Reviews of Encounters With Dolphins Clearwater Beach Fl

Except maybe for alligators, few animals are associated more with Florida than the dolphin. Here'south where to see, feed, touch, paint with, befriend and get swimming with dolphins in the Sunshine State.

Past Chelle Koster Walton

Merina's skin felt cool, sleek and smooth. When she shook my paw with her fin and gazed into my optics with her friendly smile, I melted right there on the docks of the Dolphin Inquiry Center in the Florida Keys.

Some say a dolphin feels slick like wet rubber; others say information technology feels smooth like a peeled hard-boiled egg. But what'due south near impressive is the style you feel when you touch, interact with or even see a dolphin. It's difficult to do it justice with words, merely "celebrating" and "awed" are mutual reactions.

Except for the gator, few animals are more associated with the Sunshine State than the dolphin. It would be hard to imagine a identify where there were so many ways to collaborate with them, either in aquariums or in the sea, from simply watching them to really pond with them in Florida.

Here are 20 means to get to know dolphins in Florida. (Note: Some dolphin encounters have age restrictions, so check ahead before yous make family plans.)

i. Key West: Fury Water Adventures

Meet dolphin in their native habitat: wild and free in Primal W's back country with Fury Water Adventures. On the tour, knowledgeable guides dole out fun facts nigh dolphin lifestyles as you lot watch them frolic in the boat'southward wake. The tour besides includes a gamble to snorkel the Keys' famous coral reefs.

two. Central W: Dancing Dolphin Spirit Charters

Exist the dolphin on Capt. Victoria'south Dolphin 24-hour interval for Humans lease. Specializing in "children of all ages," the wilderness boat tour includes a snorkel tow on a "dolphin water massage board." Wild dolphin often join "homo dolphin" on their voyage into dolphinity.

three. Islamorada: Theater of the Sea

One of the highlights to this all-day Islamorada dolphin destination is a short gunkhole ride on a "bottomless boat," where dolphin perform in the open water at the boat'south center while passengers applaud from seats around the arena. Besides watching dolphin behavior, pond with dolphins in Florida and a snorkeling prowl into dolphin habitat, the 62-year-old Theater of the Sea offers sea king of beasts experiences, a beach, snorkeling with tropical fish and gardens filled with parrots, body of water turtles and other native and exotic creatures.

4. Marathon: Dolphin Research Eye

Paint with a dolphin? The Dolphin Research Heart in Marathon adds an creative twist to the dolphin experience. Participants collaborate with one of its 22 dolphins – some of them descendants of the 1963Flipper movie cast – to create a colorfully abstract T-shirt that the dolphin decorates with water-based paints and a paintbrush information technology holds in its mouth. This and other encounter programs help the facility cognition and beliefs, provide programs to military personnel and their families, piece of work with people with special needs, and develop top educational programs for students of all ages.

5. Marathon: Hawks Cay Resort

Stay where dolphin live at this seaside resort. The Dolphin Connection has designed programs for kids and adults to interact with a pod of friendly bottlenose dolphins in the resort'southward bounding main fed lagoon. Whether you choose to jump in the h2o for a hands-on dolphin encounter, learn how to train dolphins or stand on the dock and admire fantastic aerial tricks, Dolphin Connectedness can tailor a specific program to see your needs either individually or in a grouping setting.

6. Key Largo: Island Dolphin Care

No child is left out from the dolphin feel in Cardinal Largo, and Island Dolphin Intendance makes sure. It was developed specifically so kids with special needs could undergo the healing pleasance of a dolphin's visitor. Programs range from half-day run across-and-greets to five-twenty-four hours "Dolphin Time-Outs."

vii. Key Largo: Dolphins Plus

Tiny tots can enjoy the dolphin experience at Dolphins Plus. Participants ages iii years and upwardly and at to the lowest degree 4 feet six inches alpine can participate on their own (if they practise not run into the height requirement, they must have a participating adult to hold them in the water). The Shallow H2o Dolphin Encounter is a waist-deep dolphin interaction programme where you lot can meet the dolphins up close and personal, while standing comfortably in waist deep water. You lot can experience interactive behaviors similar body rubs, handshakes or kisses. All interaction is guided by a dolphin trainer, and one-on-one contact is guaranteed.

