Any Experiences With Dolphins?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s the deal: Mrs. HeyHomie and I are going to Disneyworld this fall (like we do every fall). I’m thinking about taking a side trip to do a dolphin interaction experience.

I’m thinking about cutting over to Discovery Cove, the companion park to Sea World Orlando where guests are limited (to reduce crowds) and you get to have a dolphin encounter.

The price for this is $229. :eek:

Granted, it includes a meal and free parking, but still.

If I’m reading the brochure correctly, the dolphin experience is limited. I don’t know if it’s a half hour, and hour, or what. It seems pretty clear that guests get to actually touch, feed, play with and otherwise interact with the animals, which seems unbelievably cool.

However, once your dolphin experience is over the rest of the day is spent at things that don’t really appeal to me all that much. Swimming with rays (those things look like they’re going to eat your soul). A free-flight (whatever the hell that means) tropical bird aviary. Snorkeling in reefs. Swimming in grottoes.

As far as I see it, I’ll be paying the $229 :eek: to hang out with the dolphin; the rest is just extra (and I’ll be sitting on the beach reading a book while everyone else swims with those Satan-fish, er, rays, thankyouverymuch).

Has anyone here ever interacted with dolphins in any way, whether at Discovery Cove, another zoological facility, or in the wild? Is $229 :eek: a good price? Any experiences with Discovery Cove in general?

Your opinions are much-appreciated.

2

I think that means you are in the enclosure with the birds rather than on the outside looking in. The enclosure is quite large allowing the birds to fly about as they please.

Can’t help you on the rest but it is something I have always wanted to do. Enjoy!

3

I swam with dolphins in Ixtapa, Mexico, at Delfiniti.

It was about $150, which got me into a huge dolphin tank with about 30 other people and two dolphins. We took turns petting the dolphins, hugging the dolphins, and riding the dolphins. the whole experience was about 40 minutes in length and the price included two free digital photos of me with the dolphins.

I have always loved dolphins, and I can say, without reservation, that this was one of the highlights of my life.

I have no idea if this Orlando thing would be as good, but if I ever go to Discovery Cove, I would have no problem paying out the $229 for the chance to hug a dolphin again.

Here is one of my free photos from Delfiniti

4

Well… there was that time I was ‘probed’ by a dolphin :eek:

5

My cousin worked with the dolphins at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. She told me that the dolphins were pretty horny creatures. AFAIK dolphins are the only other creatures (besides us) on the planet who engage in recreational sex (as opposed to sex for the purpose of making babies). She told me that the male dolphins would get fairly aggressive towards her as they’d get horny. They never actually hurt her which they could easily have done (remember dolphins are very powerful animals) but scared her on a few occasions (dragged her underwater, rammed her, “probed” her, etc.).

This shouldn’t scare anyone off of swimming with dolphins as I cannot think of a single case of a dolphin harming a human. Just know that they can get frisky and roughhouse.

6

I think that Bonobo recreational sex is pretty well documented. Unless you don’t include oral gratification and masturbation as “sex” for purposes of the Grand Jury inquiry.

7

Wow…$229 and $150 to swim with dolphins.

Last May my hubby, nephew and I swam with about 10 mature dolphins and one baby while boating about twenty feet offshore in the emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico near Port St. Joe, Florida. We fed them fish we were catching and petted them as they took the fish from our hands off the boat. Then we all just jumped in and swam with them and fed them. We grew tired of it before they did. But all in all it was about an hour long experience. Total cost…$5 for the tank of gas for the small boat we were out on.

However, I do think our activity might have been illegal, if not illegal, it’s probably not a good idea to get the dolphins in the habit of getting hand-outs as opposed to finding food on their own. But it was a remarkable experience.

I too have heard that dolphins are horny creatures. I’ve been told that women on their period should not swim w/them because that makes them especially rowdy. But I’ve never heard of anyone being seriously hurt by dolphins…only saved from sharks by them.

8

Thanks to Google, I found out I am a criminal.

I did not know at the time. I apologize and will not do it again. :frowning:

9

I’ve done the dolphin thing twice, once in Jamaica and once in Tortola.

If Discovery Cove is anything like the ones I did, here’s the deal:

You sit and watch an instructional video about how to behave around the dolphins, why you can’t wear your sharp jewelry, not to bite them, etc. This part is boring and takes about 10 minutes.

You rinse off and hop into the pool in which there are dolphins. You’ll be in a group of about 10 people. There will be a “trainer” with you at all times. You’ll all put out your hands and the dolphin will swim by and you get to pet it. Then the trainer will have the dolphin come up to each person in turn for a “kiss”. Then a few people at a time will swim to the middle of the pool and the dolphin will jump over you. You go through a few iterations of various sorts of jumping, etc. It’s all very regimented. In Tortola, each person in turn got to do a “fin tow” and “foot push”. The fin tow involves holding on to two dolphin’s dorsal fins and having then drag you through the water. The foot push was actually quite cool; you lie face down in the water and two dolphins push on the soles of your feet, causing you to rise up out of the water like you’re water skiiing. Your total time in the water with dolphins will probably be about 30 minutes.

