Discovery Cove Dolphin Swim – Covid 19 Edition

Having finished our SeaVenture experience around 11:30 am, we had half an hour to kill at Discovery Cove before we were scheduled to go to lunch and roughly two and a half hours before our dolphin swim. However, based on how our experience at breakfast, Jay and I decided to skip lunch entirely and just get snacks at the snack bar. I usually never turn down free food (well it’s not free, you pay for that when you buy the package, but it’s included), but it just didn’t seem worth the hassle of dealing with people ignoring distancing guidelines and mean servers. 

Instead, we decided to head back over to the freshwater areas. We made a quick stop to switch our wetsuits for vests, got some soft pretzels at the bar and a couple of sodas, then headed back to our little alcove by the waterfalls where no one would bother us with some fresh noodles from the sanitized bin. 

We literally just spent roughly the next two hours just hanging out in our little spot, talking about whatever randomness. Normally Jay and I go to Aquatica several times a year, but our SeaWorld passes expired over the summer and I haven’t been able to renew them yet, so we’ve never gone swimming less than we have this year. It was nice to be able to just chill out in the water and not have anyone bother us. It would have been nice to do the river more, but it was just more crowded than we felt comfortable with. 

2:00 pm rolled around and we headed to the locker to switch out our masks for the one they gave us for the dolphin swim. We were both curious what made it special, and we quickly realized it was just a plain black disposable mask. I guess if paper gets wet it’s not quite as suffocating as wet fabric. 

We made our way over to the Starfish Cabana to check in. We quickly realized we were probably too early. Rather than awkwardly standing around, we walked over to the nearest bar for more snacks while we waited. We made our way back around 2:10 pm and we were still the only ones there, but we checked in anyway. We were directed to a spot to stand on, and I thought it was a little silly they put us in the front instead of the back. Now everyone who came later would have to walk past us. 

Well, not only did everyone have to walk past us, a lady without a mask stomped past twice while screaming about the fact that they were making her go get a mask. I was steeling myself to defend the poor guy checking people in when her own husband told her to, and I’m quoting here, “Stop acting like white trash.” 

This made me like the husband until a moment later when he told his kids, “It’s okay, she makes enough money to act like that.” 

No. No, she does not. I don’t care how much money you make, you don’t get to scream at people who are just trying to do their jobs and you don’t get to put the lives of everyone around you at risk. 

Jay and I spent the rest of the safety briefing praying we wouldn’t be in their group. 

The trainer doing the briefing’s name was Jesse. He went over the same rules as always: no jewelry other than a tight-fitting watch or a tight-fitting wedding band with no stone on it, hats had to stay on your head, and sunglasses were allowed but they had to stay on your face. You can’t put them on top of your head because they might fall off. 

“Dolphins don’t wear sunglasses, so they’re not going to know what to do with your Ray-bans.” 

I had to physically restrain myself from laughing out loud at this. I told this story briefly before, but now I’m going to tell it again. 

My husband Jay hates dolphins. Not like he would ever be mean to a dolphin or he’s afraid of them or wants bad things to happen to dolphins, but he hates dolphins. Whenever he sees them, he refers to them as “murderers”, because when he used to scuba dive professionally on the Great Barrier Reef, one yanked his respirator out of his mouth. 

“They come up and you’re like oh, it’s a cute little dolphin, and then it tries to drown you!” 

Back in 2019, Jay lost his Ray-bans in the ocean. My friends and I then decided that same dolphin was out there somewhere in the world, wearing Jay’s Ray-bans. This has been a running joke in our friend group for two years. 

Then I lost his new Ray-bans right before the wedding. He didn’t actually find this out until about three months ago, and then my brother got him a new pair for Christmas. He actually brought them with us to Discovery Cove, which I thought was a terrible idea, but they had spent the whole day in the locker. 

So, Jesse continued his safety briefing with me trying not to laugh and Jay glaring at me. 

In addition to the usual safety rules, they explained the mask protocols. We would be keeping our mask on the entire time we were in the water, and we would be able to pull it down to our chin for pictures, but we had to leave it looped around our ears so it couldn’t get lost. That would be dangerous for the dolphins. 

