Questions about Dolphin Swim

[gottaluvpooh]

I am sure the answers are here somewhere, but I cannot locate them.

I was wondering:

1. If my kids 11 and 20 do the swim. Is there an area, right there that I can watch from and take pictures?

2. What exactly happens in the swim? I did the swim in Nassau (actually - Blue Lagoon) and wanted to compare them.
Any help would be appreciated.

3. My one daughter (20) isn't all that excited about the snorkeling etc. Is there a beach or something for her to enjoy?

Thanks

 

[Cindy B]

Look at Discovery Coves website.. www.discoverycove.com

And www.swoinfo.com There is a wonderful write up about Discovery Cove there as well

There is a beach there.
From the pictures I have seen, you can lounge on the beach, and do the other stuff, like the Bird Aviary.

I would think you could split up the dolphin swim as well. You can watch, but pictures can be a bit hard to do. I read if you have a good camera/telephoto lens it would be doable.

 

[vernon]

I'm presuming your either not doing the swim or would time it so you weren't all doing the swim at the same time. ?

1) Yes there is an area you can watch and take photo's from. Most of the experience is about 20 feet away from the shore and the "indevidual/pairs" swims are maybe 50 feet at the most. A camera with a medium telephoto lens on it would be fine.

2) in our case we had a sit down talk for about 30 minutes with the trainer explains what will be going on and what to do/not do. Make your way down to the beach and get used to water and equipment ( goggles and jacket). Over the next 30 minutes your group ( usually 6-8 people) will take it in turns to split into 2s/3s. Two/three people will go with one trainer into the deeper water for about 5 minutes "quality time" but the dolphin moves back between the two trainers so the people in the shallows don't just stand there like lemons. The trainers will ask if there is anything particular you wanted to do/see and they will vary the proceedure accordingly. Ultimately , as they will not force the dolphins to do anything they don't want, you are at the whims of the dolphins. If they dont want to play with you, you don't get played with . Sayingthat the trainers are very patient and will try their best to make sure everyone gets some interaction but each and every group/persons experience will be different. There is ALWAYS going to be a chance some people will feel they didn't get as good a time as they expected/the group over there/my friend the Smiths last week. It's down to luck and the feelings of a rather large Dolphin.

3)There is a very nice beach area that over looks the dolphin pools. We would lounge for 30 minutes, watch the next groups on their dolphin experience then scurry off to do something else ( snorkle or fed the birds). It would be a shame if she didn't try the snorkling at least once while there. She'll need to cool off at some stage I'm sure so might as well take advantage of the experience. With the stingrays you can just stand as the water is only a couple of feet deep and let the rays swim through yuour legs/around you .

Have a great trip there, I get the feeling you might see the "child" in your 20 year old yet

 

[The Hunt]

I would just like to add that I think it would be a mistake for any member of your party to skip the dolphin swim just to get pictures. The pictures DC takes are pretty good, and you probably aren't going to be able to get better ones from the beach, even with a telephoto lens. The DC photogs are right in the water with you. The dolphin swim is really fun and memorable, and I would urge you to do it if you can.

 

[MaryJ]

I haven't even been to DC, but I have a friend who went last year. Her two oldest DD's did the dolphin swim and she showed me her pics that she got from the DC photographer. They were great! It was these photos that are making me consider going to DC on our next trip!