Dolphin Encounter at Isla Margarita

[travelingjan]

We are considering doing this excursion off the Sun Princess in January. Has anyone done the encounter here and any comments about it???

[jrchief21]

My wife and I did this excursion on the Sun Princess in September. It was okay, but there were a few things we did not like about it. First, they do not tell you up front that you can not wear any sunscreen while in the water with the dolphins. If your skin is very sensitive to the sun like mine is, this might be a problem. Second, they do not let you bring any cameras into the dolphin area. Instead if you want a picture of yourself with the dolphins, you must buy the $30 CD which has pictures of the entire group you are with. Third, the tank you are in with the dolphins is not very clean and you can see lots of their droppings on the bottom as other posters have mentioned. It is a good experience though, just maybe a little overpriced and you should definitely be aware of the above info before making a decision.

[Coolmama_1]

We did this tour last summer and while I didn't find the pool to be dirty, it is clearly a small operation. It is about a 45 minute bus ride there and back, you spend about an hour on the dolphin tour, with a video first. We thought the CD was a good idea since we couldn't take pictures of ourselves :D . While it is the entire group, there were several pictures of the 2 of us.

It was a fun tour but once done is enough. Not sure I would repeat it, at least in Isla Margarita.

Be sure to take the early tour so that you have time to look around the straw market at the dock. That was fun as well.

Enjoy your cruise.

[travelingjan]

Thanks for the comments. What were you allowed to do with the dolphins - more than just touch them???

[bakery]

Is it possible to pay for the tour for our kids, and just go along for the ride, then stand outside of the dolphin area to take their pictures? Or would we still have to buy the CD?

[Coolmama_1]

Is it possible to pay for the tour for our kids, and just go along for the ride, then stand outside of the dolphin area to take their pictures? Or would we still have to buy the CD?

 

I am not sure about not paying for yourselves. The tour filled quickly and I don't think there would be much room on the bus. However, there was a family that got split up and half were on the early bus and the other on the later. The mother came on the early bus and wanted to wait and go back with her kids on the later bus so she could watch. I remember that it was a big issue not to return on the same tour and it took her a while to get that straigtened out.You would have to ask the cruiseline about that. As far as pictures go, I don't remember seeing a sign about no picture. Either way, enjoy your cruise!

[jrchief21]

They do offer a reduced cost if you just want to go and watch and not go in the water with the dolphins. Their concern over the cameras was that the plastic case on the underwater cameras would harm the dolphins skin. They shouldn't have a problem with you taking pictures outside of the pool.

[sandradeen]

What island is this on?

[captajohnx]

i was not impressed. we are going on the trip next week. i was researching the dolphin swim on google. i was SURPRISED by the reports!

 

pictures are NOT allowed because this company has been fighting bad relations with greenpeace and other conservancy groups over the treatment of the dolphins. they want NO evidence. they will take innocous pics of the group, but will not allow any detail of the surroundings, or equipment (or lack thereof)

 

they are on isla margarita. they were chased off of several other resort islands. they reputedly buy dolphins that are either stolen or acquired on the black market. if you look on the internet search for dolphin encounters, notice that most are related to swimming, ocean side, or by boat.

 

maybe some of the previous guests could elaborate what the surrounding dolphin enclosures were like. were they large? were they near the ocean ( to get a supply of clean fresh sea water? ) did the area and pools smell like bleach?chlorine? were the pools clean?

 

maybe i got a bad interpretation of this place!

 

share your thoughts on the conditions of this dolphin encounter!

 

http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi01205.html

[houch]

I just got off the Sun on 12/8 and this board caught my eye. Some cruise critic friends we met took this tour on our cruise. Something happened with a staff throwing a dolphin a fish, I wasn't there so haven't the details...end result: dolphin bit a man on back, shoulder, and arm, when going back in the water flipped his tail which hit his wife in the head and knocked her unconscious, then was swimming around my friend's feet and nipped at them before someone pulled her out.The others were also pulled out of the water. The wife didn't know what happened even that night. The dolphin staff made light of it but did want to take them to the hospital. All declined, preferring to go to ship's doctor, which they did. My friend just reported her incident to tour office on ship. Next day I saw her foot and knew it was infected and sent her to ship doctor. All passengers who had contact were put on antibiotics and reports were filled out. The dolphin place wanted to continue in a smaller pool but most refused. My friend said a few of the younger folks went in for a while. My friend wasn't charged for any medical treatment and neither were the others. They were told Princess was having a formal investigation and I believe all were going to get a refund for the tour. Needless to say I wouldn't do a dolphin tour on this island.

Carol

[bakery]

This doesn't sound good. Houch, thanks for your comments. Sounds like it isn't the kind of excursion I want to take my kids on, to say the least.

