Swimming with Dolphins at Discovery Cove - Orlando / Florida Guide
Florida Guide > Discovery Cove
Nearly every time I have returned from Florida I have heard excited families telling other people about how the best day of their trip had been swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. Well this time it was my turn to have the experience.
You get allocated a time for your swim when you arrive and you are asked to turn up for a briefing 10 minutes before your allocated time. There seemed to be a lot of people there but then I realised there were 6 different groups so there were only 7 or 8 in each group.
The briefing took about 10 minutes with general instructions and safety instructions. People were asked to remove any jewellery they were wearing and we were told what we could and couldn’t do and people were asked to say if they had certain medical conditions. We watched a short video and all signed disclaimers that basically said if anything went wrong it was not Discovery Cove’s fault!
Then to the water with two trainers and a photographer per group and we were introduced to our first dolphin. Ours was a 30 year old female who behaved impeccably throughout the 15 minutes she was with us. We all had to stand close together in a line and she swam slowly past us several times so that we could touch/stroke her body. She felt very rubbery and very solid. We were told a lot about her and then we met her individually for a “kiss”. This probably one of the moments that sells the photographs available afterwards.
We were then shown some of the hand signals that are used to get the dolphins to perform actions on request and we went through a few of them although I’m sure her eyes were on the trainer rather than us as she had the fish!
A second dolphin was then introduce Ours was a 9 year old male who was not quite as obedient as his older partner, after some more tricks it was time for our individual swims with him. People who were not confident in deeper water stayed in the shallows and had the first swims. The dolphin waited while we put one hand on his fin and the other on his front flipper then off he went back to the trainer. It didn’t last long but it was great fun.
After the experience we were invited back to look at the photographs of our experience. You could select photo books or packages including other goodies with a photograph on like key rings. The only limit is the depth of your wallet as they don’t come cheep.
I’m really pleased I did this. It was an expensive 30 minutes but the happy memories will stay with me.
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