Discovery Cove

Ben and I first heard about Discovery Cove - a beautiful all-inclusive SeaWorld resort where you can get up close and personal with marine animals, including Bottlenose Dolphins - when we were on our honeymoon in Central Florida.  It sounded so cool, but it was too much of a splurge for college students.  Fast forward a few years and we were still really excited to see this place, and we loved sharing it with our kids and with Megan's family!

We arrived in time for breakfast, then we were outfitted with wetsuits and snorkels.  We felt very official.

There are a few different pools at the resort, connected by sandy beaches.  Some are for wildlife viewing and others are just for fun.  There's a big lazy river that has cool scenery and water features:

There was a smaller pool ("Freshwater Oasis") that had an island in the middle which was home to a few marmosets.  There was also an otter habitat in this poool.

There is a marmoset you can barely see in the little house on the right side
of the left picture, but it's easier to just look at the  one in the other picture.

You can just see an otter retreating on the far right side of this picture.

The Grand Reef was a big pool with lots of fish and rays swimming around.  It was a bit cold in there, but if you could handle the temperature, you were rewarded by getting a good look at cool animals, and even touching the rays!  The sharks were behind a glass wall, but we were still in the same water with them... technically. (P.S. I think Jack took most of the animal pictures below).

Discovery Cove also has an aviary with really beautiful birds in it.  Everyone gets a container with a special mix of dried bird food and diced fresh fruits and vegetables, and the birds love it.  We didn't have any trouble getting some love from the birds - Colin even got a little more love than he bargained for (not pictured).

Speaking of birds, it made us sad to see this beautiful ibis with a disposable face mask
wrapped around its leg.  We need to do a better job of spreading the word to remove straps
from masks (and of course make sure they get into a trash can when we're finished with them).

One of the perks of the all-inclusive experience was unlimited access to the help-yourself snack stations at the resort, which included bags of chips and dried fruit, sodas and Icees, and hot pretzels and chocolate chip cookies.  The kids visited the snack stations frequently.

But the main highlight of the day was the Dolphin Experience!  We had 30 minutes in the water with dolphins and their trainers, learning about these cool animals and their habits and personalities, touching and taking pictures with them, and even letting them take us for a "glide."  Our dolphins were named Isadora and Clipper, and we were in love with them.  (We weren't allowed to bring our own cameras to the pool but DC had a photographer with each group - the below pictures are the only things we paid for upon arrival at the resort, other than a few little souvenirs.)

It was truly a fantastic experience and we would love to go back some time!