jcc

We are interested in taking one of the dolphin trips in Grand Bahama Island. We noticed there are two to choose from. Any recommendations?

rockstar

It has been several years since I visited there, but the "swim with the dolphins" activity at UNEXSO (Underwater Explorer's Society) was excellent. Anything those guys do is excellent!!

Another great dolphin experience is at Xcel-Ha (sp?) just south of Cancun on the Yucatan penisula. At that one, 2 bottlenose dolphins will actually push you up out of the water and drive you the length of the pool with a snout under each of your feet. Remember to hold on to your swim trunks...the guy there said they wind up making a lot of X-rated videos by accident!!!

Diana

I would ask you to please reconsider the dolphin swim. They are incredibly cruel. I did it once and was sorry ever since. (In fact, the place I did it was UNEXSO in the Bahamas as rockstar recommends. And I've seen the habitat for the program she/he also suggests at Xel Ha. It's a dingy green tiny lagoon.)
No matter how clean or nice it looks, more than half of the dolphins die within 60 to 90 days of capture.
In order to make an informed decision, please visit:

http://dolphinproject.org/

http://www.hsus.org/ace/11727

(The second site is the Humane Society of the United States' position on SWTD programs.)

Ally

Sadly, the dolphin park south of Cancun may have a dolphin or two added to their park. That's because Mexico just paid thousands and thousands of dollars to import 35 dolphins from the Solomon Islands almost 8,000 miles away to Parque Nizuc in Cancun. Several died before they could be loaded on the plane. Two more died shortly after arrival, another died on Tuesday. Since this park already has 15 dolphins, I can't see them being able to keep all the new ones, although certainly many more of those will die from capture shock as well. A couple of the ones left will most likely be sold to other parks. Of course, the ones that manage to survive won't be ready for 'human interaction' for at least 4 months, after they are trained to do tricks by food deprivation.

Diana

Ally, I hope we are in for some good news finally.
I saw a very recent (within the last week) post about Xel Ha, and that person said the SWTD program there appeared to be shut down.
I have not had an opportunity to confirm this, but I sure hope it's true!

Robert

Please do not give the Dolphin businesses your tourist money. They capture wild dolphins, taking them from their pods. Each pod uses a highly complex social system for survival. It takes over 3 years for a baby dolphin to fully understand the cooperation between "teenage" and adult dolphins to cooperate in finding food, protecting one another from sudden shark attacks, warding off other pods, etc. Many adult females are taken from the pods, leaving their babies helpless. Each act a heretofore wild dolphin does to amuse the tourists are not done for "bonding" reasons..it's only done for food rewards because they can no longer survive by themselves in the ocean without the pod they were taken from. Captive wild dolphins live only about 5 years, compared to the 70+ years they are known to live in the wild. Tourists are mislead by the Dolphin industry, and tourist dollars will increase the enterprises more throughout the Caribbean. Tourists aren't mean, nasty, insensitive people; just uniformed. Robert

Ally

Diana, That would be excellent news for us! Please keep us posted.
I'm not getting my hopes up though, as it's possible their dolphins died and they can just get more!