Discovery Cove - Dolphin swim

Humm... Tricky one

I have a 10 year old and a 5 year old - when we get to Florida in Feb the 5 year old will be 1 month too young to swim with the Dolphins (as they set a minimum age of 6).

I am considering booking him a swim anyway (as to exclude him would be very unfair)

Does anybody actully know the extent / nature of any checks made? I would of course leave his passport behind[:I]

We did the swim a couple of years ago when my son was 7 - so there wasn't an age issue. However I do remember that all we had were our confirmation vouchers - no passports or any ID (apart from my credit card)

The bigger issue you need to consider (if you do decide to book for your child) is how good a swimmer he is. He will be in quite cold water (for the comfort of the dolphins) and part of the experience involves swimming out about 30/40 feet from the shore then treading water.

[Decker]

Without wishing to be a killjoy if their insurance states that participants have to be older than 5 and someone younger takes part and there is a problem then it is highly unlikely that the insurance would pay out.

My daughter was 6 when we went and not a strong swimmer. They gave her a life jacket to wear for the dolphin swim so she just floated out, no need to be a strong swimmer.

Personally, I would give them a call and tell them that you have a child that will be 1 month younger than the required age. You may find that they are happy enough to let them do the swim as long as you sign a disclaimer.

I was planning on taking my nephew who will be seven in Nov, then he saw The Simpsons episode about the dolphine walking out of the sea and getting revenge on humans for catching them in fishing nets.

Now he is terrified of the thought thinking the dolphins might get cross and chase him out the water...tv can really suck sometimes.

[HighFlyer]

Funny you say that E.G.G

We went to Discovery Cove in March, my 7 year old cousin was really looking forward to the Dolphin swim and happily told his friends that he was going to swim with one. We get there and he all of a sudden gets scared to death when he sees the Dolphin and refuses to get in to the water. I think he was part convinced it was actually a shark - bless!

(We finally persuaded him in though - with a push [;)])

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by HighFlyer


(We finally persuaded him in though - with a push [;)])

Teaching him how to face his fears..good man [:D]

my experience with sharks was an accidental comquering of my fear, on my first Virgin Trip to the Bahamas Raddisson cable beech ( don't go there, lol , the nice lady at the pool bar laughed at me when I asked if there were any sharks in the sea, 'Oh no she said they are miles away' with a very 'what a dumbass question' look on her face.

There I am snorkeling away less than 100 yards off the beech, and oh hello, THREE black tip reefsharks merrily on their way beneath me, a very surreal feeling I can assure you.

Anyway back to topic, the Disc Cove is fab, been there three times now, I actually prefer the nice warm tropical fish part, where incidentally the sharks are pleasantly seperated by glass.

Hmmm,
In the last month there have been three shark attacks off the Florida coastline[:0]

Well they do live there, just probably were a bit hungry.

Always suprises me people go to a place thousands of miles away
knowing that sharks live there and then throw their kids in the sea
and hope for the best. You would hardly shove your kids in the lions den at the circus or the zoo.

I rather like sharks, they are pretty cool. Just because Dolphins smile they get a better deal, lol

I've just returned from holiday in Cancun - where we did a dolphin swim. That has highlighted how much a rip off the Discovery Cove one is.

I paid less for 4 people + DVD,etc in Cancun (and at least twice as long interacting with the dolphins) as I did for 2 people (no DVD, etc) in DC.

That said it's still a fantastic experience

My first experience there was because my partner once mentioned his dream was to swim with dolphins when I first met him, some years later I booked my first trip to the USA after finding DCove on a web search, I wasn't all that bothered about the USA and booked a bahamas trip for myself to fill a second week. ( No offense to carribeans but Nassau sux bigtime, lol .

Anyway I took him out for a meal and then presented the whole trips tickets to him for his christmas present.

It was fab to see him all teary eyed walking down to the water to see the dolphin for the first time.

Been totally hooked on Orlando ever since.

DC has a limit of 1,000 guests so it's best to book it on the busiest day of the week (Sunday?) when the queues for the rides at Orlando's theme parks will be longest.

I am sure they will check his age - sorry! They are not covered otherwise if anything happened to him.

[fozzyo]

For those looking at Dolphin swims, there is Dolphins Plus - a research and education centre - just south of Miami in Key Largo.

I have no idea of the quality of the centre or service, just found it while looking around.

