last year (he was 4 in April this year) and except for the cold water he had a blast! We rode a boat from a pier to the Encounter place and when we were almost there the trainers had dolphins swimming up to the boat and jumping out of the water. He thought that was so neat. Then we went up to put our shoes and towel in bins and then went off to a wooden platform in the shape of a U where we all sat down and dangled our feet in the water. The girls who were doing the encounter for us were so great! The dolphins would swim by, splash us and do tricks for about 30 min. Then 8-12 people at a time starting at one point of the U would get in and the dolphins would come up. We stood on a metal platform and the 4 year old wasnt tall enough so my husband held him. The water was very chilly but the dolphins would come up and you could pet them, touch their fins and give and get kisses from them. He didnt want to do the kissing part (he is funny about that stuff even from humans) but the rest of he it loved! I think we got about 4-5 min with the dolphins getting to touch them and interact with them before it was the next groups turn. It turned out to be pretty fun for all of us and we didnt feel like we wasted the money. He loved looking at the dolphins jump and he did pet them and touch their fins and bellys and giggled quite a bit when the dolphin "talked" to him. Only you know your child and know if he would like it enough to warrant the money spent. We decided to chance it and figured if he hated it we were only out the money it cost for him and the rest of us would love it . It ended up he liked it and now looks at his pictures in his scrapbook and talks about it incessantly. I dont know that he liked it alot when it was happening but now he loves to look at the pictures and talks about it quite a bit. It is one of his most favorite sections of his book to show people now.
I have some pictures I could scan if you are really interested just let me know.
Hope that helps!
Heidi
