Claire L
<font color=blue>Enjoys a good broadway show<br><f
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2002
- Messages
- 10,782
Sunday June 19th 2005 Discovery Cove and Trainer For A Day.
We woke up at 06.30am as the alarm we off, had the obligator cup of tea and cereal in the room before heading out at 07.40am from the Yacht Club. We arrived at DC shortly before 08.00am and left our car for valet parking as it is included in the cost of TFAD. We queued up with everyone else and then got booked in, I had taken my passport for ID as I had forgotten my driving licence, it was sitting nicely in my wallet at home in the UK!!! Once checked in with our credit card assigned to our badges we went and waited for our trainer to arrive. There were quite a few people waiting in the foyer and I was quite surprised that they had that many people doing TFAD. After about 10 minutes four trainers arrived and we were then split into 4 groups of between 6 and 8 people. Our trainer was to be Amy from Chicago, who was very bubbly and energetic.We were then each given our waterproof disposable camera to use as and when we wanted throughout the day when allowed as certain areas were restricted. Our group consisted of a lovely family from the Suffolk area, Mum, Dad and 9 year old son. A singe lady whose partner and daughter were just there for the non swim and a single US girl in her early 20s whose older mother was also there for the non swim. So in all there was seven of us in the group.
Amy then took us down to the area for collecting our vests and then showed us to the lockers where we to store our valuables at also as a meeting places several times that day. We were then given some sun cream which was duly applied to shoulders as I find mine always burn so easily. It was then off to the aviary for feeding the birds. The birds were some wonderful colors and loved the little pots of fruit at one point DH had about 5 or 6 birds sitting all over him!!
This lasted a while but we were then able to go for a swim around the 'lazy river' and were told to meet back at the lockers for our dolphin interaction. At 10.10am we were back at the lockers for pre-assigned 'normal' dolphin interaction. We went to the cabana for the pre swim talk and then headed off for our first interaction which kept our group altogether. For this swim we met Capricorn the old fella with very few teeth left! He was great but once or twice decided to swim over to Coral the young female who he has apparently got eyes for, theres life in the old fella yet!
Once this was done we were able to go for an early lunch, it was about 11.30am I had the chicken, potato and veg while DH had the burger. We sat eating and chatting to the family from Suffolk. After lunch it was then onto the coral reef to feed the fish. Boy did the fish jump up out of the water for the food, which I can only describe as being cube shaped jelly stuff! Then the ray pool was next for us to feed the rays, it is a strange feeling when they suck the food out of your hand
Then we were able to feed the sharks! This was quite unnerving in a way as we had an 8 foot or so pole to hold that had a grasper at the other end to hold the food and as soon as a shark got hold of it we were to release it 
We were then shown the feeding area and also the schedule of who is training, who is doing the interactions and where the dolphins are and what they are doing, this was the only point we werent allowed our cameras. It was then time to meet the anteater, sloth and several of the birds. During this time the black clouds started to appear so it was rushed a bit more than I suspect it usually is but we still managed to touch all of the animals or birds and get or photos taken with them.
I must say the anteater was very cute and the sloth was amazing, but dozy. Then lastly around 3.00pm we each had our second swim with the dolphins this time it was the double dorsal pull with two dolphins or a belly pull if you had back/shoulder/neck problem as the double dorsal pull is very straining on that area of the body. The rain and thunder had held off although we head a few rumbles of thunder in the distance. Then we went and had a look at the pictures taken during the day and finally DC now offered a DVD instead of the old video. By now it was 3.45pm so DH and I went and laid on one of the sun loungers just enjoying the warm afternoon sun. After about half an hour I woke and saw that the big black clouds were coming back so we headed off to get changed.
While waiting for our pictures the rain poured down and we took shelter in a shop until it eased up about 10 minutes later. We then made our way back to the car and were soon off to the Yacht Club to shower and get ready for our evening out
It had been a great day at DC very busy but also fun and informative, certainly worth the money if you are into marine life and want to experience more than the regular day.
