BLDY&McGoo What Are We Thankful For 2016 – Day 4 – Discovery Cove & Bahama Breeze

[BLDY&McGoo]

Today was a day we were all really looking forward to so we were up at 7:45am and there was no hanging about, we were ready by 8:15am. Kim was like a kid at Christmas and had been up early telling the world of Facebook that she would be swimming with dolphins but Dad was struggling with his back today as he had done a lot of walking yesterday but we were still out the door at around 8:40am, pulling up at a Discovery Cove just after 9am.

We parked and headed to the entrance with Scott nipping back to the car for Dads big camera whilst we got bag checked. We waited a few minutes and then were in at 9:15am after being given a 3:10pm dolphin swim.
I would have preferred an earlier swim time but it wasn't a problem we just needed to make sure we kept track of time after lunch.
We made our way towards breakfast, got stopped by a cast member who gave us directions we didn't really need and joined the queue. We only waited a few minutes and then sat at a nice table enjoying our complimentary breakfast.

I had some orange juice, mini muffins and breakfast potatoes with bacon which considering I'm not really a breakfast person where all really nice. The others all had similar offerings and once suitably filled we made our way to find somewhere to swim!

We chose to base ourselves near Serenity bay, which in hindsight was a bad idea as it meant we all had to traipse over the sand every time we needed our lockers.
By 9:45am we were all dressed and ready with our belongings stowed away in the orange section we then found our vests (wetsuit for Dad) and 4 free loungers on the beach as a base, then finding ourselves in the water by 10am.

Scott was armed with his GoPro & I had my waterproof camera too so we began to enjoy the warm water of the lazy river. I'd struggled previously with getting to grips with my snorkel and today was no different, Dad & Kim went on ahead whilst Scott helped me and grabbed me a pool noodle. We caught up with them after a little while as they had sat on a ledge soaking up the sunshine. It was nice and warm today but not scorching hot which was probably the ideal weather for us.

After we had done one circuit we headed to our sun beds so that Dad & Kim could grab their masks and then went on to the grand reef which was super cold as always.
Kim had never done anything like this before and had the same problem I had with the snorkel making her feel like she was going to have a panic attack so Scott & I talked her through how to hold it in your mouth but not too hard and she practiced above the water before gradually getting braver and getting her face wet. Dad was pointing things out to her underwater and once she was bobbing along there was no stopping her, she was in her element seeing all the corals and the fish. Scott was enjoying diving down to get some footage on his GoPro and I was snapping away on my camera too.
Dad had to get out to swap his mask as it was letting in water to the mouth piece and then when he came back we all swam round to the caves bits and saw the shark tank together.

At 11:45 we decided to have a rest as the salt water was making us all need a drink, we stopped off at the snack bar before heading back to our sun beds to warm up.
Dad & Kim went off to the loo and Kim came back also having washed her hair and then we all agreed that as it was currently 12pm we would sunbathe then have lunch at 1pm.

As we sat in the beautiful sunshine we enjoyed some unexpected entertainment from a teenage boy who’s family had been sitting next to us. His family had gone off so he took the opportunity to have a chat with the very pretty teenage girl who was sitting in the row behind.
In the 20minutes or so that we sat listening to them we found out an awful lot of information; Jackson was scared of Crows, once had a Bichon fraise, was an active part of a church group, had never been to Universal, felt smothered by his mom and couldn't take the hint when a girl isn't interested.
Melaina likes to take dogs for a walk with her boyfriend, her father is a manager for a church band, she loves universal but has never been to Disney and says her mom is more of a helicopter Mom who lets her stay over at her boyfriends house etc.

The whole thing was hilarious, her family were trying to get her to leave him to go eat but she was really polite, the conversation ended with him asking for her number and she cleverly took his but I don't think gave hers to him. I had visions of this poor boy staring at his phone waiting for it to ring for the rest of his thanksgiving vacation.
We did say good on him for giving it a go as although he reminded me of that YouTube video where the creepy lad says ‘hey, baby girl, he obviously had some guts to try.

It hadn't even got to half 12 when we all voted we couldn't wait for food any longer so headed over to grab some food, we had to wait 10minutes but all came back to the table with a nice selection.

I went for chicken tenders, fries, salad and some cake which was all nice.
Scott had to wait a few extra minutes for the burgers to be ready but had a double portion of tenders with his.
Dad had a larger salad with chicken, egg & nuts
Kim had some form of fish with rice and vegetables.

We were all pleased with what we had chosen although I didn't finish the slice of cake and between us we also had a mixture of drinks with it (Juice, lemonade etc) over lunch we had been trying to trick Kim into believing that the owl on the roof of the building was real and we almost succeeded had we not been laughing so much.

We left the Laguna Grill just after 1 and took a little walk over to the Aviary where My camera decided to run out of battery almost immediately.
We had a couple of photos taken by a photographer in there but Dad took the rest and got some good ones despite the fact photos of us in swimwear aren't particularly attractive.

We were in here for about 40 minutes all together, Kim had a bird watching sheet so was going round trying to spot them whilst I tried to not get pooped on. One bird had been fed a baby mouse which I found pretty disgusting but it was a nice little break from swimming.
Dad’s camera needs to be put back in the locker and mine was now dead so we all traipsed back to drop them off before going for a swim to find the Otters and the Marmosets

Both Kim and I had life vests and had noodles so it was minimal swimming effort as we all enjoyed taking some snaps with the Go Pro as we messed around as we went under the waterfalls together.

