Cozumel, Castaway Cay...Time To Leave Already?

This is the view from our veranda as we docked in Cozumel.

You probably noticed that we never get off the ship, except at Castaway Cay.

Days at port, the ship is empty! We take advantage of the empty Mickey Pool, empty restaurants, quiet kid's club (relatively speaking!), empty movie theater...it's like we have the ship to ourselves almost.

One of our favorite daily stops is OceanQuest. The Open House time allowed Reese to play where the teenagers usually only have access.

Mommy & Daddy taught Reese the finer strategy details in Connect Four.

Another family favorite is shuffleboard! When we have the farm, I want a shuffleboard area.

My "camp rules" were apparently wrong, and when we found the correct scoring rules posted on the wall, I was a sad loser the rest of the time. I liked my Camp Doublecreek scoring method better...at least I could get some points!

See that empty pool? Everyone is off the boat in Cozumel, sweating their butts off!

Us? Kicking it at the Mickey Pool!

Reese came back from the kids' club with his face painted. He describes himself as a "mad man."

Jeff enjoyed bringing the laptop down to the pool & keeping up with his reading. At seventy-five cents per minute, internet access was like gold! Luckily, Jeff could log on, load all his pages to read, then log off and actually read them all.

Our cruise itinerary was special because we made TWO stops at Castaway Cay.

It's really the only port we like to get off the boat. I can easily take Reese off by myself because it's Disney's private island and I feel totally safe/comfortable alone without Jeff.

Did I mention I LOVE Jeff's hat? Hellooooooo sexy man!

Reese doesn't like to be messy, sticky, sandy, or anything like that. So going to the beach & playing in the ocean/sand all day is NOT his thing!

Instead, we brought a kite & bubbles to play with at Castaway Cay, away from the beach!

Reese & I found a table near the band & had a great time blowing bubbles. I always bring extras of things (bubbles, glow sticks) to share with other kids who come by. This time, we met up with some DISboard friends and Reese blew bubbles with their son & daughter.

After we ran out of/spilled all the bubble juice, Reese & I grabbed a yummy lunch of hot dogs, chips, pasta salads, cookies, peach upside down cake...etc. Oink.

He was too hot to fly the kite, so we danced a little to the band playing & then headed back to the Magic for naps!

A few pretty things from Castaway Cay, the beautiful sunset from the boat, and Reese standing in front of the Magic.

Our next trip on the Magic will be September 2009...we've already started counting down the days!

Now I'm trying to talk Jeff into the April 10th, 2010 Transatlantic crossing of the Magic to it's summer home in Europe. It's a 14-night cruise, but it leaves on my birthday. Doesn't that mean we MUST go? :)