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| The Freedom of the Seas as seen from Cococay |
Kelley woke up first and spent some wonderful time out on the balcony, watching as we pulled into Cococay, our first stop. When Rob and Romi woke up we got dressed, grabbed some breakfast and headed down to the first deck to catch the tender, leaving the rest of the family happily asleep in their stateroom. We enjoyed the short boat ride to the private island. With such an early start, we not only didn't have to wait long for a ride but the day was cool and breezy. Two minutes after hitting the island Kelley was talked into braids by Stacey, who has been braiding tourist's hair for more than 20 years. I didn't have enough money on me to pay her, but she told me not to worry about it, that I could find her later in the day. Within 15-minutes I had a whole new do! I chose a multitude of colorful beads, which I loved, but I forgot that I would have to sleep on them. Stacey carefully sunscreened my white-girl scalp and the three of us set off to find the perfect set up.
We checked out the island's amenities and settled down in three lounge chairs inthe shade. Rob rented a float and while we enjoyed the lovely water, the sand was gooey and there was way too much sea grass. After a while I decided to check out the bamboo market. As I headed toward the stands, I looked up at the tender coming in and who did I happen to see just getting off? Seriously, with 4000 people on board, what are the odds that I'd run into the rest of the family at just that moment?! I took them to our happy hideout and we played, ate and relaxed all day. When it turned out that JoJo also had no cash on her to pay for my stylin' head, my awesome and loving husband schlepped back to the ship to retrieve some cash.
Romi fell asleep on the tender on the way back home, hard enough that he stayed asleep through security and up in the elevator. Of course, he woke up just as arrived at the stateroom. It figures! Steven did his manny best to get the little guy to go back to sleep but the two just ended up watching Shrek. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, sleeping, noshing on pizza, drinking soda water (well, I did anyway), and hanging out by the pool. JoJo tried a singles mixer without luck, but we were glad to get her back early. Steven and Kelley fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing cribbage on our cruise balconies with the incredible ocean as our backdrop, after which Morgan and Kelley dorked out and made a color-coded Excel calendar of all our planned activities!
Monday night was Captain's Night, the most formal of all. It was easy to get dressed with beads in my hair! We all looked stunning and took pictures with the captain before a lovely dinner. Romi wore his Shabbas hat and received many a well-deserved compliment. After eating, Kelley and Romi hit the bunks while the rest of the crew enjoyed a "Broadway" review. (What Broadway play included Karen Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun"?)
Another truly wonderful vacation day!
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