Swimming with the Dolphins in Punta Cana -- Dominican Republic
By John McNamara

Punta Cana is a sun worshipper’s paradise -- complete with beautiful teal oceans, long winding beaches, tall palm trees swaying in the breeze, and even a free swim with trained dolphins! I just returned from the island, and wanted to share my experience with all of you. It was terrific.

After making my reservation, the transportation service brought me from my hotel to a private resort location to swim with the dolphins. (All reservations include free bus service from any hotel along the Punta Cana / Bavaro corridor to the dolphin facility -- a private resort on the beach.) I stepped off the bus and into a tropical paradise.

The check in office is right there on the beach, where the staff greets everyone and explains what to do next. After checking in, there is time to change into a swimsuit and prepare for the Free Swim Dolphin Program. Then, before you leave the office and beach area, one of the instructors explains everything that’s going to happen, about the boat ride out to the ocean arena, what the Free Swim Dolphin Program entails, and how to purchase a CD or Video of the encounter upon return.

Most dolphin facilities have the dolphin swim arena right next to the offices, but not in Punta Cana! Here there is a 20+ passenger motorboat ride out to the Dolphin Swimming area, in the ocean! In Punta Cana, the beaches are surrounded by coral reefs where the water beyond gets quite deep. Within the reef line though, the water is not deep at all, maybe 10 – 20 feet at most. The Dolphin Swimming is in this shallower part.

They developed and constructed a large fenced-in area with multiple pens, right out in the ocean. The largest area is where the dolphins swim around at night. The mid-sized pen is where the dolphins interact with people, and the smaller one is for the sea lions housed there. When leaving the beach area, it’s hard to fathom there’s a dolphin swim facility out in the ocean. But as you draw closer, you begin to see it appear, and the fantasy becomes reality. The excitement rises as the boat pulls up to the dock and everyone disembarks for the dolphin encounter.

The group then slowly enters the warm, beautiful ocean, and stands on a platform waist deep in the water. The instructors are all multi-lingual, speaking Spanish, English, and French to the crowd of mostly North Americans and Europeans. On the platform, the group of 22 people is divided in half. One group gets to free swim with the dolphins for about 10 minutes, while the other gets to pet, stroke and swim with the dolphins. I discovered that bringing a snorkel and mask gives a great view of the dolphins underwater. After the 10 minutes are up, the groups trade places.

While you are waiting for the group in the deep water, your group gets to take a picture with a dolphin kissing you, hugging, and so forth. Each group gets 2 turns in deep water with the dolphins, for a total of 20 minutes. This Free Swim Dolphin Program in Punta Cana, DR really allows you to see the beauty of these amazing creatures. Everyone was smiling as we headed back to the boat to return to shore.

This program is different from most Trained Dolphin Swim programs, because this is a Free Swim Dolphin Encounter. In a Trained Dolphin Encounter you can expect interactions like a Dorsal Fin Ride or Toe Push, which this program does not offer. But, this program is special because it is a Free Swim, which makes it the perfect introduction to dolphins and being close to them. The focus here is more on enjoying the natural habitat and behaviors of the animal, as opposed to performance or tricks.

Back on shore, photographers have a video and CD waiting for you to view. The cost is reasonable for the CD of photographs, and for $25 more you can take home the video of your encounter if you’d like to share it with family and friends. But, you must order the video before you go out to the dolphin playground.

Over all, the 2 hour excursion was well worth it, and I had a great vacation. At the time of this writing, the Free Swim Dolphin Program in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic costs $95 per person, and $15 per observer. But the price is going up June 1, 2007, to about $125 per participant. So, now is the time to plan your vacation and make your reservation. You can contact Dolphin World for more information on this, or any other dolphin encounter excursion. Happy vacationing!

P.S. -- A good website with more Punta Cana resources is http://www.puntacana.net.