Atlantis – Dolphin Cay
So we have visited Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas several times. We have experienced Dolphin Cay twice now and both times did not disappoint!
Both times we did the “Swimming with the Seals” as it is more interactive and easier for the kids at their age (previously 2 and 4 and the recently at 4 and 6 years old). We would absolutely love to do the dolphin experience but they take a bit more precautions with the younger crowd and get “less” of an experience for what you’re paying. Although our kids are great swimmers….you still have to take precaution as necessary when interacting with marine life and any type of wild life for that matter. But we will certainly swim with the dolphins once the boys are a little older. They looked upon them so curiously and really wanted to do it.
The trainers are amazing and so full of knowledge. They love being there and interacting with the marine life (how could you not LOVE your job)! They walk you through their facilities and give you a run down of where they treat the seals (and dolphins), research that has been done on them, how much they eat and along the way you meet some pretty cool parrots!
Once you get to the training area, you sit on some benches underneath an umbrella and await the star guest which waddles in as cute as you can imagine (and a little sliding along the sidewalk).
They don’t let you take phones or cameras with you in the back area (but I snuck the above last minute picture with the trainer introducing Sunny the Seal. They also provide their own photographer to capture images from this visit but you will be paying a pretty good price for a handful of images.
The group is pretty intimate with about 10 people. We had two families and a couple in our group. We all got to swim around with Sunny inside the pool. Everyone fed her fish. She took normal pictures and silly pictures with all groups. We got to interact and pet her, rub her back and really see her personality.
So at the end, they direct you to the “MyPhotos” desk in which you have to sort through all the pictures and start deciding on which ones we want to keep. However, we must keep in mind the price. SO you can pick 5 photos for $99.00 (OUCH)! And you have to pick 5 from about 40 amazing pictures. You can increase to 7 for an extra $30.00 or get all the pictures at $189.00. I typically end up spending an hour to decide on 5 photos while the kids play in the sand! As much as I want all the photos, they give you a code to download online and I just can’t comprehend spending that much money on computer downloads. But I can spend just enough to capture some of those lovely moments we had. To each their own.
Below are pictures from our trip two years ago. We had just as much fun which is why we wanted to do it again. Like I said previously, with the younger kids, it is a better option and do the dolphin swim when they get a bit older.
If we were at Dolphin Cay just one day earlier…..we would have run into these pretty cool people!!!!
Check this off your bucket list with the kids, it’s worth it. Even the 5 pictures too!!! 🙂