Tortola?

[troy32]

I was wondering if anyone has been to the Dolphin Discovery on Tortola? We were thinking about heading there for a day to swim with the dolphins. Is it worth taking part in? Also, how long does it take to get there from St. John? Thanks

[Adrienne]

Sorry - never went to Dolphin Discovery - have been to Tortola and the ferry ride from St. John to Tortola was about 30-45 minutes - that was into West End. You can get a ferry directly into Road Town, but you would have to do so via St. Thomas.

Once getting to West End, you can get a taxi to bring you to Road Town. Some taxis there can run a bit expensive - to save you a little bit of money, make a deal with the driver and ask him to pick you up at your location when your ready to go back to the ferry dock in West End.

[Barb Y]

Hi Troy32! I did the Dolphin swim in Tortola last year and the year before. I am a huge dolphin lover so being in the water interacting with them was incredible. The first year we took a ferry from STJ to Tortola and then took a taxi into town as we had time before the swim. The swim was incredible! After, we went back into town and had lunch at Pusser's because again we had time to kill before the ferry back to STJ. Last year we had rented a captained boat for a day trip and they were able to bring us into the dock nearest the property of Dolphin discovery. So if you are taking a private day trip it is the best way to work it in $ wise and time wise. If you are going to take the ferry over just be aware that the 45-60 minutes with the Dolphins will mean a full day hanging around Tortola. Hope this helps! Enjoy it if you go!

[Captain John]

Hey Barb Y if you love dolphins check this video out. This was taken coming back to St John from Jost.
It was the thrill of a life time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DRLhSkI69c

[jmq]

Philosophically, some folks have a problem with captive dolphin programs and the company that runs the captive dolphin operation in Tortola does not have the best reputation.

These links may help you or others decide if they wish to continue to support these kind of enterprises by patronizing them:

http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/272_what_ ... phins_.cfm

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1254011&page=1

http://www.dolphinproject.org/help-stop ... phins.html

http://www.onevoice-ear.org/english/cam ... bbean.html

[RickG]

I was going to stay quiet on this. I agree qith jmq. Go for a charter with Capt. John instead and ask him to keep an eye out for dolphins. You may just see tons of other cool stuff. But if you see dolphins it will be on their terms.

Cheers, RickG

[Barb Y]

Wow! Where do I begin? JMQ thank you I think for those very informative articles on the "behind the scene" truths. I never really did the important research I guess before venturing out on what had been a lifetime dream of mine, swimming with and touching dolphins. I was obviously uneducated by my own fault. I can truly say that contributing to anything that I would have thought to have been remotely cruel or inhumane to Dolphins or any creature would be the last thing I would ever want to do.
Sedi- Thank you for sharing your video. I have seen it before but I still enjoyed as much as I did the first time. I am sure I would have gone out of my mind to have had that experience.

[MarciaMarciaMarcia]

I concur with jmq and others. At the very least the Tortola/Prospect Reef operation is no place I would go or recommend. To be honest, until we were there, I had never looked into it nor did I have an opinion.....pro or con on the issue. The PR hype suggests that by visiting these "dolphin encounter experiences" you are helping to promote the health and welfare of the species. That may well be true with some.....it may be that all dolphin encounter outfits are not created equal. I can only say that I deeply regret that we did not do our homework and were taken in by the PR in 2005 when we went to the Tortola Dolphin Encounter.

We walked through and paid the fee and then were led around to the area where the dolphins were. It was a lagoon/pen which.....it appeared would be refreshed with the tides, however, the water was murky green......zero visibility....4 feet of water could not see your feet. We asked why that was and the answer was that it was historically a mangrove swamp...which was just as clean as the open ocean water but the fine sand on the bottom kicked up and made the visibility low. Hmmmm. Two of the dolphins had open sores around and under their snouts. That was enough for us. The water was filthy and the dolphins had sores. We didn't ask for a refund...we just left feeling sickened and sad.

Read the dophiin project...the third link that jmq provided. It speaks directly to the Tortola operation which we have since learned is nicknamed "The Dolphin Prison".

[Lex]

Here are links to a couple more sites that provide perspective:

http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/what ... captivity/

http://www.marineconnection.org/campaig ... ammes.html

I've always thought that one thing working against dolphins is the configuration of their mouth. It looks something like a smile which makes it convenient to believe that they're having a great time amusing humans.

[Barb Y]

If I knew then what I know now things would be different. I shared this info with my sister yesterday after reading the articles provided and now she will not be participating.

[troy32]

Thank you all for the information. After reading all the replies, we have decided not to go there. You all are such a wealth of knowledge and your opinions are greatly appreciated.