Jamaica Vacation - VIP Encounter at Dolphin Cove Ocho Rios Jamaica

A few months back, guests from the UK and Germany who happened to be vacationing at the same time at The Blue House Luxury Bed and Breakfast Villa, were talking about the high cost of swimming with the dolphins, debating whether or not it was worth the $250 and whether or not they would be willing to pay that much. In the end they simply opted to pay the minimum entry fee of $50 and go have a "look see".

One of these guests reported in her Virtual Tourist review that the dolphin encounters were disappointingly brief saying "there seemed to be a conveyor belt of swimmers, and the dolphins made a series of circuits with a different person hanging on each time."

Another guest, Michael, even though he was equally disappointed with the two minute encounters he had witnessed, had a "life dream" of swimming with the dolphins so felt pulled to return there. He'd observed that 8 persons at a time swam with the dolphins in fixed time slots so he was considering purchasing an entire time slot for a once in a life time thrill and making his dream a reality. Not usually an extravagant person, Michael debated long and hard, agonizing about biting the bullet and bringing his dream to fruition. For me, life dream or not, the amount of money in question seemed way too extravagant, so I made a couple of phone calls, and arranged a "discounted life dream" :).

Paraphrasing from Michael's his Tripadvisor review:

"I had a "life dream" to swim with dolphins. At Dolphin Cove tourists can swim with the dolphins. I watched this and was really disappointed. Large groups of pleasure-seeking tourists line up in a row; two dolphins go past and pull each for just a few metres, then move on to the next one. It looked to me like queuing for a short ride on a jet ski. All this for US$250.

I told Elise of my impression and that I want more than this. Some days later she told me that she’d spoken with the owner of Dolphin Cove and had arranged something special for me. On a day when there was no cruise ship in town, Daryl took me to Dolphin Cove. THEN A DREAM CAME TRUE. With only the trainer as companion I could swim for 30 minutes with "Misty" and "Pepe" – touch, hold and play completely at ease with them. It was one of the most touching experiences of my life."

Michael now dreams of bringing his wife and his children to vacation at The Blue House so they too would be able to enjoy the same magical experience.

Photos furnished by Michael and published with his permission.