8. Miami: Miami Seaquarium

Here at the home of Television receiver'due south "Flipper" and erstwhile filming site for the show, you tin can make like Sandy and Bud and befriend a dolphin in either the Dolphin Encounter or the Dolphin Odyssey at Miami Seaquarium. Both are group experiences, last ii hours and are prefaced with a learning experience. Don't miss the Flipper Dolphin Show at this l-plus-year-old archetype Miami attraction.

9. Southeast Florida: Dolphin World

If you're in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Key Westward or West Palm Beach and are looking for an easy, no-fuss dolphin adventure, book with this tour company, which specializes in dolphin excursions. Leave the driving and arrangements to Dolphin Globe. Your but worry: How to smiling bigger than a dolphin in the photos that can be purchased at the end.

10. Everglades Urban center: Everglades Surface area Tours

When it comes to getting shut to wild dolphin, kayaking is the way to become. Everglades Area Tours makes quick work of getting you out into the raw nature of the Everglades by combining the use of horsepower and manpower. A mother boat transports participants to prime spots where they can paddle with the tides and currents back to bespeak A. Along the way, a naturalist informs as birds, fish, manatees and dolphin put on a show. Trips tin can be customized for camping on deserted beaches, angling or whatever your family unit pleases.

Your gang tin enjoy a dolphin encounter at Hawks Cay Resort.

- Hawks Cay Resort

Meet a new friend

- Miami Seaquarium

eleven. Fort Myers Beach: GAEA Guides

Estero Bay, the department of Intracoastal Waterway that separates Fort Myers Beach from the mainland, is known for its wild dolphin population. Chances are near 100 pct that a foray into the sheltered waters, part of the 100-mile Great Calusa Blueway paddling trail, will advantage with a dolphin sighting. Connie Langmann, possessor of GAEA Guides, takes kayakers – first-time or experienced – into these dolphinated estuary waters for an intimate paddle among the resident pod.

12. Fort Pierce: Florida Dolphin Watch

The East Coast's Indian River is home to hundreds of dolphin that seek the shelter of the Intracoastal Waterway to feed and breed. The Dolphin Watch is a ii-hour trip out of Fort Pierce that'southward limited to six people. Information technology's a leisurely, educational experience where yous'll be entertained by dolphin 90 percent of the time. Longer customized tours are available and tin include lunch on a deserted island.

13. Tampa: The Florida Aquarium's Wild Dolphin EcoTour

Tampa Bay boasts more than than 400 dolphin, and Tampa'southward Florida Aquarium takes you to where they and hundreds of birds live. Board a comfy 72-pes catamaran for an hour-and-a-half narrated excursion. And just outside of Tampa, you lot can swim with dolphins in Clearwater.

xiv. Orlando: SeaWorld Risk Park

Seaworld offers engaging shows where y'all get all wet if you're sitting in the Splash Zone -- and from there, experiences with dolphin grow more intimate by the minute. Visit the Dolphin Plant nursery to learn how mom and dogie interact. Sign up for the Dolphin Upward-Close Tour, a walking tour experience they'll be immediately texting their friends back home about. At SeaWorld's waterpark, Aquatica, ii awesome, enclosed tube slides transport you speeding through a lively lagoon filled with playful, blackness-and-white Commerson's dolphin.

