Discovery Cove

So, we love coming to Florida because we get to go to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando…for me, it’s hard to beat Epcot and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

But we were just here a few months ago and did all that stuff. Someone recommended Discovery Cove on twitter, so I looked it up at Discoverycove.com.

It’s a smaller, more exclusive park run by Sea World Orlando. Instead of rides and big shows, it has more personal experiences, and they only allow 1300 people in each day and during busy seasons, they often sell out far in advance. We thought we’d try it…it’s spendy, but each ticket gives you fourteen days of unlimited visits to Sea World and their water park, Aquatica, as well.

The key element of your day at Discovery Cove is a half hour dolphin interaction. There’s a ton of stuff to do, snorkeling with rays and tropical fish, a freshwater oasis, a ‘river’ that winds through caves and grottos. We loved it. And you don’t pay for anything, your ticket gets you unlimited food, breakfast and lunch, snacks, and alcohol for drinkers (we’re not). They even had extensive gluten-free choices for me, which is lovely. They gave out gluten-free snack packs at the snack bars, which is very thoughtful and convenient.

But above all, the place is beautiful. Because there are so few people there, it’s not crowded and miserable like most theme parks. And the landscaping is spectacular, everywhere you look there are spectacular plants and flowers.

But the key thing is the dolphins. We love them, I am just wild about them, so for the past couple weeks this is all I’ve been able to think about. Our appointment time with the trainer was eleven and I couldn’t wait.

You are placed in a small group, a ‘pod.’ We were Pod B. And next to us was a father with his daughter, a beautiful little girl with golden curls named Shelby, who was developmentally disabled. She had a huge, huge smile the entire time we were in the water waiting for our trainer, so I talked to her, and it turns out that she loves dolphins more than anything in the world, and so for her birthday, her father took her here, to Discovery Cove, to meet the dolphins. It was her birthday yesterday, the day of our swim.

I have been very happy many times in my life, and I have been fortunate enough to witness true joy on many faces. But I don’t know if I have ever witnessed the sheer happiness on anyone like that on her sweet face yesterday.

The trainer’s name was Riley, and he brought over our dolphin, who was named Yoko. Yoko came and showed some behaviors, and we all go to touch her skin…the trainer said that Yoko really likes human interaction, and makes up games to play with the trainers. Some dolphins are less social with humans, understandably, but Yoko actually initiates contact all the time. Most of the dolphins only do a couple interactions a day, but Yoko is happy doing four.

It’s hard to explain, I know it’s a very choreographed and scripted encounter, and no part of it is natural, but getting to touch and speak to a dolphin, a healthy, happy dolphin…well, it’s beyond amazing. I’m still sort of over the moon about it.

The climax of the interaction is you swim out to deep water, and hold Yoko’s pectoral and dorsal fin, and she tows you back to the shallows.

Since Shelby was about to explode with excitement, it was unanimously and non-verbally decided she should go first and she swam out excitedly, and Yoko swam back with her, and I have never seen a smile like that on any other person. She was ecstatic. The look on her dad’s face was also worth a million dollars. She came back to the shadows and yelled out, “THAT WAS SUPER AWESOME!”

When it was my turn, I swam out. You don’t realize how much sheer muscular firepower a dolphin has until you feel them while they are swimming, they are just like rockets of muscle. I had a smile on my face a mile wide. Such a beautiful, intelligent animal, in blue water under a perfect sky. I don’t remember ever feeling quite so spoiled and fortunate. I have been a great many wonderful places but holding this dolphin was so moving, it was hard not to cry.

Shelby’s connection to Yoko was the best part of one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. She wasn’t just happy, she was enchanted. This was her Princess Moment, hopefully just one of many. And she just wanted to stay with Yoko forever.

When we left, reluctantly, she again declared Yoko to be super awesome, and my hubby and I have been saying that about every great thing since. Our hot chocolate was super awesome, because it reminds us of Shelby’s happy face to say it. Lying in the sun was super awesome.

Life in general is pretty super awesome, we decided.

Later, when the park was closing, and everyone was putting their street clothes back on and leaving our beautiful little oasis, I saw Shelby, dressed all in pink, and she looked over at me and waved a big wave, and I waved back and said happy birthday and she just beamed, and I thought, I am going to miss that little girl forever and I barely even met her.

I came for the dolphins but I got an added bonus.

Happy birthday, Shelby.