Wednesday, March 20, 2013

“Swimming with the Dolphins…kinda sorta”

When we asked our kids what their favorite part about our vacation was, it was unanimously decided that the dolphins were their favorite.  We have been on several cruises and never spent the money to go see the dolphins.  But because we were able to save quite a bit of money on our trip overall (that will be the next post), we decided to try it out.

We decided on the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter.  It was a blast!  We had a 25 minute boat ride to the island, which was beautiful.

 Copy of IMG_1592

This was the scene pulling up to the island.

Copy of IMG_1613

At Blue Lagoon, they have dolphins and sea lions that you can interact with.  They also have a beach day that you can purchase.  Look at this inflatable water park!

IMG_1615Copy of IMG_1614 There were two dolphin options: the encounter and a deep water swim.  Our first choice was to do the swim, but SaraGrace wasn’t old enough to do that.  Also, Emmy could go as an observer, but obviously someone had to sit with her.  My husband is AWESOME and sat with her on the observation deck.  He took all of these pictures but one.

IMG_1618 The dolphins were swimming around having a great time.  When we got separated into our groups, they advised a wet suit.  I despise wet suits!!!  I thought I would tough it out, but that water felt like Ginnie Springs on a good day.  So I gave in:)

We made it over to our designated dolphin area, only to learn that our dolphins were in time out.  WHAT!?!?  We had to laugh that OUR dolphins would be the ones in time out.  Apparently they weren’t following directions, so they had to take a time out.  The cute part was that Andy (our dolphin in the picture) tried to earn brownie points by collecting marine debris and bringing it to his trainer.  It was very sweet:)

We got in the water onto a waist-deep platform.  I had to hold SG because she was too short. Copy of IMG_1598

The first order of business was to get a family photo.  The Blue Lagoon photographer took this one.

Copy of dolphin_0002 Rob was behind us so he got some pictures as well.

Copy of IMG_1595  We each got to hug Andy.

Copy of IMG_1599 Then we got a kiss.

Copy of IMG_1600 Me and SG had a group hug.

Copy of IMG_1601 Copy of IMG_1602 But she wanted her own kiss.

Copy of IMG_1603 We got to pet his belly and his head.

Copy of IMG_1604 Then we got to dance.

Copy of IMG_1605 Copy of IMG_1606 At the end of our time (which was about 25 minutes), he did some jumping tricks for us.

Copy of IMG_1610 

We had to get back to the ship pretty quickly since it was Pirate Night, and we had a lot of dressing up to do.  I am so glad we spent the money to do this.  The kids are still talking about it, which means that they made memories.  Some of the best money we spent all week!

1 comment:

Carrie said...

What an amazing vacation! I am trying hard not to be jealous, friend :) Ha!