Day 7 (06 Aug 12) – This isn’t Seaworld!!
Trip Intro/Index here.
Following earlier subterfuge which involved printing out a false voucher for Seaworld and BG tickets, showing today as Seaworld on our planner, and revealing the surprise for Joanne’s birthday when we arrived last Tuesday, the day has arrived.
Up and out for 7:30, we arrived at DC around 7:50 where quite a few people were already waiting. It was only a short wait though for us to be checked in with a 10:20 dolphin swim, passes sorted and family photo taken, and we were on our way. We secured some beds under a cluster of trees, and after depositing our bags and collecting our jackets and snorkels etc, breakfast was had from the good selection on offer.
This meal of course required a lie-down to allow the meal to digest before our swim, and we made our way to our allocated meeting point where we signed our lives away on the disclaimer form (must read the small print some time!!), before being taken to the dolphin lagoon with two other groups of three. Our first dolphin was Astreus, who was used by the trainer to demonstrate various skills they had been taught .
For the swim itself, we were then introduced to Diego, an older male dolphin, who coped with myself quite admirably. Although we have been extremely fortunate to visit DC twice before, we all felt that this time we got much longer in the water with the dolphins.
Following our dolphin swim, the rest of the day was ours to do as we pleased, which involved a few circuits of the “lazy river” using the snorkelling gear, having a beer whilst sat down in the new pool area (what you wouldn’t give for all Mondays to be like this), and Joanne braved the new reef area whilst Alex and myself watched from a safe distance.
Inbetween these activities and catching some sun on the beds, we did manage to make our way over for lunch – pulled pork sandwich with a salad and a fruit salad for dessert for myself, Hawain style chicken plus veg, a crab salad followed by fruit salad for Joanne, and pasta and chicken tenders plus a chocolate brownie cake for Alex – good job we did some swimming today.
We were also fortunate that the weather remained fine for our dolphin swim, and we had a few short showers around midday, but around 4:15 the heavy black clouds arrived with rumbles of thunder and lightening, so everyone was requested to seek shelter away from the water. We took shelter by the restaurant, where drinks were available, so had 20 minutes or so until we were told we could leave the area but not go into the water. As the park was due to close at 5:30, we decided to call it a day, and recovered our bags and photos and headed back to OKW.
In the evening, we drove to DTD. Took a chance on Wolfgang Puck Express at Westside having some availability, and found there was plenty of seating ¬Joanne had a Tortilla Soup (paid OOP), a Pesto and 4 cheese pizza for myself, and a plain Margherita for Alex. For dessert, we took out two parfaits for Joanne to have for breakfasts – 2 CS credits used. A stroll around DTD, but then the heavens opened again and we made our way back to OKW for another early night, with an early start planned in the morning for MK.
Trip Intro/Index here.
Following earlier subterfuge which involved printing out a false voucher for Seaworld and BG tickets, showing today as Seaworld on our planner, and revealing the surprise for Joanne’s birthday when we arrived last Tuesday, the day has arrived.
Up and out for 7:30, we arrived at DC around 7:50 where quite a few people were already waiting. It was only a short wait though for us to be checked in with a 10:20 dolphin swim, passes sorted and family photo taken, and we were on our way. We secured some beds under a cluster of trees, and after depositing our bags and collecting our jackets and snorkels etc, breakfast was had from the good selection on offer.
This meal of course required a lie-down to allow the meal to digest before our swim, and we made our way to our allocated meeting point where we signed our lives away on the disclaimer form (must read the small print some time!!), before being taken to the dolphin lagoon with two other groups of three. Our first dolphin was Astreus, who was used by the trainer to demonstrate various skills they had been taught .
For the swim itself, we were then introduced to Diego, an older male dolphin, who coped with myself quite admirably. Although we have been extremely fortunate to visit DC twice before, we all felt that this time we got much longer in the water with the dolphins.
Following our dolphin swim, the rest of the day was ours to do as we pleased, which involved a few circuits of the “lazy river” using the snorkelling gear, having a beer whilst sat down in the new pool area (what you wouldn’t give for all Mondays to be like this), and Joanne braved the new reef area whilst Alex and myself watched from a safe distance.
Inbetween these activities and catching some sun on the beds, we did manage to make our way over for lunch – pulled pork sandwich with a salad and a fruit salad for dessert for myself, Hawain style chicken plus veg, a crab salad followed by fruit salad for Joanne, and pasta and chicken tenders plus a chocolate brownie cake for Alex – good job we did some swimming today.
We were also fortunate that the weather remained fine for our dolphin swim, and we had a few short showers around midday, but around 4:15 the heavy black clouds arrived with rumbles of thunder and lightening, so everyone was requested to seek shelter away from the water. We took shelter by the restaurant, where drinks were available, so had 20 minutes or so until we were told we could leave the area but not go into the water. As the park was due to close at 5:30, we decided to call it a day, and recovered our bags and photos and headed back to OKW.
In the evening, we drove to DTD. Took a chance on Wolfgang Puck Express at Westside having some availability, and found there was plenty of seating ¬Joanne had a Tortilla Soup (paid OOP), a Pesto and 4 cheese pizza for myself, and a plain Margherita for Alex. For dessert, we took out two parfaits for Joanne to have for breakfasts – 2 CS credits used. A stroll around DTD, but then the heavens opened again and we made our way back to OKW for another early night, with an early start planned in the morning for MK.