The CDC guidelines say you can only go chest deep in the water with a mask on, which is why the “flights”, which is what they call it when the dolphin pulls you through the water, are now done in shallow water rather than deep water. They’ve always been able to do them in shallow water for people who weren’t strong swimmers, so this isn’t necessarily new. It’s just different. Before they would have you swim out to where the water was twelve feet deep or so and the dolphin would pull you in. If you weren’t comfortable swimming out that far, they would do it in the shallows for you. 

Thankfully when it came time to split us into groups, we were not with the large obnoxious family. I overheard that the final member of their group still wasn’t there and had missed the entire safety briefing, plus now they were headed to the water without them. I have no idea if the missing person ever caught up or not. 

Our trainer’s name was Cathy, and we met the second trainer Conner as we got down by the water. They led us out to the side where the water was about chest height, but we had to walk much further than the other groups to keep everyone distanced. The family we were with was slipping and sliding on the rocks and I was once again grateful we had water shoes. 

Our dolphin’s name was Brig, he was eleven years old, and he is the son of Clipper and Capricorn. Capricorn is the oldest dolphin at Discovery Cove and the first dolphin I ever swam with. He was even in Jaws 3! Clipper was the dolphin the other group was meeting while I met Capricorn. So that was really cool. Apparently, all of Clipper’s kids have nautical themed names. 

Discovery Cove has a total of forty-five dolphins, so I thought it was really cool I managed to get one related to my first dolphin. 

They kept us separate from the other family, where they usually have everyone stand in a straight line all together. After some brief instructions on where it was safe to touch him, avoid the blowhole, the eyes, and the teeth, they had Brig swim back and forth in front of us so we could pet him as they told us a little bit more about dolphins. I was honestly more focused on paying attention to Brig than listening to them. Dolphins feel like this weird combination of rubber and leather and I just love it. 

It came time for photos with Brig, and I offered to let the kids in the other family go first, but since I had done this before the trainers decided I should go first. 

Well, if you insist. 

Once I was done posing with Brig, it was Jay’s turn.

“See it’s a nice dolphin!” I said as he came back. 

“That is a nice dolphin!” 

Cathy looked at us curiously. “Did you meet a not nice dolphin?” Jay quickly explained and Cathy then went on about how it’s illegal to approach dolphins in US waters and how Australia must be different. I think she thought this happened on a tourist outing, because she wasn’t nearly as interested in asking Jay questions about his research work there as other trainers we’ve talked to about it, but that’s okay. 

Once the individual pictures were done, it was time for group pictures. They asked how Jay and I knew each other and I said, “We’re married.” That’s still so fun to say! So, they had us do a few cute couplely pictures. 

While it was the other family’s turn, we chatted with Cathy about the changes to Discovery Cove because of the pandemic. Apparently, the black disposable masks were decided on as the best masks after weeks and weeks of trials when they first reopened, because they were less noticeable in the photos than brightly colored ones and more comfortable than wet fabric. 

I always like to know the how and why things work. 

Connor talked some more about dolphins and Brig: how he’s old enough to be interested in the girl dolphins but not old enough for the girls to be interested in him. Apparently, his best friend is named Maui. 

Then it was time for the flights! This time the other family went first. The wife was saying she wasn’t going to do it, and the trainers quickly began talking her into it. I even jumped in to say this isn’t something you want to miss. So, they had her go first! 

They sent Jay and I over at the same time, and I opted to go first so I could be back in my spot to watch him. This was my third time doing the flight and it’s still one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. It feels like you’re going so fast and it’s over far too quickly.  

The only real difference between doing it in deep water versus shallow was I was keenly aware if I let my knees go any lower, I would hit rocks. I don’t know if this would be as noticeable to someone who doesn’t have knee problems and lives in fear of hitting their bad knee on something. 

We got to pet Brig a couple more times, we got to see him do a couple of big jumps, and then it was time to say goodbye. He laid on his side and waved at us with his flipper before Conner walked us back to the shore. 

The photographer took pictures of us on the beach before walking us back to the photo area. At that point I lost track of the other family because I don’t remember them being in the photo area. 

I told the photographer about the SeaVenture and he merged the photos immediately.  

