Dolphin encounters

Hi there! We are cruising on the Breeze in November and I was hoping you all had some opinions, both good and bad, on the dolphin encounters in both Cozumel and Roatan. There will be 4 of us and our boys will be 6 and 3 1/2 years old. This is really one of the things we'd like to do as a family on the cruise. Thanks for the info!

We did the dolphin swim at Chankanaab in Cozumel in Dec 2014. It was and still is my son's (now 12) favorite excursion!! It was great and the most reasonably priced we had ever seen. We booked directly with Chankanaab and not the cruise line. We even had a manatee encounter with the dolphin swim!

They also have a sea lion show, restaurant, gift shop, snorkeling area, beach area and pool area. Great day. Enjoy.

I feel sorry for the captive mammals...living in VA. Beach for most of my life, we see dolphins in the wild...they are fantastic and beautiful. I can't bear the thought of them being captive for a human's enjoyment.

Dolphins love the shore areas...that's where they fish and eat! Grabbing onto them...not their natural habitat at all.

Since you asked for the good and the bad .....

Dolphins were never meant to be held captive. No manmade enclosure, regardless of size, is equal to where they should be ---- free in the ocean. What a great teaching moment for your children -- respect for animals. They are not to be used for fun. (So happy to see than Ringling Brothers finally is stopping the use (and abuse) of elephants in their shows.)

Dolphin encounters -- everybody does them -- doesn't make it humane, no matter what the profiteers tell you. (Thanks for letting me share.)

3.5 may be too young for some dolphin encounters, I have heard they can be deep platforms with scut rent, etc so my advice would be to see which ones allow young kids and go from there

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We did one in cozumel. Dolpinarious or something like that? We paid for me, my 5-year-old, and my sister in law and her hubby. Per the website, my 3 year old was too young. But when we were there, they let him tag along free of charge and he loved it! We didn't even ask, they insisted. I had to hold him and my sister held my older one, the water was a bit too deep. It was fun and the dolphins were beautiful.

Cruelty to animals.

People should never participate in that type of excursion.

By "the bad", I meant limited time with the Dolphins, long drive from the port or expensive photos. I have read great things about how some (not all) of these places treat their wildlife so please keep your cruelty comments to yourself.

I don't think it's a matter of just cruelty, they are free swimming intelligent mammals and to keep them that way for our experiences and enjoyment is awful. Yes there maybe some good operators out there but by going you encourage others not so good to think £££ signs and join in. There are some wonderful places in the world better value and gives the Dolphins freedom such as New Zealand - perhaps think of taking your son when he's a little older and able to appreciate what it means to be able to swim with them specially in the wild. Taking them young breeds it's what my mother etc... did mentality and so the cycle continues.

By "the bad", I meant limited time with the Dolphins, long drive from the port or expensive photos. I have read great things about how some (not all) of these places treat their wildlife so please keep your cruelty comments to yourself.

None of them treat these animals well. They all have them imprisoned due to no fault of the dolphins.

It's cruelty, fact not opinion.

Instead, why not teach the next generation to be kind to animals and other people.

++++++++++++

The Disturbing Truth Behind Your Swim With The Dolphins

Swim-with-the-dolphin (SWTD) programs can be found all over the world, but they've become exceptionally popular in the Caribbean in the past decade or so. A former dolphin trainer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Dodo that these programs are inherently problematic — and cetaceans simply do not belong in captivity.

"Dolphins are beautiful and amazing creatures in their natural habitat," says the former trainer, who requested anonymity because he still works in the Caribbean hotel industry. "But stick them in a cage, and you watch them change."

One trainer's story

Born and raised in the Bahamas, the trainer says he was employed at two swim-with-the-dolphin facilities in the Caribbean, and his concerns grew over his tenure. The dolphins' holding pens were not only excessively shallow, but also far too small. At one facility, he says, more than 40 dolphins were caged in three compact cells.

In the open sea pens — as opposed to enclosed pools within a resort — debris like nails and fish hooks would float in from the ocean, he adds.

