If you’re still itching to get back in the water after your previous day snorkeling the Cali, I recommend catching a cab (for about $12) and spending the day snorkeling at Chankanaab National Park (admission to the park is $16 per person). In addition to snorkeling, the park offers a swim with dolphins encounter (which I wouldn’t do), as well as food (which I wouldn’t eat). If you’re a certified scuba diver you can also book dives here. Viva la Mexico!
Castaway Cay
Your whole snorkeling life has led to this moment – the day you get to brave the fantastic waters of Disney’s private Bahamian island.. Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway only wished he could have washed up on a beach like this. To me, this is truly paradise found.
Photo above - The Beach at Castaway Cay
Castaway Cay (pronounced “key”) is a small island in the chain of Bahamian islands called the Abocos. Located southeast of Freeport and Grand Bahama Island, Castaway Cay is little over three miles long by two miles wide, but is packed with adventure and tropical allure. Here you can get your picture taken with Captain Jack Sparrow. Here you can soar one-thousand feet high while parasailing. Here you can do absolutely nothing at all in a hammock of your choosing. Or, here you can enter the blue jeweled waters and have a snorkeling experience as fun as Walt Disney himself would have envisioned it.
The island is segmented into three separate beach areas: Serenity Bay Beach (for adults only), the appropriately-named Teen beach, and the Castaway Family Beach. There are also eateries and drinkeries (is that a word?) as well as a spa area, sports beach, gift shop, and post office.
1/16/09. The weather forecast called for cold wind and rain. Heck, it was January. What did we expect? We ate our breakfast at Lumiere’s and filed off the boat like lemmings. It was cold. Sweatshirt and jeans cold. This isn’t what we pictured. A cruise as good as this can’t end like this. It just can’t!
My wife and I, with family and new friends in tow, walked along the beach, cursing our luck for booking a cruise in January. A group of kids by the shore’s edge bravely ventured into the water. Optimists, we thought. Young, foolish, immune-to-cold-water optimists. But wait. What’s this? The sun? It was. It was the sun! We thought it had forsaken us! The cold morning gave way to a warm, sunny, beautiful day, and then it was us who looked foolish in our winter wear. I sprinted back to the ship for my bathing suit and dive bag...
The snorkeling lagoon offers 22-acres of underwater attractions, and is located just beyond the boating harbor and right before the family beach. If you don’t own your own equipment it can be rented at Gils’ Fins and Boats. You have to wear an unseemly, yellow, inflatable snorkel vest (which is provided for free at the entrance to the lagoon), but you don’t have to inflate it.
A quick note on skill levels: The snorkeling lagoon at Castaway Cay is an outstanding experience for the seasoned snorkeler, but also provides a terrific learning environment for beginners. The huge, protected lagoon is great for those who fear becoming lunch to some large, gilled monster, and the multitude of lifeguards on hand, even out in the lagoon, provide piece of mind if someone were to get into a little trouble.
...I entered the water without hesitation. Despite the heat on the beach, the water was still cold, only in the high sixties, which is akin to ice water, even in my wetsuit, and I momentarily considered running back to the shore screaming like a little girl. But wait, I thought, I waited ten years to snorkel here, and nothing less than Bruce the shark was going to stop me. I ventured on. Cold, but ever forward.
Once in the water, the underwater environs are simply amazing. Picture swimming in an immense aquarium designed by Disney imagineers. Actually, you don’t have to picture it, because that’s exactly what it is. The underwater features are clean – Disney clean, with nary a barnacle out of place. The themed areas (this is Disney after all) are not gaudy and are well spaced apart. In addition to schools of colorful fish, here you will encounter sunken treasure chests, a Mickey figurehead, broken ship masts, and discarded submarines from the defunct “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” ride. It’s easy to get caught up with the fantasy here. Sure, these are merely props scattered cleverly along the ocean floor. But for a moment, just for a moment, let the magic of Disney in. If you do, you certainly won’t regret it. That’s what I was doing when reality hit and I heard the seven tones of the ship’s big horns play “When You Wish Upon a Star” calling me back. I guess it has to end sometime. Bummer.If you’re about to depart on your own Disney Cruise, I wish for you fair winds and calm water. Maybe someday we’ll see each other under the sea (I’m easy to spot: I’ll be the one sporting the Goofy Speedos).
Read: - another story by Tom Ryan
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