We got out at 2:40pm and thought we would squeeze in one last Grand Reef swim before we went to meet our Dolphin. It was quieter now so Scott & I were straight in but Dad & Kim opted for a coffee break once they got about knee height into the cold water.
The rays were everywhere so Scott got some more footage of them without so many people's legs in the background.

After a little while we met Dad & Kim back at the snack bar and made our way to the seahorse cabana ready for our Dolphin experience.
We arrived just after 3pm and signed all our waivers whilst we waited… and waited.
This is the only part of the day that let it down really, we were kept here for about 25 minutes which was quite frustrating. A trainer made a little speech and then stalled by getting us to watch a video, then another, then another. She had said that there was a delay but didn't say what and eventually we headed off in our groups towards the water.

There was us 4, an Irish couple, a couple from ? & a little Indian lady who was ever so nervous.
We had 2 trainers a lady called Lynn and a young guy but I didn't catch his name, they were good and soon enough introduced us to the lovely Maraya.
Now weirdly enough, Scott and I had already been teamed up with Maraya way back in 2011. Of all 50 dolphins what's the chances of us being paired up with the same one twice?

We enjoyed the interaction and took it in turns as we posed for photos, fed her and took our dolphin swims before she splashed us goodbye.

We followed the photographer into the little photo hut and selected the Discovery Package which included a Blu-ray DVD, all photos downloadable, 8 Prints, a poster print, a photo frame and a photo album.

We decided after this to call it a day, we were all quite tired and also pretty hungry so we made our way back to our annoyingly located lockers and then to the changing rooms.
It was now about 4:15pm so there was a little queue, Kim & I spoke to a lady whilst we waited about thanksgiving and eventually showers became available for us.
It didn't take me too long to get showered, dry and changed so I was soon outside meeting the boys, leaving Kim to do her hair and makeup.

Scott & I left dad outside the hanging rooms whilst we headed back over the sand, I had purposely left my sand shoes on for this, washed our feet and went to grab some water from the snack stand before heading to collect our photos.

I was served by a nice girl who asked about our day and confirmed the package we wanted before gathering our collection together. I got to choose which frame out of 2 designs so I chose the more adult one as It had already been decided that Kim was having the Frame and I'd have the album so I hoped that would be the one she would have liked most. She then checked all our prints were correct and added them to our photokey before explaining the disc would take 10 more minutes or so as it was still downloading.
I paid $243.89 (we paid half each so $122) and then met Scott, Dad & Kim who were sat on a wall. I explained it would be 10minutes or so which wasn't a problem as the men waited whilst Kim & I went to the gift shop.

I bought a postcard for my scrapbook for $3.29 but nothing else took my fancy and soon enough we were on our way.
We were all super hungry after such an active day so decided we would go straight for dinner at Bahama Breeze on the Rolling Oaks complex arriving at 6:10pm.

We were seated immediately but I sat all alone as everyone but me visited the restrooms, they all came back laughing as Scott had told Kim she was going in the wrong one so Dad then nearly went in the ladies.

Scott & I went for ribs which is an unusual choice for him but we all know that Bahama ribs are some of the best.

Kim went for stuffed crab cakes and was shocked when they came out so huge and then Dad was equally shocked by the size of his Tropical Fruit & Chicken Summer salad and he instantly regretted the side of fries, this was his confused face when he couldn't decide what dressing to have as there we just too many choices.

We spoke about our day and we were really pleased that Dad & Kim had enjoyed it as much as we had hoped, The dolphins and snorkelling were 2 things ticked off Kim’s bucket list and she was now talking about going diving somewhere else one day now she had a taste for it.

We were in and out in exactly an hour, our bill came to $89.81, we left $100 ($50 each) before heading over to super target for about an hour.

We bought a selection of chocolates, pop tarts etc for back home, a couple of Christmas prezzies and a couple of breakfast bits. Spending $85.60 which is so easily done with all the goodies on sale.
We were home soon after and settled in for the night, looking at photos etc before going to bed around 10:30pm all very tired but happy we had had such a lovely day.

Spends

Food - $50
Shopping – $88.89
Other - $122 (Photos)
Total -$260.89

[globedust]

Sounds a fab day! Definitely the more I am reading about GoPro the more I want one, especially in your trip report.

[BLDY&McGoo]

Originally Posted by globedust

Sounds a fab day! Definitely the more I am reading about GoPro the more I want one, especially in your trip report.

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Our holiday was the first time id really used Scott's as he mainly uses it for mountain biking but i found it easy to use.

The videos come out so clear and we have got some really good photos off of it too, we used it alot in aquatica in a few days time and get some great snaps there would highly recommend and theres some great bundle packages around x

[Floridaagogo]

Do you think that boy is still waiting for her to phone 😆😆😆

[mouselover22]

Aww, lovely day at Discovery Cove. Some fantastic pics

[mick]

A great day

Joan

[Excitedx4]

Discovery cove sounds great. We still don't have any plans to go this time, maybe some time in the future

[clarithy]

OMG those gold bears! Gold bears are my fav.

[Twinklestar1]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Do you think that boy is still waiting for her to phone 😆😆😆

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As a mum to an awkward teenage boy - I feel his pain

[Twinklestar1]

Great day - we are doing Discovery Cove this year for the first time and I am really looking forward to it.
Did you buy the package when you were there or pre-order it?