"Because they didn't have a vet or any type of veterinary care at [this particular] facility, the dolphins would swallow things, and there would be nothing you could do about it," he says. Though he witnessed the enclosed pens being cleaned, he claims the smell of the chlorine was so strong, it would "choke" the trainers — and that some of the animals eventually went blind because of its use.

He also maintains that many of the dolphins suffered from " psychosis," a behavior not unheard of in marine mammals forced to swim in small pens all day long. They were also under extreme pressure to perform, which may have made them dangerous to humans, he says: "They did 10 interactions a day … the same motions, the same speech, the same signals over and over. They would get frustrated ... and aggressive to guests or knock food buckets out of our hands."

The former trainer's most troubling allegation, however, is that some female dolphins prevented their new babies from breathing — by stopping them from coming to the surface. The trainer, who isn't a scientist, said he and his colleagues deduced the mothers did this because they didn't want their babies to "live in captivity."

Though that allegation can't be proven, another former trainer has echoed other worries. Moreover, studies have pointed to some issues with dolphin captivity in general. According to a World Animal Protection/Humane Society of the United States report called "The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity," cetaceans in captivity are routinely given antibiotics and ulcer medications, are in need of vitamin supplements because they are being fed nutrient-deficient frozen fish and have a history of premature death from a variety of causes.

The report also notes that, for many dolphins, enclosure sizes are less than 1 percent of their natural habitat range.

"Swim with the dolphins" (SWTD) is a general term for a variety of dolphin-themed itineraries. Besides swimming with a dolphin (or two), you can be photographed with a dolphin, pulled through the water by a dolphin (the "dorsal tow"), smooched by a dolphin or pushed by the beak of a dolphin. You can even pay to be a dolphin "trainer," complete with a whistle and training manual.

There are some 30 dolphinariums in the Caribbean, says Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI). They can be found at a number of tourist meccas, including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Tortola, Grand Cayman, the Dominican Republic and Cancun.

Even more facilities are being built in the region, including one that recently opened in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and others are being proposed in Turks and Caicos and St. Lucia, says Courtney Vail, the campaigns and program manager at Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), who has been campaigning against cetacean captivity for 16 years.

The WDC documented many welfare incidents in the Caribbean in a 2010 paper called "Captivity in the Caribbean." In one facility in Antigua, dolphins were found to be "unusually dark" due to shallow enclosures and subsequent sunburn; some were found to be held in isolation for training purposes; and some were exposed to polluted water.

"Although some Caribbean countries have developed legislation to address these captive dolphin programs, regulations are rarely enforced, and facilities operate under the radar in most, due to the lack of capacity and oversight," Vail told The Dodo.

Ceta Base is a site that logs the capture, transport and death rates of captive dolphins around the world. At The Dodo's request, Ceta Base estimated there are some 240 dolphins — both wild-caught and captive-bred — in facilities across the Caribbean, and that most of the wild dolphins hailed from Cuba, Honduras and the Gulf of Mexico.

All aboard: the role of the cruise ship

How did dolphinariums in the Caribbean get so popular? In short: the cruise ship. "Every proposal for a new swim-with-dolphin facility was premised on the need to meet the demand from cruise ship tourism," says Rose, who notes the trend really took off in the 2000s. Some dolphinariums, she points out, don't even have parking lots: Tourists simply debark, swim with the cetaceans, then re-board their giant boat.

Statistics gathered from the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association show there's no sign of a slow down. Its most recent report ranked the Caribbean the most popular cruise destination, owning about 37 percent of the market share in 2014, up 3 percent from the year before.

"Unless you stop the demand side, which is those great many cruise ship passengers and North American tourists, you will continue to see dolphinariums open in the Caribbean," says Diana McCaulay, CEO of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), which has protested dolphinariums in Jamaica.

How wild dolphins end up in captivity

McCaulay told The Dodo that the process of capturing dolphins in the wild is "very traumatic."

"They are chased into nets … they are rounded up, the ones they want are selected, then they are lifted up into a boat and transported," she explains, adding that female dolphins are preferred because they are more "trainable."

