Swim with the dolphins excursion

[piscesgirl0314]

TGIf Everyone!
We will be taking our third trip to STJ in June...10 days...yay! While we're there my 7 year old wants to do a swim with the dolphins excursion. They have Discover Dolphins Discovery in Tortola and we could take the Ferry over. But I was wondering if any of you knew of an all day excursion. Cruz Bay Watersports doesn't have one and the folks at Caribbean Tour Services in STT only handle large groups. There will only be six of us. If any of you know of a company that would do an all day excursion please let me know.
Hope you all have a great weekend.

[jmq]

There was a thread on this back in Feb. Suggest you read it and click on some of the links before you decide to go.

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... ht=dolphin

[Pia]

Please, please read and research (on this forum and others) all the info available about the "swim with the dolphins" facilities - especially the Tortola one.

Pia

[Xislandgirl]

Please reconsider and take a snorkeling or sailing trip. If you google the name of the company you will find that it is not what it pretends to be.

Your daughter will see some really amazing things snorkeling and it will give her a true education about the marinelife of the Caribbean.

[gimpiegirl]

i agree. please, please don't go to tortola and do the dolphin excursion. the are not treated well. please do not support this organization. the snorkel and swim trip would be a great way for your daughter to see the natural marine life. i've seen dolphins a few times on my way to jost van dyke, as well as on jost van dyke. there are a few snorkeling trips that head over there, and hopefully she can see some on the way that way instead.

[Cid]

I'm glad my fellow forumites spoke up. I remember reading about this when we were trip planning. I can think of many better places to leave my tourist dollars. I agree that your daughter could get a much better experience snorkeling.

Peace,

Cid

[Gromit]

I have long been against these type sof operations. Sorry that you are probably not getting the kind of responses that you expected but they are honest.

If you are truly bent on a dolphin experience the only one I endorse is the "Dolphins In Depth" experience at Walt Disney World Epcot. They have real scientists and marine biologists there to educate and provide safe exposure to dolphins. The dolphins are very well cared for and I have seen this operation first hand.

THe other suggestions here are very good ones. TAke your daughter out to Salt Pond were she will see octopus, squid, tons of fish, nurse sharks, turtles and beautiful coral. EVerything is it's own habitat. Just don't touch!

And next time you're at Disney do the dolphin thing. Please do not support businesses that abuse these wonderful creatures!!

[Lex]

I'd also urge you to visit the websites given in the thread that jmq mentions. Captivity is harmful to them. I've always thought that one thing working against dolphins is the configuration of their mouth. It looks like a smile which makes it convenient for us humans to believe that they're enjoying their captivity and the opportunity to amuse us.

And a related matter---here's info on regulations related to encounters with dolphins in the wild:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/education/p ... lphins.htm


http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/educat ... public.pdf

The slogan of their Protect Dolphins Campaign is:

Let the wild ones stay wild