Throughout this experience, you’ll be videotaped and photographed. (In fact, when the dolphin comes right up to you, the photographer will insist that you look at the camera, instead of looking at the dolphin. This ends up in a photo that looks quite idiotic, imho) After the swimming portion, they’ll try to sell you the videotape, photos, etc, which ends up being incredibly expensive; expect it to double the cost of the experience if you get suckered on it all.

I wouldn’t have done it twice, but friends who I was vacationing with really wanted to. We paid something like $90 each, plus another zillion for all the photos and videos which we’ll never look at again. The one in Jamaica may have been more, actually; I can’t recall.

I think the most important thing to know about it, aside from the cost, is that you’re not going to be “interacting” with the dolphins so much as being a prop in a dolphin show. The dolphins do their jobs, they seem happy enough, and when you do the requisite 2-splashes-means jump, they jump. There will be no randy dolphins, no probing, no being dragged underwater, etc. The dolphins are trained performers.

Honestly, the reef snorkeling and the swimming with rays sounds a hell of a lot more fun. I’ve done both, and I’d do both again, but I’m not going to bother with the dolphins a third time.

10

I swam with wild dolphins in the Red Sea in Nuweiba’, Sinai, Egypt. It cost the equivalent of $2.50. Well, there was the additional charge we paid to be boated a bit into the water. That was, let’s see, an additional $2.50.

The cost in getting to Egypt in the first place may have been a bit more, though.

11

I swam with a dolphin near Onekaka (sp?) in New Zealand. Total cost was $0.

12

I’ve been to Discovery Cove, I have to run now but all I can say is do it, you will not regret it at all. The place is great, the people are great, and they only allow 1000 people in a day so it will not be crowded. I just took Iris there for her birthday and it was a wonderful day. All day swimming with fish, stingrays, and 30 minutes with the dolphin.

Iris said it was better then spending the day at the spa. I’d go back, though probably not pay for the dolphin, in a heartbeat. I’ll post more tomorrow though Sengkelat is about right what they do.

13

I went to Discovery Cove with a date shortly after it opened in Orlando. The dolphin encounter portion of it was very, very much as Sengkelat mentioned.

I was rather underwhelmed with the dolphin experience.
The rest of the time was actually very nice. After parking you go to the reception center (very nice Carribean theme) and check in since this place limits it’s guests and is done by reservation. You then go to the locker room area after following a trail that winds it’s way through lush tropical vegetation with colorful parrots hanging out.
After changing into swimwear you hangout on the grounds either sunbathing or swimming/snorkeling through the man-made saltwater lazy river that is filled with ocean life.
Part of the river goes under an opening into the enclosed bird aviary where you can get out of the river and have exotic birds eat out of your hands.
The river flows along man-made rock formations, waterfalls, and more plant life and palm trees. Very relaxing and very uncrowded.
Your “dolphin encounter” starts at a preset time where you meet with a group of about 7 and watch some video about dolphins and how they’re our planets greatest resource, and their endangered, and blah, blah, blah.
Get in the water and wait your turn to touch a dolphin, have it kiss you, be pulled 10 yards, signal it to do a roll, etc. Boring if you ask me. I had more fun with the Clydesdales at BuschGardens.
The food, which was included, was pretty good compared to what you usually get at a theme park. Similar to eating at a good sitdown restaurant.

Overall, it was beautiful, uncrowded way to see a tropical zoo close up mixed with swimming. But to do it just for the dolphins I could leave it.

(Any more detailed questions, just ask.)

14

We went to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key in FL:

We didn’t actually swim with the dolphins because we didn’t even find out the place existed until we were there for other reasons, and of course you need to book pretty far in advance. They are open most days for tours, though, and you get to meet the dolphins, so we decided to go do that (it also costs a lot less, of course).

It was still very cool. When the guide brought us out to the docks, he did a little spiel about the work they do there and where the dolphins they have came from, and the dolphins knew we were there, so they swam up and started cruising back and forth and checking us out. After a few minutes, a couple of them got tired of the spiel and started grabbing hunks of seaweed and throwing it at the guide. He put up with it for a bit and then started throwing it back, which of course just made them want to do it even more. Naturally we found this pretty amusing.

After he was done, the guide did ask a few of them to jump out of the water and do that kind of stuff, but we didn’t get the impression that they were ‘performing’ like they were at Sea World or anything like that. At least at the time we went, the healthy Research Center dolphins were free to leave the center and go out into the open ocean if they wanted to - they just didn’t, for the most part. Many of the ones now there were born there, so I’m sure they feel like they belong there.

