Disney's Castaway Cay - a very special Father's day!

If you've been reading my posts about our first-ever cruise (here, here and here), you'll know we spent a day on Castaway Cay. This is Disney’s private island that they have leased from the Bahamian government until 2096. Here I'll share more about our day at Castaway Cay!

Since the Disney Dream was already docked when we woke up, I sat on the verandah, drank my coffee, and enjoyed watching the men work with the ropes to tie the ship to the dock. So interesting and the workers looked so tiny!

We went upstairs to Cabanas for their wonderful breakfast buffet, then after applying sunscreen and packing our cooler bag, we were out of the room and off the ship by 9:00 a.m.

Castaway Cay was much larger than I expected. When you get off the ship, you are handed a beach towel for each member of your party (you can politely ask for two towels, if you think you'll need them). Then, you can take a tram to the beaches, or walk the path. We chose to walk.



The beach was pretty empty when we got there because we were off the boat early.

Look at the view of the Dream from the family beach!

We found a great spot -- under lots of trees, right behind the bar (!), near the restrooms and restaurant, with lots of hammocks. Don’t worry about getting a chair – there are plenty!

Our oldest daughter and I headed to the water to snorkel before too many people were there and the sand got kicked up from the bottom. We brought own equipment, but Disney does require all snorkelers to wear yellow safety vests while snorkeling, so we each grabbed one of these, free of charge. You don’t need to blow up the vest, but you must wear it. There wasn’t much to see on the marked underwater trail, except for some fish and sunken Disney artifacts; we did like the giant teacups! According to other guests, snorkeling in other areas of the beach was better – they saw rays, sea turtles, squid, and more colorful fish. Here is what my husband did while we were snorkeling:

Beer and a book = a perfect Father’s Day for my husband! And as is their beach tradition, he and our youngest daughter built one of their ‘now-famous’ sand sculptures:

Numerous people asked if they worked for Disney – they thought they were professional sandcastle builders, and asked if they could take pictures of the sassy shark!

After a great BBQ lunch at Cookies BBQ, we did more exploring of the island. There are no lockers on the island, and since we didn’t bring cash, we left our things on our chairs all day and no one bothered any of it. Everyone there is too busy making memories with their families!

Be sure to check out my next post (coming soon), where I’ll let our pictures tell the story of what we did with the rest of our day on Castaway Cay!