Claire
We woke up at 06.30am as the alarm we off, had the obligator cup of tea and cereal in the room before heading out at 07.40am from the Yacht Club. We arrived at DC shortly before 08.00am and left our car for valet parking as it is included in the cost of TFAD. We queued up with everyone else and then got booked in, I had taken my passport for ID as I had forgotten my driving licence, it was sitting nicely in my wallet at home in the UK!!! Once checked in with our credit card assigned to our badges we went and waited for our trainer to arrive. There were quite a few people waiting in the foyer and I was quite surprised that they had that many people doing TFAD. After about 10 minutes four trainers arrived and we were then split into 4 groups of between 6 and 8 people. Our trainer was to be Amy from Chicago, who was very bubbly and energetic.We were then each given our waterproof disposable camera to use as and when we wanted throughout the day when allowed as certain areas were restricted. Our group consisted of a lovely family from the Suffolk area, Mum, Dad and 9 year old son. A singe lady whose partner and daughter were just there for the non swim and a single US girl in her early 20s whose older mother was also there for the non swim. So in all there was seven of us in the group.
Amy then took us down to the area for collecting our vests and then showed us to the lockers where we to store our valuables at also as a meeting places several times that day. We were then given some sun cream which was duly applied to shoulders as I find mine always burn so easily. It was then off to the aviary for feeding the birds. The birds were some wonderful colors and loved the little pots of fruit at one point DH had about 5 or 6 birds sitting all over him!!
This lasted a while but we were then able to go for a swim around the 'lazy river' and were told to meet back at the lockers for our dolphin interaction. At 10.10am we were back at the lockers for pre-assigned 'normal' dolphin interaction. We went to the cabana for the pre swim talk and then headed off for our first interaction which kept our group altogether. For this swim we met Capricorn the old fella with very few teeth left! He was great but once or twice decided to swim over to Coral the young female who he has apparently got eyes for, theres life in the old fella yet!
Once this was done we were able to go for an early lunch, it was about 11.30am I had the chicken, potato and veg while DH had the burger. We sat eating and chatting to the family from Suffolk. After lunch it was then onto the coral reef to feed the fish. Boy did the fish jump up out of the water for the food, which I can only describe as being cube shaped jelly stuff! Then the ray pool was next for us to feed the rays, it is a strange feeling when they suck the food out of your hand
Then we were able to feed the sharks! This was quite unnerving in a way as we had an 8 foot or so pole to hold that had a grasper at the other end to hold the food and as soon as a shark got hold of it we were to release it
We were then shown the feeding area and also the schedule of who is training, who is doing the interactions and where the dolphins are and what they are doing, this was the only point we werent allowed our cameras. It was then time to meet the anteater, sloth and several of the birds. During this time the black clouds started to appear so it was rushed a bit more than I suspect it usually is but we still managed to touch all of the animals or birds and get or photos taken with them.
I must say the anteater was very cute and the sloth was amazing, but dozy. Then lastly around 3.00pm we each had our second swim with the dolphins this time it was the double dorsal pull with two dolphins or a belly pull if you had back/shoulder/neck problem as the double dorsal pull is very straining on that area of the body. The rain and thunder had held off although we head a few rumbles of thunder in the distance. Then we went and had a look at the pictures taken during the day and finally DC now offered a DVD instead of the old video. By now it was 3.45pm so DH and I went and laid on one of the sun loungers just enjoying the warm afternoon sun. After about half an hour I woke and saw that the big black clouds were coming back so we headed off to get changed.
While waiting for our pictures the rain poured down and we took shelter in a shop until it eased up about 10 minutes later. We then made our way back to the car and were soon off to the Yacht Club to shower and get ready for our evening out
It had been a great day at DC very busy but also fun and informative, certainly worth the money if you are into marine life and want to experience more than the regular day.
Claire
