Castaway Cay, a little bit of paradise on earth. Tyler and Chase immediately started searching the sandy ocean bottom for baby hermit crabs, its what they look forward to most.
The front of the Flying Dutchman as used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Our hermit crab came in a close 2nd place. It almost won! Chase picked our crab's name.
The backside of the Flying Dutchman, you can tell which side they did the filming on....
Aly and AJ Concert. I just took the 3 older kids to this show....it was a good thing, Chase and Jared would have HATED it. Not that the girls didn't do a good job, but it was pretty crazy. There were kids lined up hours before, and it was pretty crowded with a bunch of rowdy teens.
Aly and AJ did an autograph and picture "meet and greet" session. The girls have their pictures and autographs up on their locker. Aly and AJ (I don't know who they are, but the kids knew them from the Disney Channel) also did a concert the night before. It was crazy....those kids, teens, tweens and even parents, are NUTS!
That night was Pirate Night!
Tyler was messing around doing dinner taking a bunch of candid pictures of people when they weren't expecting it, so the girls with their cameras joined in too. They had alot of fun that night!
Our Server Som Pong or "Sammy" from Thailand and his assistant Rajeesh from India. Our table mates next to our table, said in 16 DCL cruises, these were the best servers they have had. With the potential table assignment disaster at the beginning of the cruise, we considered ourselves very lucky!
The kids did a Secret Mickey during the cruise where they gave and received little gifts with another kid their own age. It was completely voluntary to sign up, but the kids really enjoyed doing it. These pictures are with the kids they exchanged with. Chase was the only one that gave and received to the same boy.
Courtney became good friends with Tori before the cruise. She received from Tori, but the girl she gave to did not go to the end event, so she never met her.
They had a boat building contest that Tyler entered. There were some people that really put alot of effort into it. They were judging it based on a few categories, most seaworthy, fastest, goofiest, and creative. Tyler's was entered in the fastest category and had a good shot since there were only 2 others entered.
The table next to ours. They were the nicest family, and we became good friends.
Some Aruba city shots from the ship.
Chase likes the towel animal monkeys the best.
Tyler wanted to go to a beach in Aruba, so Chase, Jared and Tyler headed back out to go to Palm Beach which was recommended by a great family dining at the table next to us. They went to the other side of the island very easily, and since the ship was in Aruba until late (11:00 pm) they were able to stay a bit and use the beaches at the nice hotels there. Jared was very impressed with the beauty of the beach, how clean the city was, and there were no solicitors. He probably loved Aruba the best, so maybe we can try and go back someday.
Chase enjoying the ship's chicken strips.
A nice shot of Chase and Aruba at dusk.
Snorkeling in Aruba. Our excursion that Tyler and I took stopped at 2 locations. One, was at a reef not far off the coast, and the other at the Antilla shipwreck site.
Tyler on the boat ride.
Tyler loved how turquoise the water was. It was so shallow and clear, you could see the plant formations along the bottom, making darker spots in the water.
Tyler holding a starfish that was found along the bottom.
Some of the sealife found while we were at the reef. There were alot of schools of fish.
When Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the relationship between the two nations was obviously strained. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this extended to Aruba. The Antilla was a German U-boat supply ship that was anchored off the coast of Aruba at the time. A contingent of Dutch Marines gave the ship 24 hours to surrender.
The Antilla was fairly new at the time, and rather than see her turned over to the enemy, the Captain decided to scuttle the ship. After putting the crew ashore, he heated up the boilers, which were amidships, and opened the sea cocks. When the cold sea water hit the hot boilers, they exploded, ripping the ship in half. It sank in eight minutes.
At 400 feet long, the Antilla is the Caribbean’s largest shipwreck. It lies on its port side at a maximum depth of 55 feet, though it can readily be seen from the surface.
What it looks like now: 
Tyler and I went on a snorkeling excursion in Aruba that took us to the shipwreck of the Antilla.
The wreck was huge and kind of freaked me out so I stayed in one area, but Tyler was like a little fish swimming all over the place and taking pics. Here are some shots we took of it. It was really huge, and there were masts and lines still in tact. The current would pull you right into it, and before you knew it you would be so close to a mast or the wreck itself. The size was very overwhelming.
