There are moments in everybody’s life that are so extraordinary trying to put them into words would truly diminish the experience, thus I will say very little about my Dolphin Dive in Ocean World other than I enjoyed every.single.second. Swimming with them was already incredible, but to be underneath the water with them, well, in a way I felt like I was a dolphin too!
I hope the following photos inspire you to one day dive with dolphins, whether it is in a place like Ocean World or in the wild. It is a magical experience that you will be sure to treasure forever and ever. . .
For the best and most affordable Dominican Republic holidays, make sure to visit Low Cost Holidays.
Wow, what cool photos! After watching the moving documentary The Cove, I have a really hard time stomaching anything with dolphins in captivity, but it looks like they have a lot of room to swim around. That looks like such an amazing experience!
Aren’t they cool? I have had a lot of people question the treatment of the animals at Ocean World. I can promise that the animals there are treated with so much love, compassion, and respect. Every single person I met was as passionate about their job as they were about the animals. On several occasions, I saw firsthand, that some of the dolphins didn’t want to participate, rather they preferred to swim. The trainers let them go off and even fed them. I thought maybe they wouldn’t reward them for swimming off, but the trainers said that they encourage the dolphins to do whatever they want to do at ALL times! Ocean World is a gigantic place and the dolphins had sooo much room to swim around!
Ocean World has the biggest manmade dolphin habitat in the world! Andi can tell you how big our lagoons are! Our dolphins are healthy, well fed, sexually active and this is proof of them being well under our human care. We also have an educational program to raise awareness about marine life, the environment and how to take care of it. Come visit us to see for yourself our high standards and quality. At Ocean World we offer a once in a lifetime experience to all our visitors. We love what we do!
Andi, I cannot believe those photos…AMAZING!! What an amazing experience! (And also, get ready for the animal rights nazis to flip out.) But really incredible stuff here!
It’s already begun sadly!!! What’s ironic is that I’m about as big of an animals rights lover as they come. I’ve been a vegetarian for over a decade, used to volunteer at PETA, I’ve adopted countless dogs, volunteered at shelters…and although I’ve explained in several posts how incredible Ocean World is with their animals, I’m still getting the hate mail! They took me behind the scenes and I met with so many of the trainers. I can with 110% certainty say that the animals could not be treated any better and that the majority of them have been rescued!
I’m kinda in love with the photos too, glad you love them!
Wow this looks ABSOLUTELY amazing. What fun!
Sooo amazing, I want to do it again!
Dolphins are such good beeings. It looks like you had an amazing adventure. Congratulations!
Thank you so much, yes it was absolutely amazing and they truly are good beings.
WOW! Great shots!!
I hope you had TONS of fun!
Thanks so much, I can promise you tons of fun was had!!!
These are the most amazing pics EVER!
Haha THANK YOU!!!
WOWWWWWWW That’s one of my biggest dreams! Dolphins are ma faves!
Awww if it is one of your biggest dreams I hope hope hope it comes true!!!
Thank u Andi! It has to come true
That must have been an incredible experience, it’s on my bucket list!
It was so insanely incredible! I seriously needed to be pinched a couple of time afterwards. I love that it’s on your BL!!!
OMG, wow! The one of you kissing the dolphin is priceless!!!
I actually freaked out a bit in that pic, because I had to take the regulator out of my mouth! That was the 1st time I had ever done that diving before!!! But it was totally worth it to get a dolphin kiss.
Amazing photos! I’ve always wanted to do this!x
I hope you can do it, because it’s life changing!!!
Andi you have some of the best adventures I have ever seen. Its just amazing how you are interacting with the dolphins. This is something I would truly love to do with my family.
Awww thank you so much for such an incredible comment, I’m so touched! I hope hope hope that you can do this with your family. I saw so many families there having the time of their lives together!!!
Amazing photos….especially of you kissing the dolphin and riding along upside down. What an incredible experience it must be to get up close and personal with the denizens of the sea!! Thx for sharing the magic!!!