Foz xx

We did Discovery COver yesterday. It was a fantastic day. We got there before 9am, and people were being checked in. This was really smooth. There were various levels of greeter who directed us around - a (free) group photo was taken, one per 'household' (so we got two prints done).

Picked up our kit - snorkel (which you can keep), mask, swim vest or wetsuit (which you can't) and dumped stuff in lockers. Found a block of sunbeds. If you want an umbrella and a view of the pool you want you should probably do the sunbeds before the kit store.

Grabbed breakfast outside the grill - fruit, yoghurt and pastries, tea, coffee, juice. Nice, especially if you had to make an early start, or rushed out of your hotel.

We first went into the lagoon pool. This is chlorinated, warm (85 degrees F) and a good way to proactise with your mask and snorkel. Mrs csparker ended up swimming round the river, which nearly made us late for the dolphin interaction.

The interaction was amazing - a chance to see at close hand, touch, be pulled along by and kiss a dolphin. Everyone in the group had a great time. IF one of your party doesn't want to swim, there are vantage points for them to take photos and video. My Dad did a grand job with our camcorder and we got some good footage. Not as good as the official shoot would have been, but cheaper. After the dolphin swim, there was a chance to look at the official shots that were taken, though they are pricey, the sell was not too hard.

Lunch was really nice - a good range of main courses, with plenty of kid friendly stuff.

Spent the afternoon snorkelling around the coral reef pool. Every time you looked in a different direction d new fish was doing something different. Colours and shoal movement amazing. 'Finding Nemo' was really well done, especially the lighting and reflections.

The ray pool was a bit of a disappointment - you can only stand in there, no swimming. We went back to the reef.

Refreshments are available free all day - cold and hot drinks, snacks, fruit.

The park was by no means full, but there was plenty of space, and clearly capacity for plenty more people. The advice about going at the weekend was good - hopefully the other parks will be a touch less busy today.

OK it's not cheap, but is is a very good quality day out. We did not feel we had been ripped off.

One other thing. The VS in flight Duty free has a re-usable waterproof camera for GBP19. I presume it takes 35mm films, but the brochure does not say.

Discovery Cove sells a single use, 27 exposure waterproof camera for about USD 20. Don't know what the pictures will come out like, but you may want to consider the re-usable, one but practise and get the prints developed first as I think it could be a very hit and miss affair, especially using the viewfinder through a mask.

I know people really enjoy this - and maybe Im being a bit 'diver retentive' here - but theres something about the whole thing that I feel a bit uncomfortable with - I have been to Sea World and I DO enjoy it but I just think that the place for all these animals is in the ocean where they belong - its obviouly harder to see them in their own back yard and thereofore kids of all ages woudl miss out on seeing these beautiful animals.

If you have seen Madagasgar then the sentiment made in that film is one that I belive is correct!!

Have no wish to pooh pooh the experience though as I have heard that its fantastic!!!!

Point taken. The animals at DC do seem to be well cared for. Our dolphins were being a little recalcitrant, which meant we had to wait a long time with the videos before we got into the water. They don't do anything they don't want to do.

I hope that some of the profit from the parks goes into broader conservation projects. The implication is that they do research in the wild. They certainly have some good footage in the videos.

Originally posted by csparker
One other thing. The VS in flight Duty free has a re-usable waterproof camera for GBP19. I presume it takes 35mm films, but the brochure does not say.

Discovery Cove sells a single use, 27 exposure waterproof camera for about USD 20. Don't know what the pictures will come out like, but you may want to consider the re-usable, one but practise and get the prints developed first as I think it could be a very hit and miss affair, especially using the viewfinder through a mask.

Use a digital camera when diving - the reusuable one will be 35mm I guess - if you get one then I agree with what you say - use it in the pool and have a practise taking pics of yoru friends and family underwater - I used to find that taking 2 pics of everything was safest - stuff like light underwater plays a part - and also - although not a prob at Disc Cove - as you get deeper the pressure increases and after about 6-8 metres it gets very hard to wind on the camera as its being squeezed!!!

And its not too much of a prob with mask and viewfinder - just point and click

I should really have updated this thread - we did the cove and had a great day - younger son did not notice his mum and brother slipping away to do the Dolphin as he and I were floating round the beutiful curcular waterway and looking at the deer, Tucans etc. etc - great day and the all day free beer kept me happy too.

