Just got back from Cozumel - and we the dolphin swim through Dolphinaris - I know there aren't a lot of reviews out there so here are my two cents:
We booked directly through the Dolphinaris website and paid $119 a person. There are several times to choose from, but the 10:20 tour worked out great since we got into port at 9:00. We took a taxi to the Dolphinaris site (Our ship was at the International Pier and the resort was about 1.5 miles towards the downtown area, cost was $2 per person for ride.) (If you are parked downtown, you could walk - its about 4-5 blocks.) Once we got there, the resort is beautiful! Very nice facilities including outdoor showers, nice bathrooms and a locker area (lockers were very big - cost was $4.00 to rent.) We were instructed to put everything in a lockers except ourselves in our suits of course and were given a key to hang around neck. Once done we joined a group of people - were given a number and waited our turn to be called up to get life vests and snorkel (all included.) The wait wasn't long and soon our group of about 12 were off to our dolphin area. We had two dolphin trainers who were both very nice and informative, they enouraged us to ask as many questions as we wanted. We ended up in a smaller pool area with 3 dolphins, 2 girls and a boy. The entire experience was wonderful - we started out by all swimming freely with the dolphins while they swam by us over and over to be petted - sometimes rolling on their backs so we could get to their bellies. They seemed to really enjoy themselves. After about 15 minutes of just swimming with them - we made our way back to the platform and in between our guides pointing out various facts and letting us touch their teeth, tongues, skin.. etc. we took turns doing 3 things: 1. The dolphin flipped on it's back and we went belly to belly and held onto their fins - while they swam us around the entire pool. 2. We swam out into the middle and waited while the dolphin swam up and gave us a good long kiss on the cheek. 3. We floated in middle and stuck our arms out straight and splashed the water and the dolphins swam up in between arms and "shook hands" with us with their flippers for a few seconds, face to face. After that we sat on the platfrom in the water while we watched the dolphins do some tricks including showing us how fast they could swim and jump among other stuff. Tour ended with us being able to swim freely again for about another 15 minutes while the trainers threw fish out to the dolphins and just plain had fun. They did one trick where they threw a fish to dolphin and made a gesture so the dolphin played fetch and brought the fish back to my husband to be grabbed out of his mouth.
All in all it was a fantastic tour and I feel like we got a lot of exposure for the money. The resort was beautiful and there is a restaurant and bar. My one and only complaint was that they did not allow cameras down near the dolphins - however they did take lots of pics for us including a DVD. We didn't really price the pics, but between the 5 in our group we did all chip in $10 each for the DVD ($50) and burned copies for everyone. DVD captured the entire day so it was worth it.
I have been to Chakanuub many times and experienced the park, but only watched the dolphin swim from afar. I really liked Dolphinaris because it is conveniently located and much closer (We only had to walk about 4 blocks to make it downtown to Carlos N Charlies when we were done.)
Hope this helps - if you have any questions, feel free to ask! mandie800@aol.com
Dolphinaris vs. Dolphin Swim Adventure(chankanaab)
in Cozumel
Posted
Just got back from Cozumel - and we the dolphin swim through Dolphinaris - I know there aren't a lot of reviews out there so here are my two cents:
We booked directly through the Dolphinaris website and paid $119 a person. There are several times to choose from, but the 10:20 tour worked out great since we got into port at 9:00. We took a taxi to the Dolphinaris site (Our ship was at the International Pier and the resort was about 1.5 miles towards the downtown area, cost was $2 per person for ride.) (If you are parked downtown, you could walk - its about 4-5 blocks.) Once we got there, the resort is beautiful! Very nice facilities including outdoor showers, nice bathrooms and a locker area (lockers were very big - cost was $4.00 to rent.) We were instructed to put everything in a lockers except ourselves in our suits of course and were given a key to hang around neck. Once done we joined a group of people - were given a number and waited our turn to be called up to get life vests and snorkel (all included.) The wait wasn't long and soon our group of about 12 were off to our dolphin area. We had two dolphin trainers who were both very nice and informative, they enouraged us to ask as many questions as we wanted. We ended up in a smaller pool area with 3 dolphins, 2 girls and a boy. The entire experience was wonderful - we started out by all swimming freely with the dolphins while they swam by us over and over to be petted - sometimes rolling on their backs so we could get to their bellies. They seemed to really enjoy themselves. After about 15 minutes of just swimming with them - we made our way back to the platform and in between our guides pointing out various facts and letting us touch their teeth, tongues, skin.. etc. we took turns doing 3 things: 1. The dolphin flipped on it's back and we went belly to belly and held onto their fins - while they swam us around the entire pool. 2. We swam out into the middle and waited while the dolphin swam up and gave us a good long kiss on the cheek. 3. We floated in middle and stuck our arms out straight and splashed the water and the dolphins swam up in between arms and "shook hands" with us with their flippers for a few seconds, face to face. After that we sat on the platfrom in the water while we watched the dolphins do some tricks including showing us how fast they could swim and jump among other stuff. Tour ended with us being able to swim freely again for about another 15 minutes while the trainers threw fish out to the dolphins and just plain had fun. They did one trick where they threw a fish to dolphin and made a gesture so the dolphin played fetch and brought the fish back to my husband to be grabbed out of his mouth.
All in all it was a fantastic tour and I feel like we got a lot of exposure for the money. The resort was beautiful and there is a restaurant and bar. My one and only complaint was that they did not allow cameras down near the dolphins - however they did take lots of pics for us including a DVD. We didn't really price the pics, but between the 5 in our group we did all chip in $10 each for the DVD ($50) and burned copies for everyone. DVD captured the entire day so it was worth it.
I have been to Chakanuub many times and experienced the park, but only watched the dolphin swim from afar. I really liked Dolphinaris because it is conveniently located and much closer (We only had to walk about 4 blocks to make it downtown to Carlos N Charlies when we were done.)
Hope this helps - if you have any questions, feel free to ask! mandie800@aol.com
Mandy