I am extremely fortunate in the number of times I have been to Discovery Cove in my life. This last visit marked my eighth total trip to Discovery Cove, third time doing the dolphin swim, and second time doing the SeaVenture experience. It was Jay’s sixth visit overall, but first time doing both the dolphin swim package and SeaVenture. Since we were doing so much, I planned ahead and bought one of the photo packages online since there’s a discount for buying in advance. It’s taken me the better part of five years to get Jay to agree to go anywhere near a dolphin and I wasn’t going to miss out on the photos.
(Jay doesn’t like dolphins. He’s not afraid of them, he just doesn’t like them. He used to be a professional scuba diver on the Great Barrier Reef doing shark research, and a dolphin pulled his respirator out of his mouth. There’s now a running joke about how when he lost his Ray-Bans in the ocean two years ago that the same dolphin now has them.)
I already talked about most of the changes for Covid-19 in the Day Resort Adventure Report, so this is just going to focus on anything specific to SeaVenture or the Dolphin Swim.
We arrived at Discovery Cove just before 9:00 am, and as friendly as everyone was on our last visit, everyone was equally as grumpy on this visit. There was no one in the tent to check our temperatures, so we kept walking, and an employee came running down the hill. This time instead of scanning our foreheads, they took our temperatures on our wrists. Then we moved on to bag check, where we had to wait a few minutes before we could get into the building.
Last time we talked to the check in girl so much it felt like it took forever. This woman wouldn’t even make eye contact. She asked our names, wouldn’t take my paperwork, and barely spoke. I had to ask her to repeat herself once and she huffed, asking again if we were interested in the complimentary alcohol. We said yes and handed over our IDs. She handed over our lanyards and simply said, “Your SeaVenture is at 10:45, your dolphin swim is at 2:15, and lunch is in the middle at 12.” She didn’t ask if those times worked, didn’t tell us where we were going, or anything. Now we’ve been there before, but she didn’t know that. She did mention that we needed to tell the people at the wetsuits that we needed “the right kind for SeaVenture” and they would have underwater cameras at the SeaVenture that we could get the photos from that for $60. I said, “Oh but we have the photo package.” “Yeah, it only includes your dolphin swim photos, not the SeaVenture.” That didn’t sound right to me, but I decided now was not the time to press it. She gave us our pouches with the free masks, and a separate set of masks in different packaging with the instructions “those are only for the dolphin swim”. Then we made our way down to breakfast.
The buffet line moves much more slowly than it used to, and that’s okay except that the family behind us wasn’t paying attention to the social distancing markers at all. I said something and you would think I smacked this lady with how offended and dramatic she was about it.
So, it was our turn to order the hot food and I asked for a “mountain of French toast sticks” because they’re my favorite and that’s always what I ask for.
“We’re out of French toast. We won’t have any for another five minutes.”
“Okay. So, how do I get some?”
“It’ll be ready in five minutes.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to hold up your line for five minutes, and I don’t want to wait in line a second time.”
Frankly, by the time I waited through the line another twenty minutes they could be out of French toast again. The lady huffed. There was a lot of huffing that day.
“Wait at the end. I guess I’ll bring it to you.”
I understand being out of things, but there was no need for the level of attitude I got. We finished going through the buffet and Jay went to find a table while I waited for my French toast at the end of the line. While I waited, I watched two chefs bring out a full tray to a dad and his son with four full plates on it that I assume were a special allergy request. The chefs were so nice and everyone was laughing. I wish I could have asked them for the French toast.
She brought me four French toast sticks a few minutes later and practically threw the plate on my tray. I said thank you and walked away to find Jay back at the drink machines.
“Don’t get Coke. Syrup’s off.”
Well, I was grateful for the warning, but sad because I wanted caffeine. I got lemonade instead. As I followed him to our table in the corner, a woman I passed said, “Oh look she got French toast!”
“I had to wait for it and make them bring it to me.” I said sheepishly. The French toast is legitimately my favorite thing on their breakfast menu and I would have eaten way more than four had it been an option.
Once we finished breakfast, we headed to claim a locker and grab wetsuits. Even though it wasn’t as cold as our last visit, I knew from previous experience you have to get an actual wetsuit for SeaVenture so we both asked for the short-sleeved suits. We stowed our stuff and headed towards the Wind Away River area. The park was much more crowded this time and we wound up hanging out by the waterfalls in little alcove to get away from people instead of actually going around the river. We chilled there until 10:30 am or so and then headed towards the SeaVenture area. It’s back behind the Grand Reef, not that anyone told us that.
I realize I keep saying SeaVenture but I haven’t actually explained what it is yet. If you’ve ever seen the old-fashioned dive helmets, it’s basically like that. You can walk under the water with no scuba training at all. It’s a way for people who aren’t trained divers to experience something deeper and cooler than snorkeling.
