I'm wondering how the dolphin swim at DC compares to others, like DolphinQuest

[Tuffy]

I've already booked my 10-yr-old daughter and myself for the swim during the week before Easter next year. I wonder how the SW swim compares to others, for those who have done others, say in the Caribbean, Hawaii, etc. First off, at least the water at DC is clear so you can see everything. I wonder if I should have opted for a more natural environment instead. Do you think other swims are less "scripted" and controlled? Offer more "free play", as it were? Any opinions are welcome

 

[vernon]

The only swim I can compare it to is the one I did in Israel. The water there was a lot more cloudy than DC, so a big plus for DC on that. As far as less scripted goes, I would agree that DC is a more controlled environment and therefore your experience is likely (although not guaranteed) to be a "standard product". I'm not sure if I would consider that to be a minus for DC. You can be reasonably sure that you will get at least some personal interaction with the dolphins at DC, other swims that is not so certain. Going back to my Israel experience, my then wife (now ex) and I did our swims at different times so there was one of us to look after younger daughte. My wife's experience,IMHO, I would put at probably "better" than DC's as her group were treated to a mother dolphin introducing her calf to the swimmers ( apparantly the first time she'd done this even the trainer/CM was really buzzing about this when they came in). Both mother and calf really concentrated on my ex (very blonde) and one VERY red headed lady. The CM said that in Israel those hair colours are more unusual and the dolphins sometime like different things in their environment. My swim wasn't as successful, the dolphins weren't interested in the people and were playing/fighting among themselves, the most I saw was a group of four of them at about 20 yards going past VERY quickly. IMHO that's the risk you take in a less controlled environment.

In virtually all the dolphin swims I know of, you are at the "mercy" of what the dolphins want to do, any chance of more "free time" is down to the dolphins, this is the same at DC as it is at any similar experience.

IMHO DC is a good choice with a younger ( less than 18) family member, while as an adult people are (usually) able to deal with the dissapointment if their experience is one of the less exciting ones due to the dolphins not being "up for it" it's a great deal harder to explain to a 10 Yr old that it's "one of those things" that the dolphins were interested in something else during their allotted time. I would not disagree with the word "controlled" but I would probably use it in the context of a "quality controlled" experience.