English_lady

Hi
We are visiting the Keys in July and my 8 yr old son wantes to swim with a dolphin. I have seen a few websites but would like to know the best places for this kind of activity.
Many thanks.

keymom

The Dolphin Research Center near Marathon is typically considered the best spot. If that's full, we've had several good experiences with Dolphins Plus in Key Largo. Be aware that dolphins are really large animals. Eight is on the young end for this activity so be sure your son is comfortable in the water and with animals before embarking on this. I would also have one parent in the water doing the dolphin swim as well.

LvSun

You may also want to be sure to book the experience asap. When we went to the keys, I tryed to book in advance but it was already sold out.

starrsville

You probably won't be able to get a spot. I agree with booking one IF you find one in July.

escargot

Friends of ours swam with the Dolphins at the Research Center in Marathon a few months ago, the daugher is 6 and the Dad accompanied her and they had a wonderful experience. We have done it at Hawks Cay Resort, but I am not sure if you have to be a guest to participate, you could check on their web site, there were several children participating and the staff supervised and took limited numbers at a time also booked well ahead.

English_lady

Thanks everyone. We would be staying at Hawks Cay resort. Is it necessary to book in advance there as well? Is it important to be a competent swimmer in order to swim with dolphins? My hubby and I can barely swim.

keymom

You will have a life vest on but you need to be comfortable in the water. That's true about snorkelling as well (which I hope you'll do while in the Keys). I would urge you and your husband to go have a swimming lesson or two at a local pool before you go on vacation. Swimming is an important skill that is never too late to learn. If you wear glasses, it may be that some of your discomfort in the water comes from that. Until I purchased goggles with prescription lenses, I never felt quite comfortable in a pool (I can't see!) Getting the lenses was "eye-opening." If you don't find them on-line, the water activity store (name escapes me) in Key Largo next to the Key Largo shopper has them. They are inexpensive. You just need to know your prescrition to the 1/2 diopter. Get the darkened lenses - it's like having your sunglasses on in the water.

SAnParis

If you have the chance, please search dolphins on this site. This topic has been discussed at some length, and once people realize the impact they are having on the animals, they may want to reconsider their decision to support this types of 'tourist attractions'.

Diana

The best place to swim with the dolphins is in the open ocean in their natural environment.

Recent investigations into this type of "activity" are finding that the water is frequently contaminated with e coli bacteria from the feces and urine of the animals, and many people have been seriously injured (including children) as dolphins - especially those frustrated with being held in captivity in a small enclosure and being forced to perform to eat - can be very aggressive. They are VERY large animals.

These swim with the dolphins programs are being outlawed in many countries (some states in the US have already done away with them or passed legislation that bans them).

Additionally, the glossy websites and ads don't tell you that more than 50% of the dolphins die within 90 days of their capture.

I'll be glad to provide links to more info, including the Humane Society of the United States' position that marine mammals should not be captive.

cd

I would like the H.S. link please.

escargot

We were staying at Hawks Cay this past winter and did the Dolphin day long training program, but you can also do smaller programs that are less time than a full day, a dolphin 'swim' and the dolphin feeding time.

However, at Hawks Cay, you do not "swim" with the dolphins as you can at the Dolphin research center and other places in the sense that you are not swimming around and being pulled or pulling dolphins, so to say you are 'swimming' with the dolphins at Hawks Cay is a bit misleading in that way -

you are standing in the water, the trainer has the dolphin approach you and they turn and you can pat them and you can step out further in the water with them if you are comfortable and they will 'stand' in front of you, put their flippers out, etc - but they are also very clear about if the dolphin is not 'in the mood' and swims away, then that's the way it is, they do not 'force' the dolphin to return or do anything - they may call over another dolphin to see if he is in the mood, but again if that one isn't, then that's that.

I can not speak for the dolphins at other centers, but the ones at Hawks Cay are well cared for and have been living there for generations - in fact, they have 3 generations of dolphins in residence, a mother, her baby and her grandbaby, - and the other dolphins in residence had also been there for many, many years and several of them also had babies while there so I feel they are well cared for and healthy - so I did feel comfortable with their track record for care and research and found the educational part of their program very interesting.

I personally did the trainer for a day program and thoroughly enjoyed the mix of 30 minute classroom time learning about their program and the rules, then we'd go back and prepare their breakfast by dividing the fish, cleaning the buckets, etc -and another 30 minutes on how they do the morning health check for racks, weights, etc then assisted them in the morning health check looking for any new racking marks on their backs, feeding them - back to clean out the morning food bins, another hour classroom session on dolphin science, research, care - a lot of environmental learning - and the afternoon feeding and 'swim' where we actually put on wet suits and stood in the water with them and did their afternoon exercises which all had a 'reason' in the sense that by doing certain moves, they were able to check them for weight, movement, health, etc.

