Florida Guide > Places to Visit
Natural Dolphin Swim
If there is something that you should do before life passes you by, it has to be a swim with Dolphins.
To get into the water with these fabulous marine animals has to be an experience of a lifetime. There friendly nature and that never changing smile they seem to have just makes a swim with Dolphins the Number One activity to do.
The Orlando area has such a place where you can gain that once in a lifetime experience. Discovery Cove offers just about the best day out in Florida where you can spend a day with marine life, learn about and finally a structured swim with Dolphins. Kids, the whole family will take memories away that will never disappear and last forever.
Or so we thought !
While visiting the Florida Keys for a break from the Theme Parks of Orlando, we came across a place that actually offers a Natural Dolphin Swim. A swim where you just enter the water and do what comes natural, both you and the Dolphins.
The location we did the swim was Dolphin Plus, a Marine Life Research centre at Key Largo. Down in the heart of the Florida Keys, Dolphin plus offer 2 sites where you have the opportunity to get wet with the Dolphins in their Natural Environment. Dolphin plus has 2 types of swims, the Structured Swim, where you have the assistance from the instructors while the Dolphins performs, or you have the Natural Swim where the group just get in the water and you literally become the Dolphins play things as they relax from their daily routine.
For the Natural Swim, you will be put into groups of a Maximum of 8 people. For the first ½ hour the staff will give you an insight into the Dolphins as you discover all about there habits and lives in a short lecture which gets you to understand there day to day activities as well as how they feed and how they relax.
You will generally find 3 -4 dolphins within your swim area, you will be given Mask and Snorkel plus if you wish, especially for the younger people with in your party a floaty, as you will be in the water for anything up to 1 hour. You will also be encouraged to interact with the Dolphins as you are in effect there play things/toys while they relax.
We were told to swim around, try and catch the Dolphins eye and interact with them, sounds difficult but the Dolphins make life a lot easier as they just seem to want to play and swim around you which makes the experience far sweeter. One thing you are not aloud to do is reach out to try and touch them, if they want contact, we were told they would come to you, which in a couple of cases they did. Patience is helpful in a Natural Dolphin Swim, don’t get frustrated as things will happen and your interaction with one of the greatest living marine animals that ever graced the earth will eventually happen.
After your swim you will have a debrief from one of the instructors to tell you how things went and to discuss your day. Plus like most attractions you can bet there’s a souvenir shop to spend those spare dollars on those keep sake presents that will remind you of your fabulous day.
It has to be one of the greatest feelings we have ever experienced to swim with Dolphins in their Natural environment, we would defiantly recommend it to anybody as Dolphins are so friendly and the interaction is amazing.
Go on treat yourself to an experience of a lifetime. A Natural Dolphin Swim.
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