone did get 8 out of 10 correct. If only they had gotten
the
last two it would have been a 7 day cruise for 2! Prizes up to
the
cruise are credits on your stateroom account. You can win up to
400
credit for 9 correct answers. I think the highest tonight was 225
which is pretty good! :-)
We found LOTS of
characters around tonight including Mickey and Minnie
in sailor gear. Also Alice and the White rabbit, Belle in her
Gown,
Lilo and Stitch, Pocahontas was spoted on deck four and also Wendy,
Snow White and Donald and Daisy Duck! Whew! Character
Bonanza!! :-) 
Madison was super
tired and we headed back. I ordered a burger
from
Room Service and we all enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies.
Doing a
couple loads of laundry ($1.00 for wash, $1.00 for dry, $1.00 for
detergent) and packing up some unneeded items. Tomorrow is
a nice
relaxing day at sea and we look forward to sleeping in a bit.