Its cool to see a boat speeding along the road next to you: (2) we then went onto a second beach, which was even nicer - it was less crowded and softer sand
St. Augustine:
Well, that concludes our East coast roadtrip, next week includes the West coast.

With only 18 more days of work (in reality about 9) I have a lot of things still left to do. During my year I have done pretty much everything, the last major target is Naples/Marco Island, which I plan to hit next week. Ciao for now

We then went to Daytona Beach, which was a lot of fun.
We then left Daytona, heading north to St. Augustine - Flagler beach, and Marineland along the way...

Luckily the resort is fairly protected from the wind by a lot of vegetation and palm trees.... so they still held the nightly campfire - which included singing songs and making smores - marshmellows included...
The next moring we managed to squeeze a spot for the very popular character breakfast - Donald came to visit us before he headed to the beach:


 

An extension of the drive through safari is a mini theme park which was included with admission:
(3) The loaner (4) arrival at Vero Beach - view from our balcony
It was a really nice room, too bad the weather was really windy...
 

The lines were so long at the Magic Kingdom that this was the line for a Dole Whip: (2) a school parade before the parade. The next day myself and Christine went on a roadtrip down to West Palm Beach (a little north of Miami) to visit Lion Country Safari - a place where you can drive your car through the safari. Bad news, they dont allow convertibles or even soft top cars, (because of smell) so they lent us a "loaner" - a beat up station wagon. It was a ton of fun, with a lot of animals, most of which approached the car....

(3) he got the closest, and he looked pretty upset
(2,3,4) this guy was trying to knock down the fence in front of us, while blocking the roadway, a truck had to come over to scare him away.
 

Recent rentals:

Lots of prep work for the Flower & Garden festival which starts April 5th

I earned my 1 year service pin. (2) a Canadian throw-in, (3/4) Magic Kingdom
 

For Valentines day me and Christine stayed at the Universal Royal Pacific Resort - a 5 star Loews hotel. It was great because we had a room on the exclusive top floor of the hotel, complete with a lounge that had drinks and snacks.
The next day we went to Islands of Adventure:




Such a nice hotel - it was a great stay. :-) 

For our last night on the Wonder, we had dinner at Animators Palate - a restaurant that changes colors throughtout the course of the meal



 

(1) as we were floating, a giant stingray, about 4 feet across, swam under us and freaked us out. I was able to get a picture of him:
(3) a mopped up trail of blood.... I wonder what happened...
BYE!!

 

A 5 min tram ride away - Serenity Bay - an exclusive beach for those guest 18+

(1) As we went for lunch we came across a crab in a shell, (2) The lunch setup - included burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, fruit, salad, ribs, fish, ice cream, cookies and chips:
Some interesting info:

Castaway Cay is a private island or "out island" in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port of call for the Disney Wonder and her sister ship, the Disney Magic. The island, located at 26°05′N 77°32′W and formerly known as Gorda Cay, is owned entirely by the Walt Disney Company in contrast to the eight islands leased by other cruise lines for similar purposes. This makes it easy for the company to control all aspects of the "show" put on by the "cast" or employees. The post office even has special Bahamas Disney stamps.

History, construction, and general facilities
The Gorda Cay was once used as a stop for drug runners. The runway on the island was a true operational runway at one point, but since has been used as part of Disney's theme and is no longer functional.
Disney is said to have spent $25,000,000 to develop and outfit the island, topping the $16 million spent by Holland America on Half Moon Cay, and the lesser efforts of other companies. As a result Castaway Cay has the most extensive facilities. Sea water is changed into pure water with reverse osmosis water processors. Construction took 18 months and included dredging 50,000 truckloads of sand from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The island is still largely undeveloped: only 55 of the 1,000 acres are being used. Due to the island's expansive insect population, Disney cruises generally depart the island before sunset.
The pier and its approaches were constructed specifically for the Disney ships, so that they could dock alongside easily, thus removing the need for tenders to get the passengers ashore. To create the mooring site for the ships, workers dredged sand from a 1,700-foot channel about 35 feet deep and ranging from 200 to 400 feet wide. The dredge material was used to build the landing island.

Guest areas
Like Disney resorts the island follows a theme, that of a castaway community with carefully planned buildings made to look as if they had been improvised after a shipwreck. However, all the facilities are spotlessly clean, like the Disney theme parks, and the many shops accept guests' stateroom keys for payment much like the theme parks.
Two "submarines" from the closed 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage ride at the Magic Kingdom now lie underwater in the snorkeling area. The Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is on display in the cay lagoon, between the snorkeling areas on the family beaches and the mooring platform for the cruise ships.
As on other cruise lines' private islands, there are no hawkers or panhandlers on Castaway Cay and crowd movement is planned in advance for organized beach parties and other events. The activities on the island are a major source of revenue for the cruise company, since most rentals, such as personal water craft, are not included in the price of the cruise.

Island support facilities and crew only areas
Castaway Cay, like most Disney resorts, has extensive crew-only facilities, with private beaches and recreational areas. Crew Beach is a favorite location for cruise ship and cast employees to relax and be themselves away from the tourists during their precious few moments off. Each department takes turns hosting a lunch barbecue for the other Crew Members on the Crew Beach.
Disney maintains a staff of 40 custodians, boat captains, drivers, landscapers and maintenance personnel who live on the island. They are complemented by members of the Disney Wonder or Disney Magic crew to serve the island's guests when the ship is in port. Food and other supplies are brought in by the ships themselves. Each ship connects to a fiber optic link at the dock to provide data services to the island and allow guests to charge souvenirs, equipment rentals, massages or other purchases back to their cabins. 

View of our Verandah Stateroom, and our towel art:
Arriving at Castaway Cay around 730am:
(3) The Flying Dutchman from the movie Pirates of the Carribean: