Day 10 - Discovery Cove

[**Leigh_11_22**]

Here is a link for my pre-trip report and previous days.

Index - Pre-trip and previous days

This was the day that tom had most been looking forward to. Discovery cove.

He has always wanted to swim with dolphins and it was his must do for the trip.

When we were booking, Sam and myself were not convinced about doing the actual dolphin swim but thought we would book it and see how we felt. We aren't big animal people really but I am so glad now that we went for it!

I had an alarm set for 6:30 this morning! Up I got and went to find Tom. He had had a sleepover in Aaron's room last night and I hadn't even noticed! Oops!

I made up some brews and apple juice for Aaron. We packed light today as all we really needed was our swimwear and paperwork!

We managed to get out by 7:15am and were soon pulling up at DC.
It was still quiet in the car park and lobby area. We got checked in by a lovely lady who took her time to explain everything to us, she was so helpful. She gave us a couple of options for our swim and we went with the 9:25 one.



We walked through the park, taking it all in, it is a beautiful place. We had our complementary photos taken on the bridge. The lady at reception had made a point of mentioning that people hadn't been receiving these at the end of the day so to check for it!

We decided to have breakfast straight away while it was so quiet. It was a nice breakfast, the usual American buffet type options and we all managed to find something. We had coffees, tea, fresh juice, sausages, bacon, waffles and eggs. Tom had some of the delicious Florida fruit too.

Once we were done we headed off to find some lockers. We got our swim gear on and got fitted for some wetsuits. It's amazing how they can just look at you and get your perfect fit! Aaron went for a full suit at first then changed to a vest because it was irritating his eczema.
We collected our snorkel kits and some towels. Our aim was to get sun loungers with an umbrella today. We found a lovely spot just set back from the middle dolphin pool with a lovely view. It was worth the nearly start to get this spot!

We spent half an hour or so attempting to put their wonderful sun cream on Aaron was struggling with his eczema today, it was really inflamed and this wasn't helping! Eventually sorted, we had a quick look around to try and get our bearings. We had picked a good spot for the day really as it was central to everything.

It was time now to find our hut for our introduction, ready our swim. I filled in some paperwork and the asked about Aaron's swimming ability/confidence. I let Aaron make the decision himself. He is a very good swimmer for his age and has been having private lessons on the run up to the holiday. I was worried that if he did the deep one that he would be left to tread water by himself which I knew he wasn't ready for! He opted for deep swim anyway because "I'm not a baby mum, I can swim!" Ok Aaron!

One of the instructors walked us down to the water and told us a little bit about the floor surface, it was very slippery in some places! The instructor we had was really fun and very passionate about his job. Our dolphin came to meet us, her name was Roxy! She was lovely, one of the older dolphins and more patient he said.

By this point the cold saltwater was really getting to Aaron's eczema and he was getting quite upset. We felt sorry for him because it really must of been hurting him (he has it up the back of his legs and the insides of his arms all of the time but while we were away it had flared up on his thighs and shoulder too ) He was trying not to cry and I said that he'd be fine once he relaxed and got used to it, then did our best to get him involved and distract him. It worked after about 5mins of me worrying that I would have to get out and watch with him.

Roxy did some tricks for us, and the other dolphins in the pool joined in too. It was lovely to be up close and learn about these clever animals. We each did our swims too. You can't help but grin like an idiot because it's such a wonderful experience!

















Aaron went out with the 2nd instructor, she knew that he could swim but was unsure in the deep water and with stopping to wait. She was really good with him and helped him while he got used to the water and Roxy. It was magical to see Aaron doing his swim and it made every single penny of the holiday worth it!









Anyway, all done now so we had photographs taken and said our goodbyes. We got out and dried off before going to view our pics. I wanted all of them! We got a decent sized package in the end with about 7 prints, I think two of them were bigger, and two keyrings?! Not sure now to be honest but the main thing was the disc with all of them on. Really happy to have them, it was $159.



We had some drinks and slushes next. Samantha and I were sent shamefully away after trying to drink before 11am haha oops. Well we are on holiday!

We got our snorkels and had a go in the great reef. Tom really took to it and was soon off exploring. Aaron was ok with his snorkel but took some convincing to go near the fish. Sam and I on the other hand were unless with the snorkels as we always have been! I really don't know what's so hard about it lol.





We soon gave up and left tom to it. We headed over to the lazy river next. Aaron put a life jacket on so that he could swim without worrying. It was a good job really as I had no idea how deep it was! I used a float to relax on and Sam just swam the whole way around! It was lovely! So so relaxing and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It's so beautiful and quiet!



We headed back over to the loungers and had a little rest. We got some snacks and drinks too and really enjoyed ourselves. Samantha decided to stay out for a while (sleep!) so the three of us took the underwater camera and our snorkels and headed back to the river. We spent an hour or so just swimming around and enjoying some family time. I used a swim jacket this time and it was so easy! No effort at all lol. We took loads of photos (most of which are rubbish!) and I finally got the hang of snorkeling, I think that having the float helped me stay above the water.









We collected Sam and went for some lunch. The food all looked delicious and we struggled to choose what it go for. When we started eating though we realised that it looked better than it tasted and to be honest none of us enjoyed it. Oh well not to worry at all we had plenty of snack throughout the day anyway. Aaron must have had 10 slushes by the end of the day! He loved making them himself.



We spent some time in the reef now that I was feeling more confident snorkelling. It really is a strange experience being with the fish, I know that sounds odd lol. We then split up again and tom went to the aviary which we didn't fancy so we went and found the otters and relaxed for a while. We came across a little area with a bar and seats in the water! We promptly parked ourselves here for a while and tom came across us too and joined us.

The day was pretty much over now, it shut at 5 and it was now 4:30. We got our stuff together and got changed. The changing rooms here were nice and we were soon sorted. We called to collect our photos on the way out and Aaron managed to get another slush! We picked up a magnet for Aaron's nan who collects them too he was happy to pay for this himself which was a bonus! We bought him a DC pin too for his collection.

My notes say that we called at McDonalds on the way home which I have no recollection of! We also stopped for petrol which was $40.

Tomorrow was another early start as we were going for an overnight stay at Universal. We were all really relaxed after our lovely day. We packed some overnight gear and get our clothes ironed. I was determined to make the most of the extra hour in Harry Potter in the morning! Aaron and I are HUGE Harry fans so we were very excited!
Off to bed early for Samantha and Aaron. We stayed up and watched criminal minds, drank bud light and ate Doritos and Linder chocs mmmm, what a good day!

[Mortimer Mouse]

Aaah. What a great day. We went to DC on 17/10/14 and this brought back some good memories. I enjoyed those seats in the water too, whilst the others went back in the reef pool (those big rays freaked me out!)
Lovely.

[Gingerbird]

Aww sounds like a fab day! I cant wait to take my kids in October ☺

[mick]

Great day

Joan

[niccynoo66]

Hi,
what a great day, it has made me even more excited for our first time at dc in may
ps I also can't snorkel so I know exactly how you feel
Nicky x

[Redrach1903]

Aww what a fantastic day! The photos of Aaron with the dolphins are just lovely xx