Lighthouse Cay

Today we landed nearby Eleuthera, an island of the Bahamas that I can never spell correctly.  Our view from our side wasn't of the island, but we'll get to that soon enough of course.  This was Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, a fairly large title for a destination, and it needs a fitting walkway for a title that large, doesn't it? 

Here's the view of the walkway that Disney created over the coral reefs so that the natural world beneath was not disturbed.  Instead, we were all disturbed at having to walk this vast distance beneath the heat and sun... all I'm saying is that I did my part for the environment.  Paid a big price for it later on too, but we'll get to that soon enough.

We did notice another boat rolling up to shore too.  Those poor souls have to get on ferries and ride to shore the old fashioned way.  They didn't get to walk a half a mile in blistering heat, those poor people.  I'm sounding a bit jaded, aren't I?  It was funny hearing the dwindling applause each time an announcer would explain why we were walking all that distance.  And we were thinking, "We're doing this for the environment."  And to be clear, I'm all for that.  I'm just thinking perhaps the ferry thing might have been an easier way, or perhaps there was some other Disney solution.  Or... perhaps there might have been a covering for shade built for this death march across the blazing heat?  Here I go again, complaining about that walk.  It wasn't really that bad, but I'll get to that soon enough, because first, there's breakfast!

We've been opting for the sit-down breakfast at Lumiere's because you can order gluten-free items with ease there, including gluten-free Mickey Waffles!  Given that it's a French-themed restaurant, however, I wanted to get some French toast!

And these danishes were incredible!  Simple, but so good.  Maddie and I had a difficult time resisting these each morning.  They were really, really, really good!

I love the table decor here, and of course the overall look of the place is wonderful.  We enjoyed this destination for breakfast throughout the cruise.

Okay, so here we are in the Fathoms Lounge.  We're waiting here for a golf cart to transport us over that bridge, because we were worried about Mom really.  But who am I kidding?  I was worrying about me too!  Ironically, Maddie was struggling with the heat and the bridge later on too, but for now, we were happy to wait here, and happy not to have to walk.  It was a fairly long line to wait in.  We actually put our name on a waiting list, and then did a few other things and then came back and still waited some before we left.  But we did leave, and it all worked out just fine.

Here we are on the golf cart.  Mom is wearing that sticker, which you can only get when waiting in line as we were.  Basically, it allowed you on the golf cart, and we were thankful for that ride.  

We got off at the first stop, and there you pick up a tram.  But before picking up a tram, we got ourselves some drinks to stay hydrated, along with a really nice collector's cup that will be great for hot and cold drinks.  And check out the sculptures of Bahamian creatures sitting there to greet us!

But we did get on the tram after that, and rode over to our destination at the beach there.  On the way, we saw a lot of large crabs all over the place, and that would normally give me nightmares.  I mean, they were climbing the walls and just all over the place.  It was fantastic!  We heard a little narration about the island, and just a taste of what was to come in regards to the history and culture of the place, and of course the natural environment.  It was going to be a nice day.

First though, the giant Junkanoo walls!  Completist that I am, we have pictures in front of each of the Junkanoo walls, and you may notice that each one is themed to a different classic Disney character.  This one above is Pluto, and as you can see, I took the picture myself of Maddie and Mom.  Already, we're pretty hot out here in the sun.

These were also taken with the cell phone, but this time by one of the photographers there.  She was kind enough to take a picture of us in front of the Goofy themed wall.  There were photographers all about these walls, and not many people stopping to take pictures, so we went ahead and got photos in front of all of them.

Ah, and here's Minnie Mouse.  These pictures were on the Disney photo pass that we pre-purchased, which again is totally worth it if you're taking over a hundred pictures.  Which we did.  We had them take over 200 hundred pictures, so definitely worth it!

This is the Mickey Mouse themed wall here.  There are four of these walls to greet you, each surrounding a gift shop in the greeting area where you get off the tram.  A short walk from there is the cultural center, and the beach of course.

And here's Donald Duck's wall, the final piece of the puzzle!  These are neat - we love the style of Junkanoo, and we'll get to that soon enough because we learned quite a bit about that today.

Photo shoots out of the way, we had a couple plans for our stop here, and the first was the beach:

Firstly, the water was as blue as I've ever seen beach water.  Usually it's a little stirred up or whatever, but in this case, it really had that Caribbean blue look, and was just gorgeous.

It was a little cool in the water, but you got used to it quickly.  We saw a few fish in there, large ones too, but all harmless and just enjoying the water as we were.  The weather was sunny, and the heat was quite a bit considering we'd been just in some rather cool weather the last few weeks.   But the view was pretty amazing.

