Sea Venture

[collegeprogram01]

We are going to Discovery Cove in a few weeks and was wondering if the Sea Venture was worth the extra money. Has anyone done that extra option in the park?

thanks!!

 

[ChrisM]

Yes.

It's definitely a unique experience. That being said, I found the pre-dive briefing a bit off-putting. It basically came across as "if you don't follow our instructions exactly, you will die. And even then, you might die." I'm sure they are just being cautious but it was enough to scare half my group off and they didn't even try it (thankfully DC refunded their cost immediately).

The experience itself was pretty interesting but I found it vaguely uncomfortable. They make a big deal about controlling your breathing and I found myself thinking about that the entire time as opposed to truly enjoying the experience. Also, the helmets are not smooth curves but have faceted sides, which makes for some weird optical illusions: you think a fish is about to swim into your field of view but it's just a reflection from the faceted sides.

On the plus side, the divers that assist you are fantastic and you see some incredible fish. Of the three of us that actually went through with the dive, two of us didn't feel like we needed to do it again and the third absolutely loved every second.

 

[disney debi]

We did it the first time we went to Discovery Cove. It was a lot of fun. We are doing a return trip this summer and chose to skip it. Not because it wasn't a wonderful experience, but more because we wanted freedom in our day. If you are doing the dolphin encounter, it just becomes more clock watching and appointment time.