Shy Child and the dolphin swim?

[1TNMom]

I am taking my 6 year old daughter to DC in September. She is pretty shy, she doesn't like to be the center of attention. Can you explain to me what everyone else is doing in the group when you are interacting with the dolphin? That way I can prepare her ahead of time....Thank you!

 

[vernon]

The way it works usually is that you're in smaller groups of say 8-10 people per dolphin. To start with you all do a little "work" with the dolphin in waist deep water. After a little while the trainer will take you out in 2s or 3s into deeper water where you do some tricks and get to see the dolphin under the water ( if you want). Part of the "tricks" would involve sending the dolphin back to the "shore party" where the second trainer will give it some fish as rewards. This also means the shore party don't get too bored waiting for the swimming group to finish their time. The breaks are needed as the trainer will use that minute of so to explain the next bit of action to the swimming group.

I think you'll find she'll be so "INTO" the experience she'll forget her shyness. Dolphins seem to have that effect on EVERYONE LOL

 

[wedhead]

We just spent the day(Aug 20) at DC with our shy 8yo daughter.We were taken in a group of 8(two families of four)into the shallow water. They first did some group interaction and then we each took a turn to do something individually with our dolphin Rascal. My daughter was so amazed at being that close to him that I don't think she even thought about anyone watching her. At this point the water was about up to her chest. I will say that when we were told we were going to be going two at a time into the deeper water she was a little intimidated. The water was deep. Way over my head too. Make sure if she is hesitant about the deep water to get her a life vest. I ran and got one for my daughter before we swam out and she felt alot more comfortable. She got a ride back into shore holding onto Rascal's back fin and I will never forget the excitement on her face. It's an experience you don't want her to miss because she has reservations about anything. After her ride my daughter kept saying how cool that was.