15. Orlando: Discovery Cove

Want dolphin all to yourself? For a more than exclusive interface, reserve your twenty-four hours beyond the street from SeaWorld at Discovery Cove. At this private, all-inclusive day resort, a limited number of people are admitted per mean solar day to play on the beach and snorkel in the fish-filled waterways. Guests are divided into small groups to swim with the dolphin for 30 minutes later on a ten-minute conservation-minded orientation. During the swim, participants get their picture show taken kissing a dolphin and score a fin-tow. This resort likewise gives guests the opportunity to swim with dolphins in Florida, along with rays, tropical fish and hand-feed exotic birds likewise every bit participate in trainer-for-a-day programs.

Swimming with dolphins at Discovery Cove makes for a unique family vacation.

- Discovery Cove/SeaWorld Orlando

The Florida Aquarium

- Visit Tampa Bay

Marineland has a range of options for interacting with the dolphins, including getting in the 1-million-gallon tank with the mammals.

- Julie Fletcher for VISIT FLORIDA

Experience fun at the Marineland Dolphin Encounter

- Julie Fletcher for VISIT FLORIDA

16. Orlando: Florida Dolphin Tours

Y'all're in Orlando, simply you're craving a quick dolphin getaway to the Keys. Florida Dolphin Tours are the people to see for a two-24-hour interval dolphin side-trip that includes round-trip transportation, accommodations, a ii-hour one-on-one dolphin program, an airboat ride through the Everglades and shopping in Miami's Bayside District. If you'd rather snorkel with dolphin in the open, the tour operators can become you in that location.

17. Space Declension: Kayak tours

Adventure Kayak of Cocoa Embankment, A Day Away Kayaking Tours and the Brevard Zoo all pb paddling excursions into the dolphin-full waters of the Space Coast's Indian River and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The always-curious dolphin often come so close you can touch them.

xviii. Flagler Canton: Marineland Dolphin Adventure

Marineland Dolphin Adventure is the world'southward get-go oceanarium. Packed with history, the site opened in 1938 as Marine Studios, an underwater filming location for motion pictures. A modernized and updated park is at present focused on meaningful animal interactions, and offers multiple programs that immerse guests in the world of dolphins. Merely discover their grace and beauty in their 1.three-million-gallon habitat, or interact with them in the water. Your encounter tin can final anywhere from iii minutes to several days. Programs and kids' twenty-four hour period camps target every historic period grouping, and weddings and other event bookings are as well available.

19. Destin: Glass Bottom Boat Dolphin Cruise

Climb aboard the Destin-based, 80-foot Southern Star and fix to do a lot of swivel-necking. Dolphin honey jumping in the gunkhole'south wake, but you never know where exactly they'll surface side by side. You can sometimes catch them in their near playful mode, when the males are showing off for the females or tossing fish to mates. Information technology's better than a trained dolphin show because it's spontaneous and unpredictable. You tin can bring your camera, but it often seems they're laughing at your attempts to capture them. Kids peculiarly love the ride considering besides being able to see dolphins above and below the h2o, they get to bulldoze the boat.

xx. Panama City Beach: Gulf World Marine Park

In one case you've seen Gulf World Marine Park'due south daily Dolphin Show, y'all'll be hooked and gear up to jump right in with these beauties. You lot're in luck because in Panama City Embankment, Gulf Globe offers diverse programs such equally Trainer For a 24-hour interval, Dolphin Solar day Camp, Meet and Greet, Snooze with Sea Life and Swim with the Dolphins, where you tin can run across, kiss and swim with dolphins in Florida.

21. Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Clearwater

At this working infirmary, focused on rescue, rehabilitation and release, you can choose from dolphin care experiences, which include a poolside session and feeding opportunity with a resident dolphin. Or cull a souvenir photo taken with a dolphin to help you recall your twenty-four hour period at the Aquarium. Your family will also honey meeting the otters, sharks, pelicans and more than. Activities include gunkhole and kayak tours equally well as animal care experiences.

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Source: https://www.visitflorida.com/travel-ideas/articles/outdoors-nature-20-places-swim-with-dolphins-florida/

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