Family Book...Forum Style

[Malto Marko]

Our second dinner onboard. The two new faces are Jeff's Dad and Mom. They joined us for the cruise bringing our party number to 14.

You will notice the large screen TV's on the walls. If you look closely, way in the back and to the right, you can see a turtle. I forget what his name is but he is a character from Finding Nemo. His voice is that of a laid back surfer dude.

He would swim around the room and stop at a table. He would look over the table then start asking questions to someone that was sitting at the table. Persons at the table were able to respond and interact. He did this just before dinner arrived and after we had eaten and was wasting for desert. He was a hoot. He referred to my granddaughter (who was wearing a pink dress and glasses) as the small female turtle in the pink shell wearing goggles.

[Malto Marko]

A picture of the turtle (I think his name was Crush) checking out our table.

[Malto Marko]

Well, that's it for now. Gotta go.

Castaway Cay up next.

Oh, and by the way. You often hear the food on a cruise is plentiful and the quality wonderful. This cruise was no exception. All of our dinners offered gourmet choices for dining and one could order anything on the menu and as many as you would like. The last evening I ordered both a Prime Rib dinner and Seared Scallop dinner mostly because I could, but also because I love both. I enlisted a couple of volunteers to help sample the scallops.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Mark, how much was the cruise for the two of you? If you'd rather not say, that's ok. I'm just imagining it had to be a lot.

[Malto Marko]

A standard inside stateroom would have run about $1800.00 for the two of us.

We chose to upgrade a couple of notches and get a Deluxe Veranda Stateroom that ended up running about $2400.00.

We were very glad we chose to upgrade because at night when we were sailing we spent most of the time on our own private veranda.

Mrs. Malto stated the only thing that could have been better is if they would have a hammock that could be slung out there so she could sleep out there.

It is by far the most I have ever spent for a three day vacation but, it was worth every penny spent.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Thanks. That's not as bad as I thought it might be.

[Malto Marko]

BTW, the $2400.00 figure included transfers to and from the ship which ran about $70.00 per person.

Edit: .........and it couldn't have been more simple.

Our bags were taken from the Disney Property and delivered to our Stateroom. We simply had to board a bus.

The ship checked us in for our return flight, delivered boarding passes and luggage tags to our stateroom. We tagged our checked luggage, they picked it up and escorted it through customs, got it loaded on the correct flight and the next time we saw them was picking them up at the baggage area at our destination.

Very hassle free.

[DeanUK]

Great pics Malto, I'd love to go back to Florida again at some point.

[Tony G]

Especially now that they aren't shooting the foreign trourists?

[Malto Marko]

OK. A bit later I am going to wind up my photo tour with Castaway Cay.

A beautiful tropical island now owned by Disney and an exclusive stop for their cruises.

Here is a bit of background on the island:

Though it has never been completely confirmed, it is rumored that pirates frequented the island in the early 1700s. The island laid just north of a trade route used at that time, so it is entirely possible that many popular pirates who roamed the region during that time period, such as Blackbeard and Anne Bonney, may have come across it in their travels. With its numerous hidden alcoves, it would provide a perfect hiding spot for pirates to camp out and wait for passing ships.

To lead credence to this theory, two treasure hunters from Nassau came across a few objects of interest just off the shoals of the island in the 1950s; three coins and a 72 pound silver ingot. Markings from these items showed that they belonged to Spain’s King Philip IV. These treasures seemingly came from the San Pedro, a Spanish Galleon hauling treasure back to its king that was sunk in 1733.

More recently, the island was known as Gorda Cay. Unlike most of the other islands in the region, which are narrow and long, Gorda Cay was round and built up behind the exposed reef, rather than on top of it. This provided about 1000 acres of pure paradise. Farmers from Abaco, part of the mainland seven miles away, would come to the island for part of the year because the soil was fertile and relatively rock free. They leased their land from the Bahamian government, and lived in a tiny village along the beach on the Cay’s southern side.

It was also used as a refuge for fishermen caught in bad weather. The shores provided a nice place for them to wait out a storm on many occasions. These fishermen sometimes came back with their families in nicer weather for picnics on the picturesque beaches.

In the 1960s, Alvin Tucker flew over the island with a real estate agent from Nassau. He asked to circle the island a few times, and before the plane even landed, he bought 150 acres of it. Alvin was a businessman, and loved investing in tropical locales, and Gorda Cay was one of his first of many purchases in the Bahamas.

The only way to get to the island in those days was by boat, so Alvin planned to clear land for a runway for easier accessibility. He’s the one responsible for the 2400 foot runway that still exists today. Though it’s no longer in use for its original purpose, it now serves as a bike and tram path to Serenity Bay, the “adults only” area of Castaway Cay.

