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Took a verrrry long time to edit all the pix I took on the rest of the cruise, but at last it's done. Have to admit I had some nice shots, if too many, to choose from. So now to continue with the tale of Caribbean adventure....

Tuesday, November 10th started much the way the previous day did: early, with intercom announcements waking me up. But I'd decided I wanted to try a day trip to Disney's private island, and I would need one of their sand wheelchairs, which were first come, first served, so I was actually motivated to leave the stateroom by 9am. Since the ship had docked, Dan was feeling better again, and I think the prospect of hanging out on a white sand beach appealed to him too.

I slathered myself with waterproof sunscreen, put on a swimsuit with a t-shirt and shorts over it, put water and snacks in a tote bag, and we were ready to roll. Once off the gangway, we were handed some towels, so we were totally set. There was a fairly smooth pathway for us to use, and we followed that while checking out the first piece of scenery: a model of The Flying Dutchman, which was used in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films (a pic of which appears above).

I'd read in our itinerary that none other than Captain Jack Sparrow was to make an appearance (not actually Johnny Depp, of course, but someone who looked like him). Sure enough, while we were admiring the gorgeous blue-green Caribbean water, a golf cart pulled up with everyone's fave pirate in it. Dan was kind enough to take a pic of me with Captain Jack.

After that photo op, we strolled around for a bit to get pix of the family beach which was nearest us and the gorgeous trees and flowers. When we reached the spots where the sand wheelchairs were, it had begun to rain, but I didn't mind as I already had a swimsuit on as long as the camera stayed dry. We left my personal wheelchair in exchange for the beach-ready one.

Sand wheelchairs are like regular ones except for the wheels, which are enormous inner tubes. It's like being in a very bouncy dune buggy. They are a pain to turn around, but Dan found he could make them go straight forward really fast, heh heh.

To actually get to Serenity Bay, the beach for grown-ups only, you have to go to the part of the island furthest away from the ship. Fortunately, there is a tram that will take you there. By the time we got to our destination, the rain was already letting up.

And so we set off to tackle the white sand with me giggling as I bounced around in the wheelchair. We stopped before long because Dan spotted a rainbow. I tried to photograph it, but it didn't come out as well as I would have hoped.

There were only a couple of people who had gotten to the bay before us, so we had our choice of where to hang out. The beach was already lined with chairs and tables with umbrellas. We decided on a spot about halfway out.

Serenity Bay is even more amazing than what we had seen at Nassau. Because it was a secluded cove, there were no waves, so I could actually wade without fear of getting knocked over by an undertow. And the water was crystal clear, so I could see exactly where I was walking and thus avoid stepping on coral or shells.

Dan doesn't typically get into the water when we visit a beach, but this time he did because it was so calm. He was the first one to notice the fish swimming around our ankles. There were tiny silvery ones as well as blue and green ones about six inches long.

Dan decided to go back and stretch out in one of the lounge chairs, but I was too excited to stop even though common sense would have dictated that I go rest. I continued to wade, slowly and carefully, watching the fish and watching the clouds dissipate and the sun come out. When I was about chest deep in the water, to my surprise, grey sting rays were floating past me.

I would have loved to have stayed right there all day, but I started feeling wobbly, so I made myself turn around and head back to the beach. Dan was a tiny dot in the distance. By the time I got to the chairs, I was pretty weak and shaky, my own fault completely, but I didn't care.

Hung out with Dan on the lounge chairs while I got some strength back, realizing to my regret that I had brought nothing to read. People began arriving in greater numbers, and one group sat in the chairs next to ours: a married couple, their two grown daughters, and the husband of one of the daughters. The mom told me she was originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and she said this beach reminded her of a place she used to go to as a child.

Unfortunately, lounge chairs really bother my back, so I needed to go sit in a standard one. Some people had taken theirs and placed them just far enough into the water that they were half submerged, and I decided to imitate them. The group that had settled near us did the same.

One hilarious moment occurred when a school of yellow striped fish swam right under our chairs. I let out a tiny gasp of surprise, but the man next to me, a huge muscular guy, squealed like a little girl and floundered around. His family could not stop laughing, and neither could I.

Later, the woman from Trinidad went out on a rented inner tube, and she got stuck in it. Her laughing husband and son-in-law waded out and towed her back in and got her unstuck. Luckily she found this amusing too.

By the time I realized I had forgotten to re-apply my sunscreen and was already starting to get some color (which my doc had told me was a no-no), the beach was beginning to fill up and Dan was getting restless. I verrrry reluctantly abandoned my Caribbean beach bum chair and got ready to leave. We went to rinse as much of the sand off as possible, which admittedly, is never enough.

