A Dolphin Discovery

Wednesday was the first of our two days in port in Mexico, and Korey had done her research in advance to make sure that we were well taken care of while there. We had bought Groupons for a dolphin excursion just a short drive down the road from the cruise dock. We were able to grab a cab with the 5 of us (my crew plus my Mom) to get there without any issues. We were a bit nervous about not having car sears for the kids, but we figured “When in Mexico…” Fortunately, it turned out to be a complete non-issue.

When we arrived at the Dolphin Encounters place, we checked in and had a couple of hours before our time with the dolphins. We grabbed lunch and drinks from the buffet, and then got a chance to hang out and play by the beach. The place also had a sea lion show so we went to that.

The show was obviously much smaller than the ones that you’d see at Sea World, so you were able to be much closer to the action. The show itself was pretty cute, and then at the end, the kids and I went up to get kisses from the sea lion. They had it so that you could stand right next to it, while it gave you a kiss on the cheek.

It wasn’t long after that before it was time for the main event — swimming with the dolphins. Korey had asked about getting Mom and Carlyn in with our group in case she was scared which turned out to be a complete non-issue since we were the only ones that signed up for the “Royal Swim.” That meant it was a private group with the five of us and two dolphins.

We went into a large fenced area with Da Vinci and Adolphus, and then the fun began. Since we had such a small group, we got to do way more than we were supposed to. We started off by just petting the dolphins and getting to know them a bit. Then the real fun began.

Our trainer asked me to swim out into the middle of the water and place my arms out to the side with my thumbs down. Before I knew what was happening, the two dolphins swam up behind me and started to pull me through the water. I missed one of them, but quickly recovered and was then flying through the water with dolphin power.

Then it was Korey’s turn. She was going to do the foot push, so she swam out and laid like Superman, and again, before you knew it, she was out of the water being propelled by dolphins pushing each of her feet.

All five of us were table to take pictures with the dolphins up close. We got to kiss them, have them kiss us, and do several poses like holding fins, raising out of the water, and with them smiling (and showing their teeth). Crosby was all about it, but Carlyn was far less sure. She stayed tucked in close to Nonna when they started getting really close.

Korey and I each got a chance to try the other skills: foot push for me and dorsal tow for me. They both were a lot of fun, but hands down I preferred the foot push. It felt like you were surfing or flying on the water until you went flopping down at the end. It was a very very cool experience.

We got to pet, learn about, and even feed them some more, but our trainer said we had plenty of time… so we got to do more rides! I think in the end we each got 5 or 6 rides when we were only scheduled to get 2. I certainly wasn’t going to complain! The kids did a great job as well, but Carlyn started getting a bit cold and really didn’t like it when we had a water fight with the dolphins and she got splashed. She was much happier up on the pier.

When it was finally time to say goodbye to our new acquatic friends, we were in for yet another surprise… we then got to swim with 3 manatees. This time we joined a bunch of other people, but it was still really cool. You can totally see how people refer to them as sea cows. Instead of little fish, the manatees got lettuce leaves. Korey came in a bit late, so she had the only lettuce and they certainly weren’t shy about trying to get it!

After that, we went up on shore to change and see the pictures that they took. The good part was the pictures were awesome. There were all sorts of cute pictures of all of us. The bad part was that they were ridiculously expensive.

We debated. I haggled. And debated. And haggled.

Who knows when or if we would ever do it again, so in the end, I decided to go for it even though it was highway robbery. Writing this post a week later, and I hated wasting the money, but do love the pictures. I hope you do too!

The haggling took some time, so by that point, Korey was ready to go. We grabbed a taxi back to the port. That itself turned into an adventure because the driver tried to charge us more than what we were told before getting in. I was really not in the mood for an argument, but it did end up escalating to his manager. Not a fun end to the afternoon, but we weren’t going to let that spoil things.

We had an amazing time and couldn’t wait to share our stories with the rest of the crew that evening. And to top it off, we knew we had another fun day to look forward to the next day.