Hi. My family and I went on that excursion in February. DH 42, DS 15, DD 7 and myself, 44. The Dolphin Encounter is actually on Anguilla. You take a boat from St Maarten. Then a little bus. I think the travel time was more than an hour. Once there, you are informed how to treat the dolphins, what to expect etc. You wear a lifevest. Forming groups of twenty or so you are brought to the encounter tank. There are four sides to the tank, three of which are accessible by walking on the dock. The fourth side you have to actually get in the water and swiim to it. Its very close, and its easy to do even if you can't swim-you can just float over because you're wearing the vest. Half of your group stays on the platform and the other half goes in the water with dolphins. Each half of your group interacts with the dolphin differently. Then you switch places. The time with the dolphins in about an hour or so. A video is made of your entire group and individual pictures are taken. A dolphin kiss, dance and hug are all cute photo ops. After the enounter we had lunch (included), standard barbecue fare and soft drinks. After lunch we went to the beach right there.
The video was very affordable, something like $15-$25. I forget the exact amount. The pictures are expensive-$8 for small and $15 for a large.
The trip back was just as long, if not longer because we were tired. I don't recall if there was a place to rinse off with fresh water. I wish we had because it was a salty ride back home.
All in all I'm glad we went. I don't think I would go on this excursion again. Too long a trip.
Sorry for not posting this earlier, I stumbled across this thread today.
Any questions I didn't answer, give a holler!
Ursula