This is an area further back from the beach where we placed our things.

We spent some time at the beach, which had sand that felt like flour beneath your feet.  There weren't many umbrellas down at the shoreline, so we sort of knew our time limit was short down there, and that was okay.  We had some quality time in the water and on the sand, and that was great.  Next, it was time to go check out what Junkanoo was all about.  

Not far away was a Junkanoo workshop at the cultural center there, all in the shade.  We got a great spot there, nice and cool, and it was there that we heard from a guest speaker who told us all about the history of Junkanoo and what it was.  She had musical instruments that we played, including more cowbell!  I was up there helping with the drums, creating the heartbeat of the performance.  And afterwards, we were making our own headgear from crepe paper and glue and shiny beads too.  The three of us sat there with quite a few others, all of us making our own Junkanoo hats.  It was fun!

Colorful costumes!  Must be really hot too!

Making my own hat!

The "heartbeat" of Junkanoo music.

The walls had a designs and murals depicting creation of Junkanoo and more.

Here we are with our Junkanoo hats!

After we created our headgear, it was time for the Junkanoo Rush!  This is basically a parade of performers, all in colorful Junkanoo outfits, all playing whistles, cowbells, drums, and a lot of brass instruments too.  We watched them from a spot in the crowd, and then followed along in somewhat of a parade to a point where there was a little bit of a dance party to Junkanoo music, followed by some photo ops as well!

Can you spot the Hidden Mickey in the design above?  It's to the right...

It was a really cool thing, actually.  Although "cool" might not be the best description.  It was very hot.  It was so hot that we were pretty ready to go by this point, although I had two more destinations in mind before leaving the island.  The first was a refreshing smoothie for all of us in the shade!

Maddie got a mango melon, and Mom got a Dole Whip, and we got these cups too, both of which made to keep things cool.  That was a nice and refreshing stop!

By this point, we had just one more stop in mind, and that was to see Mickey Mouse, who was just a few feet away.  There was a photographer there, and a small line.  But we hadn't posed with Mickey yet, so we got on line and added a few nice Mickey Mouse shots to the photo pass.

And then it was time to get back to the boat.  We spent a bit too long in the sun, I think.  That was evident to me later on, although Mom and Maddie were just fine.  I got a little nauseous from the sun, as I tend to do each summer when I spend too long in direct sunlight.  That little hat didn't help me much, though it looked nice and colorful.

We went back to the tram and got back to the waiting point in front of the big long death walk over the sea.  And there we waited for a golf cart.

And we waited some more...

Look at all the people that gradually joined us as long as we were waiting there.  It was a really lengthy wait, and by the time the golf carts came, I didn't have it in my heart to take the seat of some elderly person in real need of it.  So we told Mom to hop on, and we waved goodbye.  Maddie and I were going on a walk!

We posed for a few shots with the boat off in the distance, but soon it was time to get out of that heat.  Maddie and I were both anxious to get away from the sun for a bit.  

We saw Mom's cart go by, and another one too.  Looking into the water, I could see elongated fish, some sort of gar I think.  The water is so blue, isn't it?  Off to the right, we could see the other cruise ship.  We were looking at it with binoculars and could see the ferry boats transporting people to the island.

We made it, and there at the end were water stations with infused cucumber water - so refreshing!  Also lemon water too, plus cool wet rags to wipe off any perspiration.  We boarded quickly and easily, and soon we were with Mom again in the cabin.

Time for some rest, some journaling, and some freshening up!

The Junkanoo hats on display!

Maddie brought her Bible along for study time.

She also brought along these friends!

Everyone hanging out on the veranda!

Mirror selfie time!

You can see someone fun at the Soul Cat Lounge.  Up there on that highest shelf is 22, the soul that hangs around Joe Gardner.  We've spent some time in the Soul Cat Lounge already, but today we passed by there and decided to head up to the Cove Cafe for some more coffee.

But first, ice cream!  Each day we'd get some of that free ice cream from Eye Scream Treats.  Yummy!  Mom is seen here overlooking the island as Maddie and I get her card stamped for another coffee treat.  Five coffees and the sixth one is free.  You can see how easily we'll earn that free coffee soon enough.  Until then, here's Maddie's daily coffee shot:

Mom is a little tired here, but the air conditioning is nice.  She decided to take a little nap, and while she was napping, Maddie and I went down to O'Gill's Pub, perhaps named for Darby O'Gill, and there we joined several others in an origami class.  We had no idea what we were making, but we set out to try it out, and...

We got busy creating this, step by step.  The host there would go from table to table to check on us, helping us where needed, as this was a fairly complicated origami.  Nevertheless, Maddie and I were determined to each try two different examples, making a total of four.

