dolphin encounter st martin

[Tylerandalliesmom]

Has anyone done this one before? Is it worth the $$$$ & is there time after to do any shopping? How far is "Front Street " from the ship?

 

[ClarabelleCow]

front street is basically where you get off the ship, walk to the town, and that is front street, I haven't heard many good things about Anguillas Dolphin Encounter, I refuse to go, and I spend almost 3 weeks a year on St. Maarten, I know the islanders arn't happy about it. Supposedly it's not very clean, and the dolphins are always sick.

 

[crystaldri]

We are doing this on April 2 cruise. I know its sold out for this cruise. They only take 60 people Iv'e heard. I can't let you know how it is till I return but we are very excited about doing it dispite what some negative things have been said about it.

 

[Dreamer04]

We're booked on this excursion for our upcoming 2/19 cruise. I'll provide full details when we return!

 

[maminnie]

Tami:

If you do a search for this excursion you will find a number of posts including mine which talk about this excursion. We went in April of '04. I believe I found the info searching under "Anguilla dolphin encounter".

 

[ClarabelleCow]

here is a post from another board - AOL ST. Maarten board, I did the Dolphin Encounter years ago in teh Bahamas, while of course we enjoyed it, it made me really think, please read - this in mostly regarding the program in Anguilla - not Bahamas. I think that one is different as they do swim free. Thisis just something to relly think about, I don't mean to ruin anyones plans, I am far from an activist, but this one really bothers me!


"Please don't patronize these captive dolphin programs. Dolphins are accustomed to roaming forty to fifty miles per day in deep water with a large pod. The swim programs lock them into a shallow, sandy cove and force them to interact with people basically by withholding food until they perform. It also promotes wide-scale capture of bottlenose and spotted dolphins throughout the Caribbean, with Cuba, Haiti, and Mexico being the prime sources. The mortality rate among these captures, depending on which statistics your believe, is between 30% and 60%.

Antigua just recently booted this same group of operators off their island and banned the capture of dolphins in their waters. The Solomon Islands, formerly a source, has also banned capture in their waters. However, captive breeding isn't successful enough to provide sufficient livestock for the US ops, much less the exploding numbers of parks worldwide, so capture is necessary. It's gotten bad enough that some US ops have been accused of keeping "rescued" animals on specious grounds, opining that the dolphins can't be rehabbed and returned to the wild.

I especially object to captive programs because there are plenty of opportunities to see dolphins in their natural habitats. My closest encounter ever with dolphins took place during a dive off Great Bay. A pod of fourteen spent five to ten minutes with us just off Big Mama's Reef."

 

[crystaldri]

Dreamero4 I would love to know what you thought of it when you get back in Feb. Cruise. Thanks!!