Originally posted by JohnD
Humm... Tricky one

I have a 10 year old and a 5 year old - when we get to Florida in Feb the 5 year old will be 1 month too young to swim with the Dolphins (as they set a minimum age of 6).

I am considering booking him a swim anyway (as to exclude him would be very unfair)

Does anybody actully know the extent / nature of any checks made? I would of course leave his passport behind[:I]

They will ask for passport id at check in at least they did with me. To be honest unless your child can swim i would not recommend the Dolphin swim. My daughter hated it and it was uncomfortable for me because you have to crouch down shoulders in the water whilst holding your child for the whole time and its not easy. Also the staff do not make any extra effort for the little ones. They still have the long talk beforehand and laso trapse you off into the high selling area afterwards to sell you photos when you have had enough. Spectators can get quite close to where you`ll be so get your child involved in taking photos/video etc and get them involved that way. Plus they will probably love the ray lagoon much more , I know my child did.

Quote from cydara 'To be honest unless your child can swim i would not recommend the Dolphin swim.'


But what about non swimming adults? The nearer we get to our holiday the worse I get worrying about our impending visit to Discovery Cove. My daughter is absolutely ecstatic that her grandparents have paid for us to visit the park, but I really cannot swim very well and am scared to death of the water (nearly drowned as a child). My daughter really wants me to go into the water with her and I don't want to let her down. To be honest I would like to get up close with the Dolphins too. I know that they can supply life vests, but even then I would be rigid in the water if I thought I couldn't put my feet on the floor. What to do. Are the staff at Discovery Cove understanding of people like me or will I just miss out on the Dolphin thing. I am quite happy to wade but not too deep. Goodness what a whimp[;)]

thelaceys

[HighFlyer]

Hiya,

You are not too far away from the edge when doing most of the dolphin activities. The only thing that takes you out a little further are the dolphin swims where they are pulling you along. You can opt out of any of these activities if you want to.

Tell the trainers when you get there that you are terrified of being out of your depth, and they'll accommodate you as best they can. Despite being a qualified scuba diver, i actually have a fear of really deep water (comes from almost drowning as a child too). On both occasions that i went to DC, i too wanted to be able to stand, or at least be close to the edge. When you are doing most of the activities, your group forms a circle around the dolphin, if you stand on the side closer to the edge you'll be able to stand for all of this. Thats what i did, i'm 5'4' and i was fine!

As i say, the only bits you go into deep water for are the dolphin swimming parts. The vests you wear are totally buoyant (you must wear either a vest or wetsuit, its compulsory, so dont worry about feeling like an idiot wearing one, everyone will be. Go for the vest, i find them more buoyant and easier to wear). I am sure the trainer will let you hold their arm for balance if you feel nervous. I saw them do this with many children who obviously couldnt stand up. The trainers pass you to the dolphin and tell you where to hold on. The dolphins are fantastic, they wont move suddenly, and will wait until you are ready before they take you for a swim, returning you back to the group. There are lifeguards all around the pool - and they'll get to you before you know it if anything does happen. To be honest, the worst thing would be if you panic, as the dolphin would sense this, and feel that you have gone all rigid as opposed to being relaxed. Just trust the dolphin's instincts and he or she will take you for an amazing ride, and deliver you back to your trainer.

I think that once you get in the water, and once you see the dolphins swimming and playing right next to you, you'll feel a lot more comfortable that you thought you would.

Do you know what time your swim is? It might be an idea to head to the snorkelling areas first to build up your confidence?

Thanks,
Sarah

[fozzyo]

Everything Sarah said.

For the majority of the Dolphin Experience you are in relatively shallow water and have both feet on the floor. You could use the stingray pool to relax and get used to being in the water there. This is a great shallow pool with sting rays swimming about. And here you are under strict instruction to shuffle your feet along the bottom, no swimming allowed. You crouch down into the water and the rays swim around you and sometimes come over to say hello.

If your really worried, have a chat with your local leisure centre / gym / swimming pool. They often have classes specifically for complete novices - just a few trips to get used to being in the water could help. Or even if not, find a friend to go with you at a very quiet time and just get into the shallow end, stand at the side and have a chat. Instead of going for a coffee and chat have a soak and chat. That why you can feel a bit more confident of being in the water.

Enjoy - it is an amazing day out.

Mat xx