Day 16
We had an early morning this morning as this was our Discovery Cove day and we wanted to get there nice and early in the hope that I would get an early dolphin swim. We had set the wakeup call for 6:45 and aimed to be at the front of the hotel by 7:30. We had checked the evening before and had been advised that that unless we needed a taxi prior to 7:00, there was no need to pre-book as taxis are always nearby. We got up and ready, which did not take very long. Before we left, I gave Graham his presents as it was his birthday this day and one of the presents was a new waterproof digital camera, which he took with him. We still got to the front of the hotel shortly after 7:00 and it took less than a minute for the taxi to arrive. Add to this that at that time of the morning there was hardly any traffic, by the time we had planned to leave we were nearly at Discovery Cove. I was surprised that we could check in that early, but we were directed straight to bag check and from there to a check in desk. I got allocated the first dolphin swim of the day and I was happy with this. We then headed down towards the restaurant. On the way we had our complimentary photo taken. The member of staff that directed us to a photographer noticed that Graham’s card did not have the 21 designation on it. They had only asked for ID for one of us and I handed them mine. This meant that they could not add the 21 designation to Graham’s card. However, this was never mentioned at check in. It would not have been a problem to show Graham’s ID. The member of staff who spotted this advised that if Graham wanted to have a drink, we would need to go to guest services to have his card reprinted. There was nobody waiting at guest services, which is roughly across from the restaurant so I suggested that we stop by there and get it sorted. Graham was not too happy with me and felt that I was making a lot of fuss about nothing, but later he was quite happy that I had made him sort this out.
With his card reprinted and him now showing up as an adult, we went to get some breakfast. The breakfast arrangements had changed since we last visited to Discovery Cove and I had not heard much positive about this. However, we thought that a good selection was offered and although this was not gourmet food, it was tasty and filling. We both had the hot sandwich croissant with egg, Canadian bacon and cheese. We also both had some fruit. Graham had some yoghurt and plain French toast fingers and I had French toast fingers with strawberry compote. This was washed down with orange juice and coffee. I was delighted that they even had vanilla creamer. This set us up nicely for the day. After breakfast we went to find a locker and get all geared up. We were directed right to the last set of lockers. I went with a wetsuit and Graham chose the vest. We got changed and then we headed out to the beach. It was still before the official opening time and not many people were around. We spent some time watching the dolphins and they were definitely watching us. We had so much fun watching the dolphins play and perform for us. We ended up speaking to some trainers. I wondered which lagoon Dash was in. She was the first dolphin I ever swam with, but between our first and second visit to Discovery Cove, she was moved across to SeaWorld. She had come back to Discovery Cove in 2012, but it transpired that she had moved back to SeaWorld shortly before our visit. Unfortunately I did not get around to visiting her this time.
When I needed to head to the cabana for the briefing, Graham went off towards the aviary. We agreed that I would come to join him once I finished my dolphin swim. When I got to the cabana, they did not have me on the list. The person doing the check in checked the cabana, swim time and pod letter and then added me manually on the list. I filled out the waiver and sat down with my pod. Once everybody was there, we watched a short video and then one of the trainers came to speak to us. Neither the video nor the talk has changed in all the years that we have visited Discovery Cove. Once the talk was over, one trainer per pod came to collect us and we went down to the beach. This is where something has changed. As long as I can remember, there were always two trainers per pod, but this time we had three. We headed straight into the water and lined up. The trainers introduced themselves and asked us to introduce ourselves. There were two families, a couple and I. Both families came from Illinois and the couple came from a town that is about half an hour away from Manchester. We were quite amused by this.
With the introductions out of the way, we met our new dolphin friend. We were introduced to Jenny. Jenny is one of their older female dolphins and I have actually swum with a number of her offspring and grandchildren. We got to rub her down, got kisses and hugs and she presented her tail fluke to us. Then it was time to say goodbye to Jenny and we got to meet Akai, who is one of their dominant males. One of the trainers pointed out some markings on Akai that makes him easy to identify and then he came swimming by for some rub downs. Then it was time for the dorsal tow. Most of the people in our group opted for the shallow water version, but I did the deep water one. This was great fun again although the ride was not quite as thrilling as I remember it. After everybody had their ride, it was time to say goodbye to Akai and head back to the beach. The photographers were trying to herd us to the photo cabana to look at the photos, but I was keen to rejoin Graham and also I wanted to have a look at the photos with him later. I told one of the photographers that I wanted to wait until I had a better idea what other photos I would get during the day before I commit myself and headed off.
I walked the short stretch across the beach until I got to the closest access to Wind-Away River. I then swam over to the aviary. It took me a while to find Graham and I did find him in the small bird aviary in the end. They had changed this since we were last there. There had always been benches around the edges and we spent many a happy hour sitting there playing perch for the birds. They have now removed those benches, which is a real shame. We stayed in there for a while and I made friends with some mouse birds. They were a little skittish and one of the staff told us that the birds are a little nervous as a hawk had been flying overhead earlier. After a while we moved on to one of the other aviaries and fed the birds there and talked to the member of staff there. Eventually we moved over to the biggest aviary. Pretty much as soon as we got there, a cuckoo landed on my head and settled in. They are meat eaters so he was not even attracted by food. He just seemed to like the look of me. I think he was sitting on me for about an hour. Occasionally he was joined by another bird. A photographer came by and was amused by this. He took some photos. This is one of those experiences that are priceless. I soon realised why I had been chosen as perch. I am really comfortable around birds. A lot of other people were clearly not and jumped and thrashed around when a bird landed on them. So having somebody who was really calm and relaxed in the aviary was probably a rare treat for the birds. I had never realised this to the same extend before.
When the cuckoo lost interest in me, we decided to go and get some food. We headed over to the restaurant and even though it was peak lunch hour, it did not seem to be very busy. I went with the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with French Fries and Corn Cobbette. Graham had the Sweet Hawaiian Chicken with fried rice. We both had some Caesar salad. This was the first time I ever remember that I had proper food envy. My food was nice enough, but Graham’s seemed to be altogether more tempting. None of the desserts really appealed to me and I said I would get an ice cream at one of the snack cabanas later.
