Dolphin Day

Ladies and Gentlemen, girls and boys - welcome to the Bahamas! Meet your excursion representative at the aft end of the boat bright and early . ..

We were always hearing about aft, topside, and astern side of the boat, which means I was always confused about where to go ;-).

So, this was the day of our big shore excursion. Last year our oldest daughter made a New Year's Resolution to "swim with dolphins" so we decided this would be her chance. We got off the ship and onto a much smaller boat, headed over to Blue Lagoon Island. Here, we split ways: Darren and the older kids went to "swim" with the dolphins and the youngest and I went a different direction to have an "encounter" with the dolphins. After putting on the dry suit, (that I just tried not to wonder about who wore it last), we stepped into the water with a full grown dolpin swimming circles around us and doing tricks and squeals. It was so much fun! The trainer was obviously very good and I particularly loved watching his "behavioral therapy approach" to rewarding the dolphin (actually fascinating to me -- isn't it Pavlov, anyway, cool stuff).

After a little bit, I see my husband and daughter walking toward our group. She had tears in her eyes and looked so sad. Apparently, swimming with the dolphins just wasn't her thing. These are some of my favorite pictures of the whole cruise - tell a million stories don't they?

Maybe she just needed her mother :-)

I did get to see footage from Darren and our son's swim with the dolphins and it was seriously awesome. They were gliding through the water with two dolphins pushing their feet. Darren said it was absolutely incredible.

The beach at Blue Lagoon Island was totally awesome (to use my 90s slang). If there is ever a next time, we are most definitely going to the Blue Lagoon beach. It was so clean and so crowd-controlled (meaning there were people there but not hordes). Ahh, I loved it. Darren and I have both remarked at how magical that beach was.

Kids can play in the sand 24 hours a day. I'm not even sure if the kids got in the water. Ahhh, wonderful.

Why not do cartwheels?

In case you are wondering, no dolphins in this section of the water, but when we crossed the little bridge back to the boat we could see dolphins swimming around. It was just beautiful.

We stayed on the island a bit longer than the others, this is a very happy moment in life :-)

Back on the boat, we hurried off to dinner and spa time and nightly entertainment. Busy, busy, busy, and definitely fun. It seems like we would get tired of the entertainment, but we didn't. That night's show was an illusionist, Jason Bishop. He was incredible. We were literally mesmerized the entire time. I have since looked him up on Facebook. I would love to see another show if he tours nearby. He was funny too, just an all around super family-friendly, fun evening.

I think he was having the kids help him lift the case to ensure everyone knew a human was inside. My son is the one with the napkin-cape, one of those proud Mommy moments :-)

This might have been the night of the deck party and have I mentioned the unlimited ice cream? That was a huge hit with the kids, in fact our older daughter spilled some on her shirt (that was supposed to be worn under a sundress, which is why it looks so small). I was thinking how glad I am that we took so many pictures of her wearing that ice cream :-)

One of the many, many character sightings on the ship.