As time went on, though, this tropical hideaway seemed to be too good for others to pass up for nefarious purposes yet again. Alvin heard rumors that his private airstrip was being used by drug smugglers to bring narcotics into Florida. Even when he tried to put a stop to it, it was to no avail…the police were supposedly in on it as well! Alvin began to visit less and less, and eventually sold his land to a private company.

By the 1980s, Gorda Cay was becoming a bit notorious for its dealings. Various newspapers reported that people who once owned parts of the island were no longer welcome, and were being chased away by men with large guns and even larger Dobermans. Residents claimed that they saw up to six planes a day landing on the airstrip.

This dark time in the island’s history can be attributed to Frank Barber, an American who lived in Florida. He was secretly using the runway himself for years to smuggle drugs into the country, and turned out to be behind the “private company” that Alvin Tucker sold his land too. Now that the island was largely his own, he began to operate his own little drug empire exclusively on the island.

Aside from his own illegal activities, Barber rented out the airstrip to other smugglers looking to bring their goods into the country. But if you were unfortunate enough to not make arrangements with him before hand, Barber’s associates would be more then happy to take your products off your hands for you…by gunpoint!

On a slightly more legal side of things, Barber also had plans to turn part of the island into a resort for tourists. He got as far as building a large hanger besides the airstrip before he was caught for his misdeeds. In 1983, there was a bust on the island involving $100 million dollars worth of cocaine. Just a few days later, Barber went to jail for it. He was sentenced to five years, but died in prison before he could serve his time. Activity on the island continued even after Barber's imprisonment. It was rumored that, despite being behind bars, Barber was still in control! After his death, however, the bustle began to slow down to nothing.

Some years later, Disney bought the island to turn into a private getaway for their cruise guests. It took some 18 months and about $25 million dollars for them to develop it into Castaway Cay. This included dredging sand from the Atlantic Ocean to expand the beaches and building a pier so guests wouldn’t have to use tenders to get back and forth from the cruise ship. Interestingly enough, even with all that work and money poured into it, only about 55 acres of the 1000 acre island are used. The island opened for business for the first time on July 30, 1998.

Much like everything else at Disney, a whole back story was created for Castaway Cay. Despite the island’s already rich history, the Disney version is a little more wholesome! You can read all about it here: http://www.bamferproductions.com/leg...astawaycay.pdf

Nowadays, the island's only inhabitants are the 70 or so Disney employees, including custodians, boat captains, drivers, landscapers, and maintenance personnel. Most of the cruise ship's cast members come onto the island when the ship is docked to help round out the rest of the staff.

So there you have it folks…the secret history of Disney’s own private getaway. Not exactly what you expected, huh? To be honest with you, me either! However, it's interesting to see how Disney can take something with a seedy past and turn it into a major tourist destination! But next time you're on Castaway Cay, you'll be able to marvel your friends with the true story behind its beginnings!

[Malto Marko]

OK here we go again.

First, here is the Origami fold left for us during night #2 on board. (After boarding, these were put into our rooms while we were at dinner).

Note the handsome dude in the background catching up on the nightly news.;-)

[Malto Marko]

Let me start by saying everyone in a party dropped their goods on a lounge chair and ran to get into the water with the exception of my sister and me.

After sitting on my lounge chair for about half an hour in the sun, I became hot and decided to wade into the water to cool off.

I walked into the water to be surprised that when I got ankle deep, I was surrounded by little fisheys. I quickly identified them as small minnow and cursed Sharky for trying to photobomb one of my pics.

After standing there for a while, I was surprised to see a larger fish, about 9" long running up around me with dorsal fin out of the water and belly rubbing on the sandy bottom to snatch a few minnows for a snack.

After standing out there for about 15 minutes, and wading a bit deeper to my knees, I noticed schools of the larger fisheys, which I will refer to as Silver Mackerel because they look liked Mackerel and were totally silver, run up in schools and attack the minnows.

Fascinated by their quickness and lack of concern for those human thingys that were in the water, I witnessed a group of about a dozen Silvers come in and work like a group. The herded the minnows into a circle then two or three of them would dart across the grouping catching a fishy or two on his way across. I immediately though, heck, these are not dolphins. Why is this happening.

Dad and Daughter enjoying the "Family Beach" on Castaway Cay.

[Malto Marko]

My eldest grandbaby, Adeline (AKA Addie), did not like the fish show. She freaked when the Silvers came running in to feed so chose this as her response to going swimming.

[DanO]

GREAT photos malto.

[Malto Marko]

This is a far off pic of a play scape that included dual waterslides on the front, water cannons at the rear, and sides were jump into the water and retrieve one on the thingys on the bottom. (Kind of a jump into the water for treasure type of thing).

It interested me but, the kids we had with us were younger than this would appeal to and, I was not being a real water dude today.