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Description
Ride out in a speed boat to the "dolphin playground" and watch
the dolphins in their natural habitat. After
that, ride over to the shallow waters near a small island in the Gulf
of Mexico and snorkel during low tide when a variety of animals all congregate
in the same place waiting for the tide to come back in so they can go
home.
How to get there
We were picked up from the dock at the Wyndham Casa Marina. Our captain
drove about twelve of us out to the dolphin playground on a speed boat.
It was about thirty minutes from the marina to the dolphin playground
and another ten minutes to the island where we snorkeled.
What it's like
When we originally read about this trip it appeared that we may be snorkeling
with the dolphins. We knew before we paid that
we would not actually be getting in the water with the dolphins. The captain
drove us out into the Gulf of Mexico and explained that approximately
forty dolphins lived in that area which is why it is named the dolphin
playground. No one knows why they are attracted to that area because it
clear, shallow water without much other life. They go elsewhere to hunt
and come back to that area for the rest of their time. Our captain found
some dolphins and we watched them swim next to us for a while. The dolphins
liked when we started moving and they rode under the front hull of the
boat. After one dolphin would swim away we would go find another one.
We saw them jump out of the water a few times and they swam very close
next to the boat. The captain told us that wild dolphins are not as nice
as we think and they can be actually very aggressive to people who get
too close in the water because they are very territorial.
After about 45 minutes with the dolphins, we rode over to a small island
where we could snorkel. The captain explained all about snorkeling and
what types of sealife we would see underwater. We got in the water about
4:00 p.m. which was low tide. He explained that many fish all gathered
near the reef during low tide an waited for the tide to come back in so
they could go home. He warned us that we would see several sting ray and
that the place we were snorkeling was like Key West's "sting ray
city". He also warned us that we may be able to see sharks because
they usually come out in the afternoon.
We all got in the water and swam our separate ways. I was the first one
out to the reef and passed several sting ray. They laid at the bottom
of the water and threw sand on themselves to cover them up. I watched
one cover himself up but unfortunately missed him when he was swimming.
This was a great reef to snorkel because there were places where the reef
would drop off. As soon as you got to the place where it cleared you would
see different fish. It was like turning a corner and not knowing what
you would find. It was at one of these clearings when I was snorkeling
along and as I looked at the bottom of the reef where it cleared I found
a large nurse shark about five feet long resting at the bottom under a
cliff of coral (as if he was in the shade). He just laid there not disturbing
anything. One of the girls had an underwater camera and she dove down
close to him and took several pictures. I think he got bothered with her
being so close and he swam away. I saw another shark earlier when he swam
under me. I think that one was not a nurse shark because he looked different.
That was the first one I saw and it scared me a bit because the water
was only about six feet deep and when he swam under me he was only about
three feet below me. We were informed that the shark we would see would
not bite, and if for some reason they did, they would suction onto us
like a leech or something. They would have to have to be removed, but
the sharks do not have teeth and would not injure us like some of the
shark stories we had heard. Besides sharks and sting ray, we also saw
a lot of barracuda and they made me the most uncomfortable because there
were so many of them. One kept following me around and he was at least
the size of my entire leg. Of course we saw many different types of colorful
fish as well. The most unique fish I saw was the parrot fish. They were
about the size of basketball and were mainly orange in color, but they
had turquoise lips, eyelids and part of their scales went from orange
to turquoise.
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