 

Captajohnx, thanks for the website. It was really eye-opening. But there didn't seem to be anything specific on the Isla Margarita operation. Do you have a similar website with information on them?

[houch]

We did the beach right near where the ship docked. It was beautiful and we had a great, relaxing day. There are even some vendors along the walk to the beach.

Carol

[captajohnx]

we just got back from the golden. wow what a nice cruise!!!!!!

 

re the connection with the dolphin encounter.

 

the same company that runs the isla margarita water world show is the same company that is mentioned on the web site. they have been chased from several other countries, and islands and now reside in isla margarita.

 

i cant find the original web site but the connection was definite.

 

i notice that no one has commented on the actual conditions of this site!?

 

i certainly hope that all are not so oblivious to the conditions that they will be blind to the actual conditions of this place and support them by paying the tour fee. (or if you have paid, and dont report the actual conditions you are even more oblivious!)

[Coolmama_1]

We went on this tour and the park was older and certainly not up to the standards of something that you would find in the US. It had a small amusment park with rides, but it was not open. It was also 8:00 am. I don't remember it being dirty or anything, nor did the animals seem to be mistreated. I just figured we were in a 3rd world county and this was the was it was. Everyone was nice it it seemed okay at the time but I was not overly thrilled. I have seen it and done it and that's that.

[Genessa]

we did this tour in April (05) and had a blast but would never do it again - at least not on Isla Margarita.

 

I thought the area around the place looked like it belonged in the middle of the south Bronx back in the '80s (think of the news photos of current Iraq).

However, it was very clean.

The pool did not smell like chlorine or any other chemicals. It's sea water and smelled like clean salt water - which while is not dirty, could smell "dirty" to someone who isn't really used to sea water. In fact, it smelled much better than the salt water lagoon for swimming at The Atlantis. While we didn't explore the area, the whole set up is on the shore, so I'm pretty sure the water comes in on the tide.

 

The group who runs this seemed extremely protective of the dolphins. They do nothing to harm them in any way. We were allowed to take all the pictures we wanted of the dolphins, provided the cameras weren't in the water with you. Several people who went on the bus with us weren't swimming with the dolphins and they took pictures of the group with the dolphins. You weren't allowed to take pictures of the sea lion without paying, however - $5 to take a picture of a sea lion and you, with your own camera - no thanks!

 

My main problem with the excursion was the curtness, abruptness, of the dolphin trainer, lack of prior information and the money grubbing ($ to take a pic with your own camera, selling video). Whether the trainer's attitude was due to his limited English, his concern for the dolphin, his dislike of tourists????? He loved the animals, seemed to look down on the people and this left my friends and I feeling like intruders, when we were paying good money.

 

Lack of prior info - brochure said to wear adequate sun protection...we thought this meant sun block, etc. I and my friends are very light skinned and had no tans despite this being xxx day on our cruise. We really work at keeping ourselves covered - one friend is not supposed to even be in the sun at that time of day, but really wanted to go with his wife on the excursion. So, here we were, the three of us, slathered up before we left the ship, and we had to shower it all off for the sake of the dolphins - understandable, the dolphins don't like to live in water with sun screen - we hadn't thought of it and gladly showered, but of the 30 or so on the bus, we three and one other woman were the only ones who showered (and we had seen others apply lotion and could see lotion on others). Unfortunately, we were not allowed to wear tee shirts over our bathing suits, told that that too was injurious to the dolphins - but unless they don't realize that most people was their bathring suits with detergents, we didn't understand - either, which would have helped protect my friend from the sun.

I knew from snorkeling and diving not to wear jewelry, but didn't expect to be asked to remove my wedding band.

And the photos. We had bought two waterproof cameras (cheap ones) to take photos with on this excursion. We would have liked to have known ahead of time that they were a waste of money. Unless you have a great camera with a zoom lens, those not in the water are not going to be able to get good shots. They area where they have to wait is not close to the pool.

We bought the cd - which was good - and shared it.

 

On the positive side, the dolphins were wonderful. We got to swim with them, they swim around, behind, in front, rubbing against you and you are instructed how to touch them. The water is over your head and you are required to wear a life jacket, so if you aren't used to "swimming" in one, you tip a lot. Then they have you do (usually) two of three things - one, dancing with the dolphins. You turn while the dolphin is turning simultaneously in front of you. And then, either you get a dolphin ride with one, or two dolphins. Our group went for a ride with two dolphins. The two nicer trainers show you how to hold the dolphins and then you get to hold onto their fins while they pull you across the pool.

 

It was a once in a lifetime experience for me and it could have been more enjoyable.

[bakery]

Great review, Genessa! Thanks for your insight!