Jason B.
Yelp
This place is magical! Not only do they do amazing work, but the staff is superb, the facility great, and the stars of the show are some of the most friendly creatures I've met!
Since we met, my girlfriend has told me how she has always wanted to swim with dolphins. So, for our first anniversary, I decided to surprise her with a drive down here to make it happen! I researched a bunch of different facilities in the area, but the trend at Dolphins Plus was clear: everyone raved about it! So, I called, and booked our experience.
We booked at the ocean side facility because that was the only one with openings. We were warmly greeted when we got there and were checked in quickly.
We went downstairs with the other people who were scheduled at that time and had a wonderful, and not too long, information session on bottlenose dolphins. Even though I know generally about them, I learned some great little tidbits!
Afterwards, we split into our groups for the encounter. My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to be paired with Alphonz and Jessica (those are the dolphins names)...they were AWSOME! We had the privilege of watching the other family we were paired with go first, so it was like getting a free show before we even got in the water! Super cool. The trainers were also uber personable and were happy to answer ALL our questions while we were watching. They really are soooo cool.
After they were done, we got our shot. HOLY CRAP! What an amazing experience. The dolphin were spectacular and the experience is one not to be missed. I don't want to get too much into the specifics of what we did, because I don't want to spoil the fun, but just know it was easy, comfortable, incredible, and mind-blowing.
I will say this though, if you're paired with Alphonz, be aware: he likes butts! Evidently if he takes a liking to you, he may give you a little nudge in the tush! I had the surprising pleasure of experiencing this. Cracked me up...but he was totally friendly and just wanted to play more. It was awesome.
It was both incredible to see the dolphins' personalities, strength, intelligence, and stamina, and to realize that we were part of their playtime. I can't stress this enough, if you want to swim with the dolphins, Dolphins Plus is the place to do it!