DAY
5 – Tuesday January 17, 2017:
Brent, James, and/or Dave aren’t planning on doing
any adventures together today, but they may be going to the beach. None of us has been to the beach yet; my turn
is coming tomorrow afternoon after Swimming with the Dolphins is over for
me. Dave may elect to come with me then,
or he may decide to go with Brent and James earlier. He’ll make up his mind tomorrow morning. On the other hand, Brent and James may be
going to play tennis instead tomorrow morning.
They’ll make up their minds tomorrow morning and, hopefully, tell Dave
beforehand what their plans are. They
forgot to do that (conveniently) on Monday morning after I’d left, leaving Dave
wondering why they didn’t knock on our door to tell him anything.
I may have to babysit James tomorrow because Brent says
he’s going out tomorrow evening. This
will be the first time I will have babysat this week – we’ve all been too busy
to think about doing any other evening activities. If I’m required, I’m planning to stay with
James at least till he’s sound asleep and then, if Brent isn’t back yet, I may
elect to come back to my room to go to sleep if I’m tired, or I can stay with
James and sleep on their couch until Brent gets home. Of course, I still have one more adventure to
do on Wednesday: the Monkey Land
adventure, and I don’t want to go there unprepared or without enough
sleep. So, I’ll see how I can make that
work best for me tomorrow night.
The Swimming with the Dolphins adventure is one I’ve
really been looking forward to participating in. Dave has done this adventure twice in his
past visits to this island. At about
8:00 am, or shortly afterward, I was picked up by a driver of a colourful bus
labelled “Swimming with Dolphins in the Ocean”.
There were other people in this bus from other resorts and hotels. It took about fifteen to twenty minutes to
get to the “Bavaro Adventure Park” where this adventure is located.
I had to go through a number of steps along with
other people: first, I had to register
by showing my ticket for this activity; second, I walked through a well-marked
sandy trail in the bush to an area where I had my picture taken with some
parrots and macaws; third, I walked over to the locker area and got ready by
shedding all clothing except my swimsuit underneath and my shoes – everything
else went into the locker and the key went around my neck; fourth, I got a life
jacket and put it on over my suit; fifth,
I was directed over to an area where the participants all saw a brief video
about the activities we’d be doing (individually) with the dolphin; sixth, I
was directed over to another area where I had my picture taken with a fur seal
planting a kiss on my cheek (you’d have to see this to believe it!); and sixth,
the group of twelve people I was assigned to walked over a long boardwalk built
on top of the ocean to the area where the sea creatures were kept. The sea creatures included: sharks, stingrays, and dolphins. Each type of sea creature is kept in its own
area of water cordoned off by wire fences.
Of these, we did not touch any sharks.
We only touched the stingray momentarily, individually, to see what it
felt like. These stingrays are toothless
and could not harm us.
I was assigned a partner named Paula, a very nice Portuguese
girl who did not speak much English.
However, we got on very well. She
was going to be with me when it came our turn as a pair to do the dolphin
activities, individually, that the operator first showed us and described to
us. The trainer was the girl in charge
of controlling the dolphins’ actions with each person. There were two female dolphins that took
turns doing the tricks, but I don’t remember their names. All I know is that the trainer instructed
them with her body language and a whistle and rewarded them with fish
intermittently after each successful set of tricks. Of course, before we did these activities
with the dolphins in the ocean, we had to leave our shoes in a big box on the
boardwalk and then get into the water with them.
There were five different activities that we had to
do in pairs, as individuals: first, out
in the open water, hold my arms over my head and the dolphin would then jump
high over my head between my arms; second, out in the open water, hold my right
arm out at shoulder height while facing right, the dolphin would then swim by
me and I would hold her dorsal fin with both hands (the dorsal fin is on top of
her body) and she would swim fast, dragging me over the surface of the water
for a few seconds; third, hold my hands out in front of me with one hand over
the other at shoulder height, the dolphin would then swim up to me and kiss my
left cheek for a few seconds and then I would return the kiss on her nose;
fourth, out in the open water, hold my hands and arms out at shoulder level and
the dolphin would swim up with her side fins extended, which I would then grasp
and shake (like shaking hands) for a few seconds; and, fifth, out in the open
water, hold my left arm out at shoulder height while facing left, the dolphin
would then swim up to me on her back and I would grasp her side fins and she
would swim fast on her back this time, dragging me over the surface of the
water for a few seconds.
All twelve of us had a chance to do this in pairs as
individuals, and it was a real hoot watching the others do these things, as
well as doing them ourselves. I had
never before experienced anything like this before in my life! And, I loved it! After we were all done some fifty minutes
later, we got out of the water and walked back to where our shoes had been put
(in a big box on the boardwalk), retrieved them and then headed back to
shore. Because we’d been in salt water,
we had to take a brief shower in fresh water on shore and then dry off, head
over to our lockers, and retrieve our clothes.
We then turned in our life jackets and locker keys. I headed to the washroom nearby, did my
business there and then got dried off and dressed (only by putting my clothes back
on over my swimsuit). After this, our
group all had time to shop a little in the souvenir shop or sit in the open air
bar if we wanted to.
Before we left the adventure park, we were to see a
live bird show involving the parrots and macaws and their trainer, followed by
a live sea lion show and his/her trainer.
It was all very interesting and I would love to do this adventure in the
future when I visit the Dominican Republic again.
Before leaving the adventure park, right after the
adventure was over and I was showered, dried off and re-dressed, I went to see
the pictures that the cameraman took of me, individually, during my own
activities with the dolphin. I couldn’t
decide which photos to get, so I bought two CDs and a video, which would
include all the photos taken today and there were a fair number of them. The package of photos cost me $125.00 USD,
which I did not have on me, so I ended up paying a $50.00 USD deposit. The package would then be delivered to me on
Thursday morning at my resort/hotel and I would have to pay another $75.00 USD
for the rest of the package. I think
it’s money well-spent though; if I ever do this particular adventure again, I
won’t have to get the whole package again – maybe just some individual photos.
Anyway, we left the adventure park at about 12:40 pm
(it was supposed to leave at 12:20 pm) and the driver of the bus proceeded to
drop off each couple at their particular resort/hotel. I was the last one dropped off and it was
almost 2:00 pm before I got back. I was
tired, but exhilarated. I couldn’t wait
to tell Brent and James and Dave about my morning with the dolphins. Brent and James had done this activity
yesterday and they had told me they loved it.
Now I know why.
The rest of the day was spent by the kids’ pool
where James was playing, and then resting in my room. I’d also had a late lunch due to my late
arrival back at the resort/hotel. Later,
Dave, Brent, James and I all had dinner together at the Larimar buffet, which
we’ve learned to like more since arriving here.
Finally, when we returned to our rooms, I spent a little bit of time
with Brent and James before retiring with Dave back to our room for the night. I am really bushed today, but I had an awful
lot of fun – it was definitely worth it.
copyright 2017 - Anne Shier
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