Dolphins

[Clay Clayton]

The following is an excerpt from my cruise review which can be found on the NCL board..but here is the Cozumel portion:

 

The Sun docked in Cozumel beside one of RCL's Giant _______or of the Seas which made the Sun look like a toy boat! We had elected to privately book the Dolphin Snorkel and Swim in combination with the Sea Lion swim at Chankanaab Park. We had no problem grabbing a taxi to the park, set price of $10 to get there. The park is impressive, includes a small display of Mayan replicas, a bontanical garden which was very nice except none of the plants were identified, a lagoon, caves to scuba through, a nice beach and a restaurant – all this was in addition to the Dolphin experience. It appears the park was not designed for the crowds that it is now drawing so there was difficulty in getting a locker, changing room etc. With all the cruise ships in town, it was VERY crowded in the morning but by the afternoon it seemed to have thinned out some. The dolphin snorkel involved a quick orientation for about a hundred folks, being divided into groups of 10 or so then walking out to the docks where each group gets down in the water on a raised metal platform (wear dive shoes – the wire is uncomfortable on bare feet), where the trainer takes the dolphin through its paces – swim by, jump in front of you, kisses your cheek etc. You then swim out about 30 feet from the platform and the dolphin swims by, you grab hold and he pulls you back to the platform…pretty amazing! All of this is done with a still and video photographer standing by to record it for future purchase or you can have your underwater/waterproof camera with you. The group then swims out with snorkels and the dolphin and trainer work together under water all around the group. All it all it was a great way to be with the dolphins though I wish it had of been a little less choreographed. But I guess when you have hundreds doing it in a single day, you must set up the procedure and everyone follow it. We then attended the sea lion show and then after the audience left, eight of us got to go in and swim and play with a sea lion. Similar to the dolphin experience, very choreographed although we were the last swim of the day and the Sea Lion’s weren’t cooperating which made it more fun…the trainer would direct them to jump over our heads and they wouldn’t so he would have to try again. If I had to choose to do just one of these experiences due to time or budget, I would choose the Sea Lion as it is a much more personal experience, smaller group, etc. We had lunch at the Park, there is a nice shaded structure with a bar, Mexican band and a restaurant. However the service is AWFUL! It took us three tables to finally get someone to wait on us and while the food came very quickly and was relatively tasty (nothing special) we never did get a check despite asking for it several times. Since we were afraid we were going to miss our Sea Lion adventure, we ended up just leaving what we hope was enough cash on the table. After our Sea Lion experience, we headed back to the park entrance where there were a number of cabs waiting and we made it back to town with a couple of hours to spare before our ship left. We wandered around, did some shopping etc and then reboarded the ship. If I had it to do over again, I think I would try to book the first dolphin swim after an early lunch and have lunch in town and then come out to just to do the swim.