Swim with the Dolphins Nassau Bahamas and More!
By John McNamara

From our hotel, the Sheraton Cable Beach, we took a taxicab to Paradise Island, a $21 ride. It’s a little confusing but, Nassau is the capital city on the island of New Providence, and where a huge bridge connects Nassau city to Paradise Island. This is where the ferry is located to transport people to the private Island of Blue Lagoon (where Endless Love with Brooke Shields was filmed) for our Dolphin Swim / Sea Lion encounter Combo would occur! My wife wasn’t too happy about getting up early but our day was set, 8am Sea Lion Encounter, 10:30-1:30pm, Beach and Lunch, and 1:30pm, Dolphin Swim. Once we got to the ferry port, we both came alive with excitement and were ready for our thrilling day.

At the ferry port, you enter a charming Dolphin Retail store, where all kinds of dolphin gifts and items are waiting for you. For me, I am not a big shopper, but my wife on the other hand, she had something to do while waiting for the ferry. My wife found souvenirs to take back hope for ridiculously inexpensive prices. A friendly staff person greeted us and showed us to the check-in booth and there we received our activity wristbands and was informed where the ferryboat launch was located. Within 15 minutes we jumped on the ferry and were on our way for our day. The 20-minute ferry ride is really nice, passing Paradise Island on one side and Nassau on the other. Once you are past the inlet, you are out on the open sea with the Blue Lagoon Island in front of you; no homes or huge hotels on it, only pristine Blue Ocean and Dolphins, Sea Lions and Open Beaches are awaiting us.

Activities in Nassau - Paradise Island - All Types of Marine Animal Programs for Everyone's Taste

As we got closer to the Island, you don’t see anything, but an opening inlet opening through the island. The ferry drives through the opening, and there it is, Blue Lagoon, Marine Mammal facility. The ferry pulls up to the dock and you can see Dolphins jumping all around as they seem happy to see us arrive. We are greeted on the dock and brought to the Sea Lion area of the facility.

There we change into our swim wear and we are given a very informative briefing on what to expect with the Sea Lions, what are the differences between a sea lion and a seal, and getting to know the animals that lives on the property. My wife really fell in love with the sea lions and was excited about this experience. The trainer brought us down to where our male Sea Lion awaited us. First we got to pet him, feeling his lovely coat. He glided by so effortlessly and jumped on command. Our trainer helped us get more comfortable with the huge sea lion. After petting, we got a chance to hug the sea lion, with open arms; the sea lion laid his body on ours. All during this, a professional photographer and videotographer were busy recording our interactions. Then our Sea Lion got prepared for giving us kisses. My wife got the kiss on the cheek and I did the kiss on the lips. We both were laughing hysterically and having a great time with our sea lion. As the 30 minutes came to an end, our sea lion waved good-bye and blew us a kiss with his flipper. We also had a chance to meet the first sea lion pup born in the Bahamas and he was a cutie. Hopefully by the time you go to visit the pup he will still be a baby.

Then we were off to our private beach break before the Dolphin Swim program in the afternoon. That is one thing great about the Dolphin / Sea Lion Combo, you have this break and really can enjoy your time with the animals, no rushing around. Since we were there first on the island, we had the choice of the best hammock and lounge chairs to relax on. Once settled in, my wife took the big plunge in the delicious aqua ocean water for a refreshing dip. We played around in the water till we were ready to eat lunch. We headed to the grill area to pay and get a nice chicken sandwich to quench our appetite. During the beach time, you pay a little extra to use some of the watersports equipment, Water bike, snorkel gear, and kayaks. We had a great few hours here before heading back to our Dolphin Swim program.

The Swimming with the Dolphins in Nassau Bahamas is the highlight of our three-day getaway. This facility has 18 dolphins and is the place where the new Flipper movie was made. You can see why, the words I write here could not adequately give justice to the true beauty of this place, from the clear crystal blue water, dolphin jumping all over the place, and tropical island back drop, definitely a movie set in some ways. We got ready by having a briefing again about the dolphins and the swim. Then we went to put our wetsuits and life vest on before we got in the water. The groups are usually 6 – 8 people with 2 dolphins. We stayed on the platform where we immediately went into the water. There in the water we got to pet the dolphins on the back and belly a few times. Then it was photo time where we got the dolphin kiss, hug and dance. Everyone in the group was having a good belly laugh watching each other. Then the final behavior is the ‘Superman’ Toe push, where you lay on the water surface and wait for two dolphins to push you up and almost all the way out of the water (it feels just like flying that is why I named it the Superman). I was pushed slightly out of the water but my wife was almost flying out, maybe my weight was a factor. We then waved goodbye to our dolphin host and proceeded out to prepare to go back to the mainland. There is a Dolphin Encounter here also; this is for the non-swimmer. No excuses, every one could still be involved in both activities.

After our relaxing warm showers and changing into our regular ‘street’ clothes, we viewed and bought our videos and photos of both programs, the dolphins and sea lions. We cherish the photos and now I have it for this story. We headed back on the ferry to Paradise Island. With the sun setting down in the background, we looked back at the Blue Lagoon Island and smiled warmly as my wife and I had a wonderful memory that we shared together. It was a full day and we got back to the Nassau Sheraton Cable Beach Resort we took a well deserved nap...but it was an unforgettable time and well worth the effort!