Anthony Key Dolphin Encounter

[Boatingmom]

I see this excursion is quite short. can anybody who has done it give me some feedback. Was it worth the $$ or should I dolphin on another island??

[5:00_Somewhere]

Figured I might as well revive an existing thread rather than starting a new one.

 

We'll be visiting Roatan in December with our parents. My mother has wanted to do a dolpnin encounter ever since seeing pictures of the one we did on Cozumel a few years ago. We're weighing excursion options in the various ports and I was wondering if anyone had done the dolphin encounter and could give me an idea what it involves. I'm a little afraid the Cozumel dolphin encounter may be a little bit "much" for my 70 year old mother, but this one seems a little more "tame".

 

Thanks for any info anyone may be able to offer.

[trtllovr]

I cannot comment on doing this as a cruise ship passenger, but I do know that this is a very good outfit for dolphin excursions. I studied at the Roatan Institute for Marine Science (located at Anthony's Key Resort, they're the ones that run the dolphin encounter) and considering they are an actual educational institute, I would recommend them. I'm not sure about the other dolphin encounters that you'll find at other stops, but I have heard some very negative things about companies that run excursions solely for tourists. RIMS treats those animals very fairly and they run a great operation in my opinion.

 

In regards to what you'll experience in the encounter: It's been years since I've done it but it's normally a meet and greet with the dolphins, an opportunity to get a picture of the dolphin kissing you and you kissing the dolphin. They'll normally have you hand signal the dolphin to do some tricks. I don't remember if they allow you to hang on to the dolphin and go for a ride (I did a dolphin swim at discovery cove in FL and so I might get the two confused) but we did get to snorkel around with the dolphins for a while after. They may have changed their routine since the cruise ships are now more prevalent there, but that's what I did.

 

As far as time restraints I can't help you, but I can give a big thumbs up for the Anthonys Key encounter.

[5:00_Somewhere]

Thanks so much for your response. This sounds very interesting to me. Perhaps I'll see if I can email or call for further details.

 

But, I like what you describe. We did a dolphin encounter on Cozumel several years ago and I was impressed with the educational portion of that experience. Oddly enough, while we enjoyed the kiss, pectoral fin pull, head push, etc., and other tricks they dolphins did with us, for both of us the most enjoyable and amazing part of the experience was the 30 minutes or so that we got to just swim freely with the dolphins afterward. They were so incredibly social with us, and I will never forget the clear sensation of intelligence when they looked us directly in the eye. I suspect my mom would probably also love the educational component, and would be very happy with a dolphin kiss and the chance to swim with them.

 

Thanks again!

[Boatingmom]

:confused:Do you get to swim or have the pull with only the "encounter"?