A December 2014 letter jointly written by the AWI and WDC in protest of a proposed St. Kitts dolphinarium at Bird Rock Beach details how dolphins are caught in the wild:

Individuals may become entangled in the capture nets and suffocate or suffer stress-related conditions associated with the trauma of capture. In addition, captures from the wild can negatively impact already depleted dolphin populations by removing breeding (or otherwise important) members from the group.

The letter points out that scientific data from 1995 have shown that the mortality rate of captured bottlenose dolphins is dramatically increased during capture and transport.

Moreover, "methods used to transport cetaceans can also be inhumane, and many individuals have died as a result of injury and stress brought about by efforts to supply captive facilities around the world."

A review of Ceta Base shows just how often dolphins are transported. One dolphin, for example, named Tamra, has been transported 14 times. According to Ceta Base, she is currently at Atlantis.

The endless cycle: breeding for captivity

Although some places still capture dolphins from the wild, many in the Caribbean stock their facilities with captive-bred animals. Another prominent company in the Caribbean is Dolphin Cove, based in Jamaica. Dolphin Cove Ltd. owns a number of dolphinariums in the region and has won a World Travel Award — "the Oscars of the travel industry" — since 2011.

The owners of Dolphin Cove, Stafford and Marilyn Burrowes, recently told The Jamaica Observer that the company launched a captive dolphin breeding program four years ago. Five of its dolphins have since given birth. "These days it is almost impossible to get dolphins from the wild because of the actions of animal rights groups," Stafford Burrowes told the newspaper. Dolphin Cove did not respond to The Dodo's request for comment.

reEarth's Duncombe says one of her numerous concerns about breeding is that the captive-bred dolphins are losing their instincts: "What these facilities are doing ... is creating a whole substructure of animals who have no way of living in the wild."

In the end, Duncombe hopes that the public will pay more attention to the plight of the dolphin in captivity. But to the tourist who is still thinking about swimming with dolphins, she says bluntly:

"Your desire to be with them — is killing them."

Having seen the operation at Blue Lagoon - near Nassau back in the 1990's I realized that dolphin swims were simply exercises in animal cruelty. This past March, swimming with my grandson at Sanibel in Florida - we were standing in chest deep water when a pair of dolphins decided to check us out - swimming within ten feet of us, breaching and eye-balling us repeatedly - we were glad to give them the chance to swim with people: far better experience -for both sides - than the zoo-like commercial exploitation.

OP, as you can see, these threads can quickly deteriorate. I would recommend that you pick a couple of the dolphin encounters that you may be interested in and post your questions on the port of call boards. You will get answers specific to the questions that you are asking.

OP, as you can see, these threads can quickly deteriorate. I would recommend that you pick a couple of the dolphin encounters that you may be interested in and post your questions on the port of call boards. You will get answers specific to the questions that you are asking.

How does a discussion of dolphin encounters represent a deterioration of a thread entitled, simply: "Dolphin Encounters"?

How does a discussion of dolphin encounters represent a deterioration of a thread entitled, simply: "Dolphin Encounters"?

Mostly because the posters took a rabbit trail down the path of should dolphin encounters even exist rather than answering what the OP's questions really were (as evidence by their request that people stop with the comments regarding animal cruelty). I'm not judging, just stating that it is what it is and making an effort to help the OP get what they really want.

Enough already with the dolphin activists!! The person asking the question was not inquiring as to your opinion about dolphins in captivity. She just wanted to know, from those who had done these excursions, which one is best. I have not done the dolphin swims at these ports, but I have done one in Grand Cayman, which was really enjoyable. I have also done a swimming with a sea lion adventure in the Florida Keys. I think it is a good way for people to connect with animals and develop an appreciation of them.

Our family of 4 chose the Dolphin Snorkel & Swim at Anthony's Key in Roatan last summer. The drive from port was maybe 30 minutes with a quiet driver...no commentary at all. Took a tiny boat from the gift shop over to the island where the dolphins are. Had a safety briefing before entering the water on the shore, like a beach. We were split into groups of 10 or less (I think?) and had an intro to "our" dolphin. She would swim by us and we could hold our hand out to feel her skin as she swam around the lagoon. We had the usual kiss on the cheek photos and then got to snorkel while all the dolphins swam around.

