Today I have a guest blogger, Lynette, sharing her family’s experience with the Cabo Dolphin Swim (CL23) port adventure through Disney Cruise Line. This port adventure took place in October 2017:
Cabo Dolphin Swim
Prices – $190.00 (ages 10 and up) $169.00 (ages 5 to 9)
Activity Level & Duration: Mild – 1 to 1.5 Hours
Experience Type: Splashtacular
Age: 5 And Up
Where to Meet
When the Disney Wonder arrives in the port of Cabo San Lucas, the ship doesn’t pull up to a dock. Instead, you will tender to the dock. That means that the ship anchors out in the water and smaller boats pull up to the side of the ship. You disembark the Disney Wonder and take a tender boat to the shore. This was actually a really fun experience, and you get some of the best pictures of the cruise ship from these tender boats.
We booked our excursion 75 days before the cruise (because we were first time cruisers) and we got the 1:15pm time slot. We decided to get off the ship early and find a place to have lunch. We ate at Cabo Wabo (we got lost, but that is a story for another day, lol!). We did have to walk back to the dock where the tender dropped us off to meet with the tour group, and then we all walked together over to Cabo Adventures. The walk is not that far, maybe 5 minutes. Here is a map that has both the tender pier and dolphin facility circled:
Checking In
When we arrived at the Cabo Dolphin Center, each family checked in at the front desk and to get a colored wristband for each person. After you check in, you can walk around inside. They have a café, gift shop, and a sitting area. We went straight outside to change. They have men’s and women’s locker rooms with changing areas, showers and toilets. After we changed, we put our belongings in an outdoor locker. They are free and you get a key to take with you. Then you go and find your sitting area that matches your color wrist band. There were 2 families in our group for a total of 8 people, and there were 4 groups total within the dolphin swimming pool. Employees came by and gave out wet towels to cool us off while we waited.
Meeting Our Trainer
Our group was the last one to be picked up by our trainer, but it doesn’t really matter as we all got in the big pool together. First, our trainer took us to a covered area and explained all of the rules and what we were going to be doing . She also told us about the dolphins, where they came from, their environment, anatomy and the research that they do at the facility.
Next, we got our life vests that they provide and we had to take off all of our jewelry. Everything – even the wedding rings. I was hesitant to take mine off and put it in the bucket, but I knew I had to if I wanted to swim with the dolphins (by the way, I did get my ring back when we got out of the pool). You are not allowed to bring a camera or take pictures if you are participating in the swim. Each group has a designated camera person and a person who is taking video. You can only have cameras in the observation area. You can have people observe, but they are on the other side of the pool in a designated area.
Swimming with Dolphins
Then it was time to get in the pool. The pool is huge! There is a large platform that is shin deep, and you walk out onto a ledge that falls into the deep part of the pool.
There are 4 dolphins in the pool, one for each group. Our dolphin’s name was Taltuani (Tal-twa-nee). Don’t we all look so happy meeting our dolphin – nice and dry!
Next, the trainer had the dolphin surprise us by getting us all wet. It was probably the best thing. The water was cold, so this way we were forced to be wet and we were all ready to get in the water. We then moved into the deep end and Taltuani swam around us.
For the next 20 minutes or so we each got to interact with Taltuani. First were kisses and a dance. Each person in the group got a turn before the trainer went on to the next interaction. I was the first person to go and I was confused about what to do, so I ended up getting a kiss, a tongue kiss, a hug and a dance!
My daughter, who is 9, was very scared to go out into the deep water and swim with Taltuani. The trainer was very patient with her and found a way for my daughter to get to interact with her. She got to tickle her belly.
Next was the swim. You got two choices on how you wanted to swim with Taltuani. My husband chose to put on goggles and go under water with her. He held onto her fins and she went down. The videographer caught it all on camera! My husband said it was awesome, but it was kind of frightening to be holding onto something so powerful that went deep in the pool. He said he could feel it in his ears.
The rest of us chose to swim around the pool on Taltauni’s tummy. My daughter did finally warm up and got to go for a swim too.
After each person had their turn, all 4 dolphins swam around the pool and put on a great show for us.
At the end we all got to take photos with Taltuani. We could take individual shots, kids, family, silly, it was up to us.
Then it was time to get out of the pool ☹. We collected our belongings (my wedding ring) and then they took us over to showers to rinse off.
The Sales Pitch
Our next stop was the photo/video building. Inside they had about 20 monitors set up. They showed our photos to us and then proceeded to show us the best slide show and video of my life, lol! They sure know the art of a sales pitch. I wanted it all! At this point we got scared that we were going to miss our tender back to the ship so I felt that we had to go. I’m glad I had talked to a friend that did this shore excursion just the month before and she told me that I could order the photos after the fact from home. They don’t offer up this information so I asked. They gave me a small slip of paper with our dolphin’s name, our time and our wrist band color and we ran back to the docks. By the way, it turns out we were fine on time, as the Wonder actually was late to leave port.
The Photos at Home
When we got home, I was very anxious to see our photos. I went online and they are categorized by what adventure you did. There were several dolphin ones to choose from. Note, there is a separate website to purchase the pictures from home (cabo-dolphins.photoreflect.com). They are usually available 10-14 days after the excursion. I could have bought the photos individually, as a small package or all of them. I couldn’t decide and loved the pictures, so we bought them all!
Final Thoughts
Overall this shore excursion was fantastic and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Getting to experience touching, hugging and swimming with dolphins myself was amazing, but to get to see the enjoyment of my children was priceless!
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Lynette Brown a travel agent that will improve your vacation experience by providing prompt and thorough research to families wanting a stress-free vacation. She is a graduate of the College of Disney Knowledge and will work to customize the vacation that is perfect for your family, your schedule and your budget. The next step in achieving a stress-free vacation is to request a quote. Email her: l.brown@keytotheworldtravel.
This looks like a lot of fun. I’d love to know the price of the photos if you feel comfortable sharing.
Hi Heather! I asked Lynette and she said she paid $250 for all of the photos, but did not purchase the video and wasn’t sure about the cost of that.
Does the dolphin center allow for friends to come and watch but not participate. My mom can’t get in the water and she wanted to know. Thank you
Hi Sherrie! I looked on the Cabo Dolphin Swim website and didn’t see anything about observers who don’t want to participate. I suggest calling or emailing them to ask.