A New Ship | Cabana 18

Predawn running and a little room service breakfast out of the way, the kids sat and watched as the Fantasy backed into Castaway Cay. I tried to slather sunscreen onto the kids, packed the swim bag and wished Ben the best of luck as he ducked out to go join the other runners preparing for the 5K.

What do you get for Fish Extender gifts?
Here's our gifts for the week!

Kylee and Chris dug through all of their FE gifts, amazed at all of the perfect and thoughtful gifts. (Chris still loves the Star Wars book!) All ashore called, we headed down to the forward gangway to debark.

Pre-race selfie!

Ben enjoyed nearly perfect racing weather for his first Castaway Cay 5K, while Kylee and Chris squinted into the sun ready to run off on the beautiful island.

It is really bright out on this island.

We rode two tram stops into the island to hop off right next to the Cabana Check-In desk.


Is all of this ours?

After checking our names and that we had our cabana bands, they showed us to a golf cart and dropped us off right at our own little piece of the sunshine.



It's the little details, really.

Cabana 18 and 19 are uniquely situated to be well used as a pair, they are very close together with most of the beach space shared.

Luckily our neighbors were pretty awesome people.



That smear of green you can just see through the handrail is Chris out in his own lagoon.

Kylee changed in the corner of our cabana behind a privacy curtain while Chris pulled off his shirt and made a beeline straight for the water. Julia dropped by to explain the amenities of the cabana and ask if we needed anything else. Noticing Kylee and Ben missing, she inquired if they were around the island some where. Kylee, having the modesty of your average five year old, popped around the curtain in her birthday suit and told her Ben was running in the 5K.

Julia, every bit the professional didn't bat an eye and Kylee remembered herself and popped back behind the curtain to get in her swim suit very quickly after that.

Kylee enjoyed the complimentary pool floats and inner tubes but kept forgetting to only drag one into the water at a time.

While Kylee joined Chris in romping in the water, Ben showed up having already completed his 5K. Well that was fast.
He changed into his swim suit then hopped out into the fresh water shower and claimed a hammock for his own.

Ours is the red one, fourth from the left with the yellow umbrella.

While Ben showered off, Kylee wanted to walk "all the way down the cabana beach" and explore. We saw a couple other kids as we went closer to the main family beach, but for the most part, it was like we were the only ones out there. A few of our FE friends were splitting a cabana a few down from ours, so we waved hello. On our walk back from the main cabana beach to the tidal pool back by the new cabanas, a lifeguard came up to warn us that swimming in the pool in front of the new family beach cabanas is strictly "at your own risk" and that they have not completed all the dredging they would like to as of yet.

Ours is the cabana on the far right.
I cropped this photo to remove our neighboring cabana guest from the left edge of the photo.

Chris spent most of the morning building an "epic sand castle" and enjoying himself until such time as the toddlers in the cabana next door wanted to build as well. He surrendered his territory and most of the sand toys that came with the cabana. Instead, he decided to investigate this monster lobster our cabana neighbors had just fished out of the water. It was the size of a large cat. I have never in my life seen such a large lobster living or on a plate.

Watching the mammoth lobster from a safe distance.

Eventually, the lobster was freed well on the other side of the water, down by cabana 21's beach which, since it was awaiting furnishings, was still under construction.

Days like this are fleeting and golden.
I appreciate it all the more for the remembrance of the blessed peace well after the tans fade.

Ben and I enjoyed laying out enjoying the warm Bahamian breezes despite the calendar believing it was December. After Chris and Kylee ran in and out of the water for the better part of an hour, the view still does not get old. Kylee did however decide she was starving.

We decided she and I should wander up to Cookies Too and pick up lunch for our whole cabana and Chris could keep wading in and out. Ben agreed not to doze off while Chris explored and poked at shells along the shore.

After fetching two trays of food from Cookies and some assistance carrying it back to our cabana, I settled our picnic lunch around on the table and called Chris in from the water. Lunch, though simple burgers (veggie, chicken or beef) and sides, tasted delicious from the perfect seasoning of running, wading, swimming and sand castle construction. Chris and Kylee hadn't tried out Scuttles Cove on their previous visits and wolfed down their lunches so they could go see what the counselors brought to shore with them.

Perfect for a nap.

Ben and I went back to snooze and sunbathe on our green loungers. After an hour or two, Ben felt like he'd had about as much sun as he could stand, so we went to pick up the children for our planned divide and conquer afternoon.
We discovered the kids ankle deep in a game of boys versus girls tug-of-war. They were both wet (from the splash pad in Scuttles Cove), sandy, happy and more than a little tired. Chris eagerly headed back to the ship with Ben, while Kylee and I headed back to our cabana for a relaxing beachy afternoon.
If only we knew what awaited us, we might have called it and headed back with the guys.

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This is Part 18 of an Ongoing Trip Report "A New Ship."
Additional sections will be found on the Trip Reports page after they are posted!