We've had some excursions where the people made it a great experience. These were not those people! You could tell they love working with the dolphins, but I didn't get the feeling they liked working with the customers.

We bought all the photos for $80-90, I think. We were emailed a link where we could download them all ourselves from home.

Enough already with the dolphin activists!! The person asking the question was not inquiring as to your opinion about dolphins in captivity. She just wanted to know' date=' from those who had done these excursions, which one is best. I have not done the dolphin swims at these ports, but I have done one in Grand Cayman, which was really enjoyable. I have also done a swimming with a sea lion adventure in the Florida Keys. I think it is a good way for people to connect with animals and develop an appreciation of them.[/quote']

 

Actually, if you read OP's opening post, the request was for:

 

"...opinions, both good and bad, on the dolphin encounters...".

 

Some of us hold bad opinions of dolphin encounters.

 

Sorry if you do not like some of the opinions expressed (admittedly not the specific sort which OP requested) but that is part of the risk of bringing up a topic on an open forum -- the views of self-appointed posting police to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

You appear to "...think it is a good way for people to connect with animals...", others think not. While you are entitled to your opinion, I do not think you have the right to deny others the right to theirs - which right includes expressing it.

If it's a case of the best experience - New Zealand Kiakora - we swam with over 300 spinner dolphins in the wild who put on a magnificent show- tails spins; jumps diving the full works. And it was cheap for the amount of time you spent in the water with them.

Re opinions - yes everyone is allowed to have them, but being informed vs not being informed. I would definitely prefer to make the choice be informed.

I don't have any experience with this. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins and hope to someday. I just want to say to the animal rights folks on here...you do know don't you that most of us will never see a dolphin in the wild. These captive places are the only time we will get a chance to meet these magnificent creatures. I can say almost without a doubt that I will never swim with wild dolphins in New Zealand. I admit I have a love/hate relationship with zoos and such. But I do believe that there are good operators and bad ones. My life isn't perfect and it isn't always perfect for animals either. But there is a difference between cruelty and just a not-perfect scenario.

Yes, the OP asked for the good And the bad.

Seeing cruelty such as this and keeping quiet makes one complicit. Patronizing these sad places also makes one complicit. With this info the OP can make a better decision.

I have always wanted to do a "swim with the dolphins" encounter, but I have read too much to ever be able to do it in good conscience. I didn't know about the mother dolphins killing their babies that an earlier post mentioned, but I have read about dolphins committing suicide by not coming up for air. Over the centuries there have been stories about dolphins coming to people's aid by getting them to shore when drowning, etc. I hate to think that we are repaying these intelligent creatures with misuse and abuse, however well intentioned. OP I know that this isn't what you asked about, but perhaps once you are better aware of the problems associated with these encounters you might reconsider. BTW, I am not a PETA person, I don't believe that animals have the same rights as people but I dont' believe it is right to be cavalier about their lives either.

An earlier poster, who had a natural wild encounter, is so fortunate. That is what I hope to have sometime. My kids once swam off a beach in Cape May in NJ, and were within feet of wild dolphins. Very very nice.

If you ever get the opportunity I would really go and swim in KaiKoura. It was amazing. Also the earlier post talks if the cruelty - this is documented in 2 films - The Cove and Black Fish. The first is about the Dolphins and the second about killer whale. We met a conservationist in Alaska who lived just near the bay where the first ever killer whale was caught. He said he could still remember the cries coming from the whale. Blackfish is available free in BBC Iplayer. I visited Seaworld as a naive 15 year old, I have never been back and discourage people from visiting. You may only pay £100 but that multiple by the thousands that visit every day make it such a lucrative business. It's easy money for them.

I hope you get to see and swim with the Dolphins. My bucket list includes swimming with killer whales, but first need to learn to swim properly. I did the dolphin swim petrified of drowning as I'm not a even an average swimmer, and still loved it.

Many people do not know about the dark side of these encounters just as they do not know about animal cruelty as a part of many health and beauty products.