Thanksgiving on the Beach

Day 6 was Thanksgiving Day. On the agenda was our last port visit--CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island. They are still building the dock, so it is a tendering port. Fortunately, we got there early enough that we didn't have to get tendering tickets, which we've heard is the norm for the larger ships. Kayce got off the ship with the first tender around 730 to save us a space on South Beach. We all tried unsuccessfully to reserve cabanas, so the shore excursion people told us the next best thing was to get there early and get some of the public chairs in the same area. Kayce volunteered to take one for the team. The rest of us met for breakfast at 8 and then headed over.

We were there before 9 and the beach had not gotten crowded yet. We found Kayce and got ourselves situated on the beautiful beach. Many of these photos were taken from Kayce and Trevor, since we all know I am not the best at capturing moments.

Kayce took this picture of the almost empty beach

We were prepared to have the best Thanksgiving ever! The water was beautiful and warm and it was a wonderful day. We rented some beach mats and took turns floating around. The girls and I made a pile of beautiful shells, we buried each other in the sand and enjoyed the fact that we were hanging on a beautiful beach in November. No getting up early and cooking for us!

Living the life!

Lukey

Kara wanted a mermaid tale :)

We got lunch around noon. Thomas was feeling pretty run down and Luke was tired, so they went back to the ship.

Two cute boys.

The Anthem, taken from the tender

The rest of us stayed for a few more hours. After lunch, it was low tide and we could walk out for at least 200 yards without the water getting more than knee-high. We all ventured out and saw lots of sealife--fish, stingrays, starfish and many huge conch. I went and hung out with the boys while they built a sand castle in the shallow water. Kayce stayed out with the girls looking at sea life. It was really nice that we could tag team and share responsibility for all the kids. 

Another Wills photo, since I apparently took 0 showing the actual beach! They also took all the sealife pictures.

So happy to call this lady my friend!

Kara, Anna and I were ready to go by 3, but Jack was still going strong, so he stayed behind with the Wills. We got back to the ship, showered and took the girls up to the rock-climbing wall. While there, we saw Jack and the Wills come in on the tender from above. They didn't spot us, but it was fun. After rock climbing and ice cream, I played ping pong with Luke while the others went back to the room.

CocoCay and the pier in progress

Unfortunately, the Wills had another bad experience. Poor Ben got his hand caught in the elevator. According to Jack, there was a ton of blood and it was really scary. Kayce took him to medical and I went and found Trevor so I could watch Kolten while Trevor joined Kayce and Ben. They did x-rays and nothing was broken, but his hand was super tore up. We didn't think they were going to be able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, but fortunately, they made it. Poor Ben had been given pain medicine and had his hand bandaged, but he was a trooper.

Kolten and Jack playing War on our balcony

Thanksgiving dinner was good. Not as good a homemade meal, but we didn't have to cook or clean, and someone was there to make sure our water glasses were full, so that was pretty awesome. They had turkey and ham and the traditional Thanksgiving fixins, including pumpkin and pecan pie.