Alphabe Thursday: D is for Swimming with Dolphins!

 Two years ago Mr Bubble (giggle) and I celebrated our twenty fifth anniversary by taking a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean. We made a list of "must do" excursions and made arrangements for them in advance of the cruise. Our list included snorkeling, swimming with Sting Rays and swimming with Dolphins. Hubby also wanted to play a round of golf and I wanted to ride horses in the Ocean. If you ever take a cruise, I highly recommend setting up your excursions before you leave home. Once you are on board, the lines to sign up for excursions become quite long and fill up fast. We had an amazing cruise and swimming with the Dolphins was definitely one of the highlights! Since our assignment this week is the letter "D", I want to share this incredible experience with you.

   When you arrive at the Dolphin Encounter, they divide you into groups of about ten, give you a life vest and send you off to the showers and then a short wait for your group to be called. Once your group is called, you are assigned an instructor who is highly skilled and trained in working with Dolphins. What a fun job! Our instructor had us enter the large pool and sit on a wall where she gave us a few basic instructions and then brought in two Dolphins, introduced them to us and had them do a few tricks. At this point she had us slide into the water and form a large circle. She brought the Dolphins into the circle and had them swim slowly around the perimeter right in front of us. We were able to reach out and pet the dolphins as they passed by. Next she told us the dolphins would flip over on their backs and swim past us again. She cautioned us that we could pat their bellies as they passed by but be careful not to touch their genitals because the dolphins would become quite agitated if you did. Um, yeah, I'm glad she cleared that up because touching a dolphins private parts was definitely something I thought about doing, lol! 

 (two of the sweet Dolphins at Dolphin Encounter)

   After this initial meet and greet it was time to have a little one on one time with the dolphins, unless of course you didn't pay attention to the last bit of advice and are now being whisked away in an ambulance, minus the roving hand, ha ha! One at a time we were invited out into the center of the circle, asked to cross our arms over our chest and one of the dolphins would approach us and give us a little peck on the cheek. 

 (me, getting a little kiss)

Next, we were able to hold the dolphins front fins and dance with her. I'm still amazed at how gentle and friendly these animals were, not once did I feel I was in any danger. 

 (here I am cutting a rug, or maybe I should say the water, with my dolphin partner)

Finally, we would get to experience the ride of a lifetime! One at a time, we were asked to swim to the far side of the pool, turn around and face the side we had just left. A dolphin would then swim up behind us and as it passed by our side, we were to grab on to its fins and let her take us for a ride, all the way to the other side. 

 (Mr. Bubble going for a ride)

I can't begin to tell you how exhilarating this was. Even though we have all seen how fast they move through the water, to actually feel the power and speed is unbelievable. The only bad thing about the whole experience... there is no getting around the amount of water that goes down your nose during the ride. If you are ever given the opportunity to swim with the Dolphins, do NOT pass on the experience, it is a memory you will never forget! 

I'm joining Jenny at Jenny Matlocks for Alphabe Thursday and the letter D.