At the end of the tour we got to go up to the edge of the dock and the dolphins would swim by and we got to pet them and wave at them - the guide didn’t order them to do anything, he just let the ones that wanted to come up to us. You could tell that they were just as curious about us as we were about them. On the web site, there’s a page called ‘Meet the Pod’ about the dolphins that live there. I distinctly remember AJ and Theresa - Theresa is the oldest dolphin there. They can live 40 years, so some of them have been there a long time. There are also a couple sea lions there that we got to meet as well.

15

Discovery Cove was amazing. It’s truly a little paradise, you’d never know that you were in middle of Orlando. Our visit was a surprise for my birthday (I’ve always wanted to swim with dolphins) and definitely ranks up there as the best birthday present ever. We had a blast.

Even if it’s man-made, if you’re into nature and enjoy swimming/snorkeling, you’ll love it. The place is huge, with several different areas for snorkeling. You can swim with stingrays, all sorts of tropical fish and even sharks (ok, they’re behind glass). One of the areas contains stingrays only and you’re allowed to touch them all you want. The snorkeling areas are surrounded by a river, but that’s more for just swimming and floating around. The river is chlorinated so it’s kind of like a pool with rocks, but there is a slight current to keep you moving along around the coves and under the waterfalls. The river even passes through one of the aviaries, so if you’re lucky, some of the birds will greet you along the shore. Not to mention, the whole place is surrounded by a beach if you’re into sunbathing.

As for the dolphin encounter, it lasts about 30 minutes. They split you up into groups of 5 or 6 per dolphin. You get to touch the dolphin all you want, plus the instructor shows you some training tricks. And you can even kiss the dolphin if you want, but who can resist a cute dolphin? The highlight of the encounter is the actual swimming with the dolphin. You go out about 50 meters from the shore with the instructor and then the dolphin pulls you back to shore while you hold onto it’s fins.

It happened to be unseasonably cool on the day we went to Discovery Cove. The high was maybe 50 degrees farenheit or so, but they have plenty of full-length wetsuits available to keep you warm. If you don’t wear a wetsuit, they make you wear a bright colored vest so you can be easily seen by the lifeguards in case of an emergency (that’s how big this place is). We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves that day. Only 250 people were there because of the cool weather, but even with the maximum being 1000 people, I can’t imagine feeling crowded at all.

When we were done swimming, we wrapped up our day in the aviary visiting the birds. You can feed them if you want and we took more than enough pictures.

Also, I believe a visit to Discovery Cove includes a 7-day pass to SeaWorld.

16

FWIW, I used to drive taxi in Orlando, and talked to probably a dozen or so fares who’d done it.

All of them liked it, and I’d say it was 2 to 1 in favor of “it was worth the money.” Then again, for some folks, $200 ain’t much.

I also heard it’s kind of a waste for kids.

17

I fed and petted the dolphins at Sea World in San Antonio. They feel like rubber.

18

JoJo the Dolphin deigned to swim out with our snorkeling group when my wife and I were in the Turks & Caicos on our honeymoon. He just swam in lazy circles around the boat while we snorkeled. I followed him for a while (it’s HARD to keep up with a dolphin) and took some pictures, but I didn’t try to pet him or touch him. It was just cool swimming beside him.

19

I used to work in the dolphin center in West Edmonton Mall. IMO, swimming with dolphins is overrated, but maybe I just became jaded. I much prefered scuba diving in the big lagoon with the ship.

As someone else said, dolphins are incredibly horny creatures. A funny story: some trainers in Vancouver thought it would be a good joke on their boss to teach a male dolphin to spout an erection, pick up one of his toy rings with it, and parade it around the pool. So they taught him to do it, and everyone had a good laugh. Problem was, the dolphin liked it so much that he started doing it for the public. They had to take the dolphin out of the show and train the behaviour out of him.

Also, dolphins can be dangerous and mean. They’re complex creatures, which means they have moods and personalities. We had to be alert to their moods and stay out of the water if they were giving off angry vibes. One of the newer trainers didn’t pay attention and got in the water with a dolphin that didn’t want company. It warned him once by smacking its flipper on the water near him, and when he didn’t get the message it smacked him in the head with its tail. A tail that is strong enough to hold a 600 lb dolphin out of the water. It broke his nose, blackened both eyes, and cracked a cheekbone. But it could have killed him.

Not to be a downer or anything - I’m sure the dolphins you’ll be swimming with are selected out for their grace and easy charm.

20

Swimming with the dolphins is a lot cheaper in Panama City Beach.

http://www.shellislandcruises.com/dolphin_cruise.htm

http://www.gulfworldmarinepark.com/interactive.htm

Swimming with rays is free - you can do that anywhere along the beach - just don’t step on one, or they’ll stick you with a poisoned barb.