Anguilla Dolphin Discovery

[DebbieA]

HI DISers,

Has anyone been on the Anguilla Dolphin Discovery excursion on St. Martin? We are thinking about doing this excursion and would love any feedback.

Thank you!

 

[Dreamer04]

Hi DebbieA! Welcome to the DIS! We were on this excursion last Feb 2005. The dolphin interaction itself was great. Getting there was a pain. A little taxi ride to a boat. The water was rough. Then a little bus ride to the dolphin excursion.

All in all, it was pricey but the pictures were worth it.

That said, I don't think I will be doing any dolphin excursions in foriegn countries until some of the accusations of mistreatment are cleared up or addressed.

 

[DebbieA]

Thank you for the input. I had not heard about mistreatment of the animals. That would definitely sway my decision to participate in the excursion. Where/how did you hear about the accusations?

 

[wecroozin]

I just returned from the Magic Halloween cruise and we too did the dolphin encounter at Anguilla. Overall I highly recommend this excursion and this was my first time. We had quite a rough boat ride(high winds on the seas) to the island of Anguilla from our port in St Maarten(45mins ride) but the trip as a whole was an excellent experience. We went with friends who had done a previous encounter on the Western cruise and they said that the Anguilla was far better. You get a pretty decent lunch and some beach time on Meads bay...BEAUTIFUL BEACH!!!!(right next to the encounter area) If you have nice weather and calm seas it's a wonderful experience. The bus ride on the island(approx 15mins) shows a side of this "exotic paradise" that surprised me.(most everything is very run down and a little spooky) but the driver( Harry's Tours) was entertaining and had some nice facts to share along the way to and from the boat dock. Give it a try. We enjoyed it.


P.S.... from my observation I couldn't see any type of mistreatment of animals at this facility. VERRRYYY Clean, professional staff and large swimming areas where the dolphins are kept.

 

[vossjemi]

FYI to the OP..there was a Primetime special on the trafficking of wild dolphins a couple weeks ago. It showed how they were lured/trapped into coves with many of them dying in the process. It showed how they were sold to these dolphin excursions around the world, many getting infections and/or dying in the transportation process. The guy who trained Flipper in the old series is now a dolphin advocate and was literally going around to these exotic trafficking locales and trying to free the dolphins. It was soo sad as they explained how dolphins are really attached to their family units and travel in pods and this trade literally strips them from their family, many times leaving the baby dolphins in the wild to fend for themselves.

Now, the special did show one park in Mexico where the dolphins seemed to be treated ok once there, but I don't think that was the point. The point was how they got there. In the US, it is against the law to catch wild dolphins. The only dolphins in our parks are those that are bred in captivity (I suppose the argument is that they may have difficulty surviving if they were released to the wild). But, the Caribbean doesn't have these laws (although someone did post an article that Mexico had placed a moratorium on catching wild dolphins for a while).

If you still want to do a dolphin excursion, investigate the place you want to go to thoroughly. Find out where they get their dolphins. If you'd rather see them in the wild, do some research as many islands have dolphin excursions to take you and see them interact in the wild instead of ones where they are held in captivity.

 

[DebbieA]

Thank you, wecroozin!

Sounds like you had a wonderful day. I would love to be able to spend some time at Meads Bay. I heard it was beautiful.

 

[DebbieA]

Thank you, vossjemi!

I had no idea the dolphins were trafficked like that. I will definitely do some research before making a decision. Seeing them in the wild would be wonderful.

 

[crzy4magic]

We did the Anguilla Dolphin Excursion in February of 2004 - and all of us still talk about it. My family - me DW, DS(13 now), DS (11 now) and DS (also 11 now), my DFIL and my DS all went and had a great day.

It is a long day - we were led from the ship to a boat that took us around the island of St Martin and made the 5 mile crossing to Anguilla, met by bus and taked to Dolphin Fantaseas (they are on 2 islands) and have there own web site. It was 1/2 day at the beach and 1/2 day in the complex with dolphins, parrots, rays and other sea creatures. The 3 dolphins were very friendly, seemed happy and in good shape.

The two downsides were 1 - lunch - if you were at the end of the line - there was not a lot of food left - they made more, but that could be a problem. The other was the handoff from bus to water shuttle was was a bit ragged, but you just need to remember that you are in the islands and everyone is working on island time and it goes well. My wife and sister ended up not shopping in St Maartin (whew!) but made up for it in St Thomas.

We would do it again in a heartbeat!

St Maartin had my other favorite excursion - the 12 metre yacht regatta - which is a blast too!

 

[DebbieA]

Thank you, Dave!

The 12 metre regatta was also on our list of possibilites.

I really appreciate your taking the time to let me know about your expereinces.

 

[wecroozin]

We left the Magic for Anguiila at 8 am and we were back on the Magic about 3 pm. Took showers and still had some shopping time on the island at St Maarten. If I remember correctly we de-ported about 6:30 pm. Our trip went very smooth and we still had time to check out some of the shops close to port late in the afternoon. Have a great trip and make the most of every minute you are abroad. WE DID!!!
It gets tiring but it's worth it in the end.

 

[DebbieA]

Thank you, again, wecroozin!

That is good information to have. I would like to be able get some shopping in, if we decide to swim with the dolphins!