possibility of seeing/swimming with dolphins in the wild?

[Kristianmom3x]

My daughter and I did a dolphin swim last year in the Bahamas. We are doing a southern Caribbean cruise later this year and really want to swim with them again, but after our last cruise I was enlightened about the capture/treatment etc. This is probably a long shot, but has anyone ever actually seen dolphins while at a beach or on a snorkeling excursion? If so, where, where, where??? Wondering what kind of a slim chance we may have of seeing them and satisfying our urge without actually supporting the "dolphin swim" programs. We are leaving from NYC and the ports we will be visiting are: Puerto Rico/ St. Thomas/ Tortola/ St. Maarten/ Martinique/ St. Lucia/ Barbados and St. Kitts.....

 

Also while on the subject, has anyone seen dolphins or whales while on the cruise ship? We didn't see any on our Bahamas cruise but it would be a highlight for us! I'm just a big kid at heart and am fascinated with dolphins and whales, but don't want to encourage the cruel art of captivity by participating in the dolphin swim programs anymore. Any info would be great!

[Pyrate13]

We have seen dolphins several times while on a cruise and also when we chartered boats out of Tortola. We saw multiple whales once while cruising near Dominica.

 

Never saw or heard of anyone swimming with the dolphins in the wild but I suppose you could if they decided to hang around with you in their environment.

 

We were on a small boat in Dominica and a mother whale with her calf swam right up to the boat. The captain dove in with a camera and took underwater photos but once he did that she didn't hang around. I would imagine she wanted to protect the calf.

[Austingrl]

We were on the Pride of America NCL cruise in the summer of 2014. While in Kona, HI we did the Captain Zodiac excursion and a mother and baby dolphin swim right up to the side of the small boat we were on. It was so exciting! I, too, do not want to contribute to the problem of companies profiting from keeping dolphins in captivity. Seeing them in the wild was such a thrill!

[mrsjetpup]

A couple of years ago we took a private excursion to Stingray Island when on Grand Cayman, when we pulled up to the spot, a dolphin came up to our boat. The guides knew him and even had a name for him. We could reach over the boat and touch him. When we left there and went to a snorkeling spot he even followed us there. My grown daughter was so excited she literally started crying. It was a highlight of our trip.

[Loralye]

I just saw this pic on my FB newsfeed - a tour operator I used on our last trip to St. Kitts shared this last night.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pq07915yk18smy2/IMG_0450.PNG?dl=0