We did book about a month before our trip.
The Hawks Cay site has all the info on the different things you can choose from and a number you can call.

There was no swimming involved, just climbing down the ladder from the dolphin dock into the water up to about your waist, you had the option of going further out and treading water if you wanted to have ethe dolphin 'stand' in front of you and extend their flippers, but many opted not to do that.

The research director, the full time assistant and the college interns were all wonderful and we enjoyed the program immensely.

But if you are looking to 'swim' with them, that won't happen at this program - you don't get to hold on to them and have them drag you thru the water or like at some other programs where you extend your feet and the dolphin propels you thru the water with their snout - I do belive they do that at the research center in Marathon wehre my friends went, but I thought Hawks Cay program more what I was looking for after we compared notes when we both returned and was glad I did that one.

Larry1

Here's one humane society link: http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/w...hins_programs/

However, in reading the link they seem to be talking about how wrong and cruel it is to "capture wildlife" for show. It ignores the facts that in the US; many (perhaps most?) of the dolphins currently in theme parks and swim with dolphin encounters were born in captivity, not "ripped from the wild".

And swimming with dolphins in the wild is not so easy. It may even be illegal (in the US): http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/ec...dfs/nmunie.pdf

beentheretwice

We did this exact trip a few years ago, and we had to book very early for the Research Center. My kids were too young, so they visited the dolphins at Hawks Cay.

IMHO: the Research Center wins hands down. COmpare to the HC Dolphins, the Research Center was much more geared toward the DOLPHIN, NOT the tourist. The HC dolphins almost seemed depressed.

We had strict instruction before even seeing the dolphins at the Research Center, and due to the cold water at that time of year we rented wet suits. We were there in the spring.

I join people with concerns about the tourist destination dolphin swims. The dolphins we saw at the RC were rescues, and quite energetic.

This was NOT Disney Does Dolphins.

birder

My understanding is that none of the dolphins at Discovery Cove are captured. They are all born in captivity. I know that doesn't make it "right" but it is a little different than implying they catch them wild and half of those caught die in a few short days.

escargot

sometimes when a long web link is posted on the site, it stretches out the postings so they are harder to read, if you visit tinyurl.com, you can easily transfer a long link to a short one and it is really easy to do ! so a long link , say just taking one of this post, when put in tinyurl.com, becomes
http://tinyurl.com/qaf9z
and brings you to the same place ! useful also in emails to friends.

Diana

While it is true that many of the dolphins on display in the US are captive born, it does not change the fact that they have MUCH shorter lives in captivity, and that those lives do not begin to compare to a dolphins life in the wild.

Here's an interesting article about the "quack" at The Dolphin "Research" Center in FL that one of the earlier posters mentioned.

http://members.tripod.com/tiggerdolphin/DAT.html

MANY many people have been injured doing this - these mentioned in this article are a drop in the bucket. Most don't get reported, and many happen overseas.

The USDA is responsible for keeping track of the lifespan of the swtd animals, and has found year after year that those lives are tragically short.

It doesn't matter whether they are captive-born or not, forcing them to perform and interact with humans in order to get their dead fish meals while confined in an unnatural and contaminated manner is cruel - not to mention dangerous to both the animal and the human. (Dolphins are very susceptible to infection from contact with humans.)

This is NOT a practice that anyone who professes to love animals would want to support once educated.

keymom

Obviously, this is an issue that raises concerns for people. There are other sides to the issue - http://ammpa.org/faqs.html#1 - for example. Given that the dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center can and do leave the site and return, I am not troubled by the swim program. I'm sure there are programs that are not as well run. A dolphin program is a unique way to learn about marine mammals.

Larry1

Diana, one problem is that you are confusing "maximum longevity" with "average lifespan". Do a little research in the scientific literature and you find that indeed, wild dolphin CAN (I repeat CAN) reach verified ages much older than verified ages of captive dolphin. HOWEVER, the average lifespan is about the same for both wild and captive dolphins. Meaning simply, that a dolphin born in captivity and a dolphin born in the wild have about the same amount of years to look forward to, on average.

Diana

Keymom, The truth is that many dolphin programs tell you that the dolphins can leave any time they want to, but they CAN NOT.

They have lost the ability to hunt in the wild and will die if they leave.

In fact, the very website you referred to - which is paid for and run by the parks that hold these animals captive themselves - states just exactly that.

Larry, the average lifespan of the 50% of dolphins that manage to survive their capture and the first 90 days may have an "average" lifespan, but they sure don't have an "average" life.

It's a nasty, dollar-driven business that is conducted at the expense of a beautiful animal.

Fortunately, more and more people are working to increase awareness, and more and more countries are restricting and outlawing the practice.

English_lady

Thanks for all the input. Is there any record of anyone actually getting hurt at DRC? The fact that dolphins can be aggressive has scared me slightly.