Day Five

Was a life-long dream come true!!!


Today was incredible!!! We arrived at Discovery Cove right about 8 am and checked in. I was assigned my swim time and location for the dolphins. They made photo ID's for each of us and set up an account so we could just add any purchases to our bill instead of carrying money or a wallet around. It was also used to organized photos taken of us while we were in the park. Then we had a little orientation of the park and were given bags with animal-safe sunscreen and snorkel gear. We were given our vests and assigned a locker to use throughout the day and quickly changed into our suits. We had just a few minutes before the dolphin swim so we swam around in a pool teaching Acadia how to snorkel.

Before we knew it, it was time! There was a little "instruction" first and then we were divided into small groups and taken down to the water to meet our dolphins.

The first dolphin I met was Sharky who is the dominent female at Discovery Cove. She is an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, 27 and very sweet. She's pretty vocal too. We got to touch her a few times and gave her hand signals to do different behaviors. I even got to kiss her!

After Sharky went to the back, CJ came out. He is only 11 years old and weighs 450 lbs. He is a hybrid, a cross between Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin and a Common Dolphin. We were able to give him hand signals too. One of the best parts however, was getting a ride from him. It was awesome!

Ryan and Acadia watched from the shore. Unfortunately, the age requirement for the dolphin swim is 6 years old. But hopefully we'll get to do this again someday and then Acadia will get to do it too.

After swimming with the dolphins, we went back to the pool to practice some more. Then we went down the "Lazy River" that runs around the park. Acadia did great "swimming" with the help of a life jacket. She did really well snorkeling too, but often opted not to. The river took about 1/2 hour, it was fun. There were even a couple of waterfalls to go under. Though we decided we didn't "love" those. The water falling was kind of hard. But we survived!

After we conquered the river, we went to the Sting Ray pool. It was awesome too! There was a huge reef-like pool with just tons of fish (even a puffer!) and several sting rays. There were some shallow parts and some deep parts and the fish and sting rays swam everywhere! There were also adjoining pools of sharks and baracudas that had glass windows allowing us to view them while we were swimming. It sometimes looked like we were all in the same pool! We were able to touch many sting rays and Acadia managed to touch a couple of fish too.

Next we took a break from swimming and went to the grill to eat. Lunch was included in our day. We each got to choose one entree (with side), salad, dessert, and drink. Ryan had a burger, Acadia had chicken strips, and I had fajitas. It was very good and extremely filling!

After lunch we went back out to the sting rays. After swimming for awhile with them, we had time to take a small trip on the river. We only went a short way then got out and visited the aviary. In the aviary, we fed some birds. That was cool. There were several different kinds. And then we had to hurry back to get ready to come home.

I was even amazed in the showers! They had dispensers with shampoo, conditioner, and soap!!! So we were able to take a real shower and get all the salt water off of us and out of our hair! It felt good to have our hair untangled and clean again.

Discovery Cove was expensive, but well worth it! It was the best birthday I've ever had!!! We all had a great time (although I think I got the best end of the deal!). It was a special experience that we all will remember and cherish. The dolphins were beautiful! And swimming with them was the highlight of my entire trip! They are amazing creatures and just being in the water with them is magical. I hope this isn't a "once in a lifetime" experience for me, but for now it might be. Like I said, this was a life long dream come true and today lived up to every expectation!

Pictures from Discovery Cove.  Don't forget to check out the subalbums, where there are LOTS more pics!
 
Also, here are all of the Florida Pics.