Our dolphin encounter

Our water experience at Discovery Cove began by snorkeling in their Grand Reef where we swam with tons of fish and rays.  There were even sharks that you could see from under water, but they were separated by glass. 

The main reason we went to Discovery Cove was to "swim" with dolphins.  I wouldn't call it "swimming" but we did have an encounter with two dolphins. We met Capricorn first.  

At 45, he is the oldest dolphin at Discovery Cove and has lived in all of the Sea World parks, including the one that used to be in Ohio.  Kyle thinks he probably saw Capricorn when he was a kid!  Capricorn is one of only four Discovery Cove dolphins that was born in the wild. Capricorn gave us all rides.  We held onto his flipper and dorsal fin and he carried us in the water.  

As always, Grace was the first to volunteer for a ride!

After meeting Capricorn, we met the youngest dolphin at Discovery Cove - Axel.  Axel is only 4 years old. He had all his teeth (Capricorn didn't have ANY!) and had much smoother skin and not as many ridges on his tail.  Axel was also much smaller.

It looks like Nana is riding Axel but she is behind him.  He really was small!

Axel eats 19 pounds of food a day so I bet it won't be long until he grows much bigger!  All the dolphins swallow their fish whole, so not having teeth wasn't a big deal since they don't need to hunt for fish like they would if they lived in the ocean.

The trainers show you how to signal that you want a kiss - one hand on top of the other right on the water's surface.

We had a fun experience and all agreed that we would do it again!