I love that, “the denizens of the sea!” You’re so welcome and I’m touched that you enjoyed the photos so much!!! What a great comment!
awesome photos!
Thank you!!!
Amazing!!
wow – it mus be amazing, right Andi?
Sooo amazing!
What an unbelievable experience, I didn’t even know you could do that!
I didn’t know either until I arrived at Ocean World! I’m sooo happy that I got to do it!!!
What an incredible experience… these photos are absolutely amazing!! How lucky are you that you got to swim with these beautiful dolphins!! *Jealous*
Thank you oh so much for your kind words! It really was incredible, I can’t say enough positive things about it!!!
Been catching up with your series — you were right a few posts back…this is the kissing series
!!!
My mom LOVES dolphins but is terrified of water, so forget diving. I wonder if she’d conquer that fear for this…
Totally the kissing series, you’re so right! OMG you so need to do a blog post about your mom conquering her fear of water for the dolphins!!!
I’ve been following your adventures and you’ve just about done everything possible with dolphins at this point. It must have been a wonderful experience – they seem like such magical creatures.
Hahaha yes, minus swim with them in the wild, which I will do one day! They are magical creatures to say the least!!! Can’t wait to be near them again in the future.
These photos make me want to try diving one day, period! Such an incredible experience!!
You MUST go diving, there’s nothing like it!!!
These are seriously the MOST amazing photos!
Thank you so so so much!!!
These photos are just pure beauty.
Thank you SO much!
Dolphins are such amazing animals! Everyone keeps telling me that swimming with dolphins is one of the funnest things you can do in your life. I hope someday I will be able to swim with them as well. Great photos!
It truly is, I hope you can swim or dive with them!!! Glad you enjoyed the photos.
Okay, you already know my jealousy over this knows no bounds
Congrats on the amazing experience and beautiful photos!
I knew YOU were going to love this experience!!! You have to do it if you get a chance my darling.
[...] resorts is a private getaway located on the beaches of Playa Dorada. After I dried off from my dive with the dolphins, I headed there for a spa experience that left me a changed [...]
I love your pics, especially the second from the bottom! It looks like the dolphins are having just as much fun as you are! I’m going to have to check this place out…I’ve always wanted to swim with dolphins and this looks like a better experience than just being in a pool and petting them for 5 minutes like most dolphin experiences seem to be.
Thanks so much for your awesome comment! I highly recommended this experience whether it’s at Ocean World or not. Diving with the dolphins is a much more intimate experience than swimming with them, unless of course it’s in the wild.
Are you preparing for your next career as a dolphin trainer? You look like a pro in these pics.
But of course darling!
What an incredible experience! I was going to say this is worth getting diving certification for, but I saw in the comments that you don’t need a certificate to do this in Ocean World. Awesome!
It’s really wonderful that you have these photos, too
It was so so so incredible! I didn’t realize that you didn’t need a diving certificate either, that’s so awesome. And yes I will forever treasure these photos! I hope you can do this some day sweetie!!!
Wow! That looks so awesome! I’ve kayaked with dolphins in the wild and did the swim with dolphins thing but to SCUBA dive with them?!?! New bucket list item!!!
SO awesome, right!?! You absolutely need to add it to your BL. I promise you will LOVE it!
Andi, really amazing pictures, and you did things that I din’t get a chance to do when I lived there for two years! I didn’t get to do the bat caves, but Cabarete was a favorite hangout.
And as a former Ocean World Animal Training Supervisor, I can guarantee all those animals were and are given the best care.
I’m so so so happy you made a comment about the care of the animals! Way too many people were upset and I told them that there was NOTHING to be upset about, but I love that a Supervisor is now backing up my claims. I had an incredible time both in Ocean World and in the DR!!! You are SO lucky that you got to live there for 2 years — what an unforgettable experience!