Has anyone takin a Dolphin excursion while staying at Couples Negril?
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Has anyone takin a Dolphin excursion while staying at Couples Negril?
You are going to get a lot of negative comments on this regarding the treatment of the dolphins at these type of places. I did go to the dolphin encounter while at CN and it was awesome! The dolphins are all rescues and would have died without this place saving them. I have copied and pasted my response from a previous post:
We did Dolphin Cove when we were a CN Decmeber 2010. It was well worth it for me, but I am a Dolphn lover and it was a dream of mine to swim with them. We booked through the resort (CN) once we were there. It is on the way back towards Montego in Lucea. It takes about 45 minutes to get there. It was $175 for the full swim with two dolphins and then $25 for my husband to just get in the door (rip off). We picked up 11 more people from RIU on the way. When we got there they gave us an information session and the guy was great. Then we were divided into our groups as to what program we were in. There were 8 people in my group and the person who did the information session was with us in the water too. You get in the water and there are two dolphins in there and their trainer is on the dock. You start out all lined up, shoulder to shoulder and the dolphins swim under your hands. They are so soft. Then you go back along the sides of the dock 4 on one side and 4 on the other. They call you out in the groups you came in (so I was by myself) and you get a good 5 minutes with the dolphin just lying in front of you to stroke them to look at them and to feel their heart beating. I asked a lot of questions about all of the marks on this dolphin and the guy was full of info it was great. Then we got to go out one by one and the dolphins swam up behind me and I grabbed onto their dorsal fin and they swam away with me! I was amazed at how strong they were and how fast! It was awesome. Then we got to go further out and I had to lay on my stomach with my feet pointed down and the dolphins came up behind me and pushed my feet and pushed me through the water. Again amazing! After that we got to each dance with them while holding their fins. Very cool. They ended it with us having them swim under our hands again and then they jumped out of the water a few times. Awesome. They take pictures and video of the whole thing. My husband had to stay pretty far away they dont let anyone unless they paid down by the water. But he videotaped the whole thing. I did buy the disc with the pictures though. It was $70 for the disc and you get every picture they took of everyone. That would be a great deal if you had multiple people with you. They also had two sting rays there at a different part of the beach/Ocean area you could go touch and look at. The handler was very knowledgeable about them. I suppose that is what the $25 for my husband was entrance to just watch me and then a few minutes with a sting ray. I thought that was pretty bad I mean I could see $10 or something. I was nervous the bus would leave when we were with the sting rays as it did not seem like a lot of people knew about this. They had problems with our disc and it took forever to get it straight so the people were still waiting for us, I felt bad. We still got back around 1:30 or so.
Great post by dank120 BTW - everyone will tell you how horrible this place is, but we were also told by the trainers and have researched it about the dolphnis here being rescued. Some are not released, but their life expectancy is far greater in this beautiful home for them than out in the ocean, where they were all about to die from their injuries at some point.
We stay at CSA but have never tried this either, I would be very interested to hear if anyone has and their experience!!!
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Dont know if these will come through or not. These are pics from my experience.
I am also a dolphin lover and could not wait to go do this excursion a dream come true, but to my surprise this was not the high lite of my trip but it was fun. I almost booked it thru the internet but decided to wait because I was unsure of the transportation and thought maybe it would all be more clear once I got there. We booked at CSA and there was a lady there Jackie that got us booked and arranged transportation for us and we only paid $130. per person for the 2 dolphin excursion which was cheaper then anywhere I found.
I had researched it on the internet but once we got there it was alot smaller but it is beautiful because it is a natural cove. There is a small area to touch a stingray but you have to be with the guys... on the internet and maybe at the big Dolphin Cove it looks like you are free to interact with them some people were getting scolded for trying this. The shark show is a joke it is a small area and the skit is OK but I did not really enjoy it however I did think the guys presenting it did an ok job. The dolphins.... the dolphins are wonderful, they are well trained and listened well and seem very happy. But the trainers are a bit much. Everything is too structured around the photo ops. You move when the trainers tell you to move and that is it you don't do anything without being told to. I found it a bit hard to hear what the guy was saying because he was on the dock yelling with an accent I was not use to and we were in the water about 10-15 ft away and I have not had this kind of training before thank goodness the dolphins knew what to do. They put you in groups of 4-6 to get into the water....they instruct the dolphins to swim past you so you can pet them, they tell you about the dolphins, they let them kiss you, they dance for you then the dorsal pull and then a foot push and another petting secession an you are done. There is no real meaningful interaction with them which is what I was wanting because dolphins are much more then just amusement park rides. I left excited because I got to play with the dolphin but did not have that emotional connection I was looking for. The pictures are real expensive I read somewhere that you need to bargain with them. The one in Ocho Rios looks alot bigger with more to do. Negril I think it is a little over priced because they don't offer much but on the other hand where else can get a dorsal pull and foot push from a dolphin. It is a good excursion but I don't think I would do a return trip to the small one I think I would rather just snorkel or dive with them in the ocean and see if that brings in the emotional connection. Have fun
I've been lucky enough to do the natural encouter while scuba diving - twice!
I love dolphins but I don't want to swim with them in captivity. For anyone that proclaims that they love dolphins..I understand, but urge you to do a bit of research prior to forking out hundreds of dollars to "swim with them". I have heard that the dolphins at the "dolphin cove" are rescues but if you think about that for a moment....why not set them free instead of enslaving them? I urge anyone that "loves dolphins" to watch the academy award winning documentary called "The Cove", and then decide whether or not to spend a lot of your money on this. There is a lot of cruelty in the world and many of it comes in shiny acquariums.Quote:
Originally Posted by AAS
Amen to that!Quote:
Originally Posted by lablovers
Thank you all or your input. It helps a lot. We are leaving Saturday or CN. We are so excited.Quote:
Originally Posted by dnddougherty
AAS, me too at Swept Away. Talk about sucking air!! It sure gets the heart a pumping doesn't it. We had one circle us about three times, and then just glide away. Just a real special dive. You just never know.
It's still a dolphin prison, no matter how much research you did. I bet if the dolphins could speak, they'd tell you they don't like it one little bit!!!
