Sunday
We had a lie in till 8am! We were always up early, we stayed in the pool till 2pm then decided to go to international drive we were bored[msnwink], we drove through and that was it, we saw hotels and restaurants. So we went to old town Kissimmee, we parked by the burger king and walked through to the rides, they were scary here; they had one that catapulted you into the air and another that dropped you from a big height! There was gun shops bars it was a busy place really.
We left after a walk around, we drove to dunking dounuts across the road these were delicious. We were in bed early ready for a busy day tomorrow.[msnsmile2]
Monday
This was the main reason for coming to Florida was to swim with the dolphins; I had looked at other places before booking I was so glad I booked here.
We arrived at 8.00am you could tell as you drive up how nice and clean the place is we had our pictures taken and given a time of 10.50am at sand dollar cabaña.
You get: -
Continental breakfast, lunch, plus all snacks and beverages throughout the day.
Snorkel gear, swim vest or wet suit, towels, lockers, sunscreen, beach chairs.
We were so excited, we went to get some breakfast (everything was inclusive). This place is beautiful I feel in love with it straightaway, it had a nice calm feel about it rather than the busy parks. As you walk through from the breakfast area you walk onto the beach pick your place where you want o to sit, we picked in-between the dolphin swim area and the warm pool (near the toilets/showers).
We got changed into our wetsuits what a laugh they are quite tight and you feel silly but everyone is the same but as soon as you go into the water they loosen off a bit. We had a couple of hours to check the place out before our swim, we had a quick look at the people who where swimming with the dolphins first then got our snorkelling things and went in the tropical river, we swam under the water along the river, it takes you all the way around and it can get deep in places you have to be a confident swimmer, but you can also have a life jacket. (I would also recommend those shoes for the feet I hurt mine) We went into the ray lagoon and had our pictures taken, the photographer was around all day all the photos are at the desk for you to choose on the way out we did buy a few they were really nice.
We arrived for our swim and had a video and talk about the dolphins health and safety etc.. There was four of us and two other couples from the UK we met out instructors called Ingrid and April who came into the pool with us, the water was cold and I was glad we had the longer wet suits on.
We had two dolphins the first one was called Astra she was a pretty small dolphin who did all the little tricks and poses for the pictures the ones of us kissing her are lovely. The second one came Akie and Astra went Akie was a lot bigger and older he had marks and scratches on him form the other dolphins and hardly any teeth, I think they were training Astra because there was no way she could of swam us back to shore. [msnsmile2]
He was lovely though we swam out and Akie came for us one by one we held on to his fin and he glided us back to shore this was fantastic and the pictures are brilliant to see my son and daughters face was an amazing feeling. The trainer Ingrid got the dolphin to dance and it took commands of us they are truly lovely creatures. Thirty minutes did go quick though and Akie gave us a wave with her fin goodbye. We went back to the meeting room to view the pictures there was loads to choose from and they where expensive. We got the DVD for $79.99 and five pictures for $100 (just checked my c/card today it only cost me £54 for the 5 pictures). [msncool]
We went for lunch then the food was lovely and a good choice you could go back up for more if you wanted to. After lunch the kids wanted to go around the lagoon river again and we took our under water cameras with us. If you stand still for a while the fish will come up to you but your not to touch them, sometimes it cant b
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