Uncover the Discovery Cove

I’ve always wanted to swim with the dolphins, or go diving. But I’m not brave enough to get a Scuba licence, and it’s not everywhere that you can give hugs and kisses to them cute dolphins. A visit to Discovery Cove is clearly in order. I booked myself a trip to Orlando’s Discovery Cove to fulfill all my marine aspirations. And I love every minute of it.

Booking the tickets
Don’t arrive there unannounced and declare you want to swim with the dolphins. It doesn’t work that way. Make your advanced reservations online on the Discovery Cove website. You’d need to select the date of your visit. The price you pay is not just for being up close and personal with the dolphins but to access the entire park. And the park is huge.  You can also add a SeaVenture activity to your package. This is perfect for wimpy folks like me. It’s like scuba diving in less intimidating surroundings. The best part of the package? You get to visit its other two sister parks- SeaWorld and Aquatica, a water park.

Be there early
Please don’t be late. The Cove is packed with visitors by the batches and everyone is assigned a time and pod number for their dolphin experience. If you’re late, you’re likely to cause disruption to the schedule.

Arrive with an empty stomach
The trip to Discovery Cove ain’t cheap, but you’ll see why. Once you enter the park, you can spend the entire day there and eat for free. Food flows from the morning till closing time, from breakfast to tea break and snacks. It makes perfect sense, since you’ve already checked your bags into the lockers at the entrance and you won’t be burdened with cash.

Here are some highlights:

1. A welcoming sight of dolpins greets you at the lobby of the Discovery Cove

 

2. You’ll need to head to one of the many organized counters to register and get your passes that work like passport throughout your stay at the Cove.

3. It’s time to hit the breakfast after registration. There is a buffet line that offers options after options. The result of our eyes greedier than stomach.

 

 

4. First on the cards was the SeaVenture, where we get to “dive” alongside marine creatures and come face to face with sharks. Who needs a diving license when I can enjoy this?

5. Dolphin Interaction time! It’s a 30-minute programme where you get to get up close to a bottle-nose dolphin in an intimate group setting of eight. You get to pet, hug, kiss, play and swim with a dolphin. And there’s a photo opp too, but their official photog, because photo-taking is not allowed during the interaction. All photos are each sold separately near the exit point.

6. The Grand Reef, a shallow water bay where the giant rays are too enormous for my comfort really.

 

7. Time to hit the wind-away river, where you just go with the flow and float through well-manicured tropical landscape

It’s one heck of a day, this trip to Discovery Cove.  If you’re in Orlando for the thrill of the theme parks, take a day off and relish in the delightfully relaxing alcove. Have you been to the Discovery Cove? Which is your favorite part?