I had prepurchased the “Discovery Photo Package”, it included all digital images, plus eight prints, a photo album and a frame. If you buy it in advance, it’s $206 plus taxes as opposed to $229 in the park. There is a package that just includes the digital images for $199, but I figured for the extra $7 I’d take the prints! This is the first time I’ve personally bought a photo package. The first time I did the dolphin swim the photos were included anyway because it was paid for by someone else, and when I did the dolphin swim with my mom, I wound up spending $40 on a single print. It’s worth noting someone not doing the dolphin swim can stand on the beach and take photos of you, but the photos aren’t nearly as good. 

We had to pick out what eight photos we wanted to print then and there, we decided to go with the photos of both of us with Brig. Once that was done, we were free to go. He gave us a claim ticket with the number 60 on it. Our photos would be waiting for us at Adventure Photo in about fifteen minutes. 

We made our way back to our locker to change back into our other masks and realized the park had emptied out quite a bit. It was after 3:00 pm and I guess people were already winding down for the day. I don’t understand that at all, but we decided it might be empty enough to try the Wind Away River, and we were right! It was finally empty enough we could keep our distance from everyone else and still enjoy ourselves. 

Jay and I had driven separately because he had to go somewhere after we were done, so he actually left before I did. Once we were finished in the water, he headed out while I stayed to walk around and take more pictures for the article. I had the locker key, so I went with him to get his stuff, and then went to change before I got everything out of it. Well, I found his Ray-bans, because he had forgotten them. Not a problem, just one more thing to carry since I didn’t have a bag. 

As I was walking around, I got a text from Jay. 

I made one last stop by the snack bar after I was finished with my photos and grabbed a couple of rice Krispy treats and a bag of chips to go. I asked the attendant for two soft pretzels, and off I went to pick up our photos. 

I will say, the photo area was a mess. There weren’t markers for a socially distanced line. There was just a single “Please Wait Here” marker for the multiple photo stations. Well, the family behind me and their unmasked children kept moving closer to me. Every time I moved, they moved closer, and the kids kept hitting each other and the parents didn’t say anything, then the dad got involved in the hitting, so I didn’t feel particularly comfortable speaking up. 

By the time it was my turn, I realized I had lost my claim ticket but since I knew the number, she was able to find it quickly. She brought me everything in a paper bag and asked if I wanted another bag for my snacks. I gratefully said yes, and made my way out of the park, with a quick stop to rinse off my water shoes. 

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I cannot say enough good things about Discovery Cove. It is one of the most relaxing things you can find in Orlando, and it’s also one of the best values. Their four-park package starts as low as $244 plus tax, which gets you one day at Discovery Cove and up to fourteen days at SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Busch Gardens with free parking. That’s roughly the same price as two days at Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando, and less than the cost of three days at either of them. 

If you’re doing the day resort package with just two of you, you might find enough time to get bored with just relaxing. For two people as active as Jay and I are, trying to chill out that long is hard. If you have a group, like we did for our Bachelor/Bachelorette Day, you’ll be plenty occupied for the whole day. Once you add the dolphin swim and/or SeaVenture, you’ll have more than enough for a full day no matter how many people you have. 

I will say under different circumstances, I would try to do Discovery Cove on a week day in the off season. The park will be less busy and you will have a better chance at social distancing. Since the pandemic, I’ve never felt more comfortable in a park environment than I did on the day we did the Day Resort package, and it was 43 degrees. New Year’s Eve and it being so crowded that we skipped lunch to avoid people, is some of the most uncomfortable time I’ve felt in a park setting. I also really didn’t like that masks weren’t required for the SeaVenture safety briefing, but they were for the dolphin swim. The rules should be consistent across the park, and frankly, if you’re not in the water you should be required to wear one, whether you’re at a snack bar or not. That being said, Discovery Cove is still an extremely enjoyable experience if you come prepared and plan accordingly. 

Cost: The Discovery Cove Dolphin Swim Package starts at $199, plus tax. They do have sales sometimes and SeaWorld annual passholders qualify for discounts. 

Photo packages start at $109. An individual print is $40.

Value: 10/10 

Duration: Discovery Cove itself is a full day. The Dolphin Swim takes about forty-five minutes, including the safety briefing. About thirty minutes is in the water with the dolphin. 

Add Ons: So many! You can add the photo packages, SeaVenture, the upgraded drink package, cabanas, and more. I personally am dying to check out the Trainer for a Day experience.