Dolphins or Sea Lions or Both

[Mark.Jules]

We are trying to decide what to do. We can swim with dolphins at our stop in St. Thomas or St. Martin. We can swim with Sea Lions at Coral World, is there a big difference other than the obvious of the animal you are swimming with? If we decided on both would we be disappointed due to similarities? What have been your experiences? I know that it is one or the other in St. Thomas. Thank you for your feedback.

[Flatbush Flyer]

We are trying to decide what to do. We can swim with dolphins at our stop in St. Thomas or St. Martin. We can swim with Sea Lions at Coral World, is there a big difference other than the obvious of the animal you are swimming with? If we decided on both would we be disappointed due to similarities? What have been your experiences? I know that it is one or the other in St. Thomas. Thank you for your feedback.

 

 

Of course, there's always the other better choice: leave the animals alone.

 

 

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[sanger727]

We are trying to decide what to do. We can swim with dolphins at our stop in St. Thomas or St. Martin. We can swim with Sea Lions at Coral World, is there a big difference other than the obvious of the animal you are swimming with? If we decided on both would we be disappointed due to similarities? What have been your experiences? I know that it is one or the other in St. Thomas. Thank you for your feedback.

 

 

I'm not going to get into the animal ethics issues. I've done a dolphin swim (not in st Thomas), afterwards I felt like I wouldn't do one again. It was somewhat neat to be in there w the dolphins, but the reality was that we were in a large group and just had scripted photo ops. Very little actual animal interaction. Just sit in this spot in your life jacket, arms in the air, dolphin swims in front, arms on the back and photo; followed up by overpriced photos. I can't comment on the sea lion swim, but I didn't feel like the dolphin swim was worth the money and certainly wouldn't have wanted to do two of those sessions.

 

 

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Edited December 31, 2016 by sanger727

[Ms411]

Sea lions are better because you interact with them on land and in the water and you're in a small group. When you're in the water you actally hang on to the lion's neck as he swims across the pool. When I went they took lots of pictures with you interacting with the animal.

 

These are rescue lions and they would have been destroyed if there wasn't a program like this. Coral World either has rescues or releases the animals to the wild at some point.

[O2B@Cagain]

The dolphin prison is on Tortola, not St Thomas, so you have to factor the travel time in. It is a pretty bleak spot.:(

[Mark.Jules]

After reading responses and doing some research, we have decided to forgo any swimming with the animas (other than those in the ocean who choose to come see us). Thank you all for giving your input.