We went to check in and they had us each sign a waiver, I don’t know what it said because I didn’t read it. They told us we could keep our masks on while we waited or put them in a basket. We chose to keep them on. When we moved to the safety briefing area, the other two families did not have them on. We were almost six feet apart, but not quite. Our guide was named Shannon and she went over a few things before showing us a safety video that’s audio was terribly out of sync. They went over a few hand signals for communicating underwater and how to equalize the pressure in your head. There was also a question of if anyone had any phobias, namely claustrophobia and fear of fish. I guess a lot of people get down there and freak out. We were each issued a simple harness that went over one shoulder to attach the dive helmet to.
Then they called us over to the ladder family by family, and had Jay and I take our masks off right before our turn. I am firmly of the opinion they should have done that for everyone involved and not had us standing there with unmasked people for several minutes. Jay had me go ahead of him so he came down last.
They also gave us the option of using one of their cameras or taking our own underwater camera. I decided to take one in case, figuring I could just not buy the photos if it wasn’t included in our package.
My ears popped as I was going down the ladder but my ears pop pretty constantly anyway since I have jaw issues. Jay came down right behind me and one of the divers took our camera to take our picture.
In addition to our guide, there were two other scuba divers with our group. There were I think eight participants in total, made up of three families.
Depth perception is really strange in the SeaVenture helmets. It feels like you’re going to run over the person in front of you as they ask you to move closer together, but you’re really nowhere near each other. It’s also strange because the only thing you can hear is the sound of the air in your helmet, hence why it’s so important to pay attention to the hand signals. In order to communicate, Shannon had a special white board that she could write on and erase to tell us what we were seeing.
You’re probably as deep as fifteen to twenty feet at any given point in the experience. It’s hard to walk because you’re so buoyant in salt water and I’m grateful Jay and I had water shoes. We were sliding less than the others.
Our first stop was the wall dividing the SeaVenture area from the shark tank. There’s another upgrade experience you can do where you swim with the sharks, but I haven’t done that so I don’t know much about it. Inside are five types of sharks: nurse sharks, bonnetheads (which look like baby hammerheads), black tip reef sharks, and zebra sharks. (I know that’s four but they only list four on the website, but I know they definitely said there were five.) Jay was surprised they let guests in with black tip reef sharks. The rest are pretty chill. Perks of having a husband who spent three years working with sharks.
Shannon on her white board talked about how you’re more likely to be killed by a vending machine or a cow than a shark and that made Jay happy.
We moved on around the corner a few feet and they brought us some animals we could pet and take pictures with. Jay got to hold a mollusk and I got to pet it, then there was a starfish.
Our final stop was the fish feeding, and they told us to keep our fingers in because the fish like to eat anything they can see. They brought out a bottle of what looked like little brown noodles and dumped them into the water, and hundreds of fish swarmed around us. I did my best to take as many pictures as possible while keeping the camera close to my body to be safe. I may not be afraid of fish but I still didn’t want to get bit by anything!
After the food was gone and the fish had dispersed, they led us back to the ladder. Where we had been the last ones to enter the water, we had to wait longer to exit as the other families went first. Because of how the dive helmets are connected to the air supply, everyone has to stay in the same order they entered in.
We exited the ladder and were asked to hang our harnesses on a hook. Jay and I both hurried to get our masks back on, something the other families weren’t doing. I also grabbed a towel off the rack, that water had been much colder than the freshwater!
One of the staff in the check in area offered to take our camera and she asked if we had a dolphin swim later. I said yes. She said to just let the photographer there know we had done SeaVenture, and we were good to go.
As we headed back towards the other side of the park, I asked Jay what he thought. Seeing as he was a professional diver on the Great Barrier Reef for three years, he hadn’t been overly excited when I told him we were doing the SeaVenture experience. I am happy to report that he absolutely loved it! He also went on and on about how he wished those white boards had existed when he was diving. He now wants to go back and take his dad to do it someday.
I looked at my watch and it was almost 11:30 am. The whole thing took about forty-five minutes. I’d say close to thirty minutes was in the water, but that also includes the time when everyone was entering and exiting. The actual tour portion was fifteen to twenty minutes.
Check back next week to read about the rest of our day at Discovery Cove and the dolphin swim experience!
Cost: SeaVenture starts at $49 depending on time of year. You can add this to a Day Resort Package or a Dolphin Swim Package.
Duration: About 45 minutes of your day at Discovery Cove.
Value: This is a unique experience that is definitely worth doing at least once, especially if you are someone who loves the idea of scuba diving but haven’t gotten to try it. Jay, who didn’t want to do it in the first place, already wants to do it again.
Add Ons: This is the add on. I do recommend bringing your own underwater camera if you have one.