About a half-hour later, here we are with some of the finished products.  You're probably wondering what it is.  This next picture may help you figure it out:

It's a cell phone holder!  Yes, we're using these on our desks when we get back home, a nice little souvenir.  If, that is, they survive the journey.  We'll have to use some tape when we get home, just to make sure they all stay together!

After this we went back to the cabin to see Mom.  We're about ready for Pirate Night, a traditional night on all these Disney cruises.  Mom packed some pirate gear for all of us, and as usual, Disney gave us some new pirate bandanas to wear upon our heads. 

Plus, each night Maddie had a different set of Mickey Ears.  Tonight they were pirate themed!

We soon were sailing away from the island, and as we moved off, we had to get clear of some nasty weather in order to find clear skies for our pirate night fireworks.  The ship was moving briskly, and it moved through quite a storm!

But soon the weather was clear, and we were good to go for a really nice evening together!

Maddie loves seeing the sunsets from the boat.  We had a beautiful sunset here, something Maddie would race out to see each evening.  

So I had gotten in line early to see Jack Sparrow.  I held the place for Mom and Maddie, who joined me just in time, and we were so glad we could do this one.  The line was huge, but we were like third in line!

Turned out great, didn't it?  We'll revisit these Jack Sparrow pictures in a moment, because tonight for Pirate Night we also posed in front of the other photo walls, adding a lot of pirate poses to our photo pass.  Check these out!

Here's Mom, waiting in line to see Jack Sparrow.  That was very nice.  The Disney characters don't just pose for pictures - they have conversations with you and make all kinds of movie-related small talk.  He had asked me if I took his peanut, and if you've seen "At World's End," you get the reference.  He had a lot of fun with Maddie, and that was super to see.

If you're wondering what he's doing here, it's amazing.  Maddie brought along her Polaroid camera, and had me take a picture of her and Jack Sparrow.  But that wasn't enough for Jack Sparrow, who then offered to sign the Polaroid!  

What a great souvenir!  It doesn't get much better than that.

I was early in line for Jack Sparrow because I wanted to get into the theater on time to see our movie tonight, and by theater, I mean the big Walt Disney theater that seats about 900 people or so.  Instead of a theater stage production, tonight's entertainment was a brand new movie, "Lilo & Stitch."

The movie just came out this week, so how awesome to see a movie that just now came out in theaters on a Disney Cruise?  We found some great seats, this time towards the back, and we sat down to enjoy the movie!

And we did really enjoy it!  Super fun movie with a lot of laughs and heart.  And how great to see it with a bunch of Disney fans.  We saw two movies on the ship now, one here and one in the Buena Vista Theater as well.  

And we had a little time before dinner too, so after the movie, we went to a Pirate Family Game Show, one that we went to on a previous cruise.  This is on a different boat though, and it was still a lot of fun.  We had front row seats too, enjoying the crazy fun of two competing pirate teams (left side of the audience versus right) who were trying to claim victory for the night. We were on the team known as the Bilge Rats, and we were a rather rambunctious bunch! 

We had our fun there, and afterwards, it was time for a pirate meal!  Arrrr!  We returned to the Animator's Palate tonight, and that was a great, great place to have this sort of meal because the artwork on the walls was all piratey, and the music was from various pirate movies - we were all decked out with our pirate gear on, ready for a hearty meal!

The rum cake!

Tia Dalma's chicken!

So things are a little rushed after that, because everyone is clamoring to get to the "Pirates in the Caribbean Party," on deck up top.  We managed to find a spot though, and amazingly enough, we found a spot with chairs and a table.  Yes, we were actually seated for most of it!

It's a good bit of a dance party with Disney characters leading everyone in dances, and then a pirate band coming in to do some classic music.  Eventually Captain Hook comes in and wants to show everyone how it's done, but obviously the best is last and that is Mickey Mouse himself decked in pirate gear, actually zip lining from one funnel tower to the other, and then waving his hands to start the big fireworks show.

We've seen this a few times, but it never gets old watching fireworks in the middle of the ocean.  I mean, there's no one around for miles except us.  I wonder what this looks like a great deal off, complete with the faint pirate music blasting for all to hear.  Up close, it's pretty fun!

We were so tired after this.  Long, long day!  Look what Antonio, our stateroom host, made for us tonight.  

I had him pose with his creation!  We were pretty tired though, and it was time for bed.  We read tonight from our Kingdom Keepers book, and then we said our prayers together.  The boat is moving along, northwest towards Nassau, and we'll probably wake up and see it from our veranda.  Goodnight, me hearties!