We took the tram back to the mid-section of the island where there was an outdoor barbecue. I couldn't eat there because I had not made any arrangements in advance, but Dan had lunch while I snacked on what I had brought with me and had some iced tea. He said the food was pretty good.

Once nourished, we checked out the shops in the area. I found some really gorgeous, cool t-shirts, but none in my size. One place had some art work that I just loved, but I honestly have no unadorned wall space in my home, so I got a refrigerator magnet with my fave print on it, one of a loggerhead turtle. And I found some cool teardrop shaped earrings with a small nautilus design in the center and pieces of what looked like abalone around the edges.

Then Dan obliged me by taking me over to the family beach so I could look around. Wayyy more crowded than where we had been, but a nice beach with a huge water slide, para-sailing, jet skis, and lots of other stuff to do. There was also a nice view of the ship, which still looked huge even from a distance.

After awhile, tropical storm Ida reminded us that its influence wasn't completely gone yet, and the wind picked up again. We left the beach, snapping a few more pix of the flora as we headed back to turn in the sand wheelchair and pick up my own again. We got back to the stateroom about 2:30pm.

Took a proper shower, the only way to get rid of last remnants of sand, and dressed for that evening's theme, a pirate party. I didn't actually have any sort of costume, but I wore my "Pirates of the Caribbean" t-shirt with black capri pants and large hoop earrings. There was one more stop I wanted to make on the gangway now that I was cleaned up: I wanted to meet Pluto and have my pic taken with him, which I did.

Back on the ship, we agreed that we were both in the mood for a tropical drink, but I can't drink much due to my ailments, and Dan didn't want to be even close to tipsy when the ship started moving again, so we decided to split one. We got a strawberry daiquiri made with dark Bahamian rum. Delicious!

We had thought that the highest deck, number 10, was not wheelchair accessible, but upon closer inspection, it was, and the views were awesome, making me regret I had not gone up there sooner to take pix. Got some shots of Castaway Cay from there, and a nice fellow passenger generously offered to take a pic of Dan and I together. Then we went down to the stateroom for a bit of rest.

Dan and I had agreed to go to a showing of the brand new 3D version of "A Christmas Carol" with the rest of our party at 5:45. We met Dan's parents, grandfather and Virginia at the theatre. We sat in the back row where there was space for wheelchairs.

Probably only five minutes into the movie while I was enjoying the pretty 3D effect of falling snow, the effects of the enormous amount of activity of the day and lack of sleep came up and walloped me. No matter how hard I fought it, I could not stop myself from dozing off. So my memory of the first third of the movie is pretty spotty.

I did manage to get alert enough to watch the last two thirds of the movie. I must say I didn't care for the middle portion when they shrunk Scrooge down and had him chased by demonic horses, which made no sense at all. The ending was much better in comparison.

Luckily, Dan had decided take Dramamine and Tylenol an hour prior to the ship leaving port, and it actually worked: he felt well enough to fully participate in dinner. But Dan's dad was having sinus problems from the air fresheners in the rooms as well as some sea sickness of his own, so he had to skip out. The rest of us met at the Animator's Palate restaurant for our pirate-themed meal.

Dan's mom brought some extra scarves along, so I put a hot pink one on my head like a bandanna, more girlie looking than fierce, but kinda funny. We had brought our camera along to get photos of the wait staff, and we were glad we did, because they were in full pirate regalia. Dan had a proper bandanna with skulls on it and an eye patch for good measure.

Dan and I ordered the same thing: mahi mahi with a macadamia nut crust. Mine was a gluten free version, but there was no difference in appearance between Dan's and mine. Scrumptious, as was the cold melon soup and coconut rice pudding.

Toward the end of dinner, the staff invited everyone to participate in a pirate "parade" around the restaurant. Some people were wearing bandannas with Mickey Mouse ears on them, others with Goofy ears. They even did a little pirate limbo.

Then it was off to deck 9 for the ship-wide party, but because we had the late dinner, it was already in full swing when we arrived. We did luck out, though, and snag the last available place in the wheelchair-accessible area. Couldn't see much of the stage from there, but the big screen was visible so you could tell what was going on.

Lots of singing and dancing by Mickey and friends until Captain Hook and his crew "captured" the ship. Entertaining but not too scary for kids. The best part, though, were the fireworks: Disney ships are the only ones to have fireworks shows.

After the entertainment ended, there were actually snacks available, but as we had just finished supper, we had to maneuver my wheelchair very carefully around that crowd. Once back to the stateroom, Dan dropped right off to sleep, but I of course had to stay up to digest supper, so I propped myself up the best I could on the couch and picked up my book. Next thing I knew, Dan woke me up by throwing something at me from across the room because it was 1:30am and I needed to go to bed.