Dolphins

[michellehurst1298]

My family is going to Gaveston soon. I would like some information on the locations of facilities that allow you to interact with dolphins (captive or wild). I can't take a week long cruise because we will only be there for a week and plan to do some deep sea fishing. Can anyone help me. I'm glad to be a member, however I've never seen the ocean nor have I ever scuba dived. I don't have any exciting stories to share, yet!

 

[dlndavid]

Hi Michelle and welcome to SB. You don't have to be a diver to chat here, if you love water and the ocean that's enough. Someone should be along soon to help you out with your question, not sure where Gaveston is, do you mean Galveston, as in Texas? But let me warn you, not all people think that swimming with captive dolphins is a good thing. But we all do love dolphins, almost as much as we love sharks.

 

[diversteve]

My family is going to Gaveston soon. I would like some information on the locations of facilities that allow you to interact with dolphins (captive or wild). I can't take a week long cruise because we will only be there for a week and plan to do some deep sea fishing. Can anyone help me. I'm glad to be a member, however I've never seen the ocean nor have I ever scuba dived. I don't have any exciting stories to share, yet!

Here is an article about a dolphin watching trip in Galveston. It runs on Saturday morning from near the Texas Seaport Museum.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/evergreen.mpl/travel/tx/gulf/462917

If you're also interested in marine life, I would suggest a trip to Moody Gardens, they have a great aquarium. My family was just there and said it was excellent. www.moodygardens.com

 

[H2Andy]

welcome aboard, michelle... best of luck in swimming with the dolphins

they are awesome animals, and very intelligent

 

[DandyDon]

I love Galveston. I don't go there anymore as it's not a scuba site - you'll see when you get in the water - but it is a wonderful old city with a lot of history, museums, etc. :sunny The links Sjspeck gave you will be good to go with and check out the rain forest while youre at Moody Gardens. Awesome! :57:

:cowboy2: don

 

[Marvel]

Welcome to scubaboard, Michelle! I'd love to have the opportunity to swim with dolphins too. Let us know how it goes but don't be surprised if you come back wanting to take up diving...

 

[DandyDon]

I do not think there is a Swim-With facility at Galveston, or anywhere else on the Texas coast? I live 500+ miles from there, but kinda' know the area. I think the best you can do is the boat encounter as directed in the link above, but - they are fun then!! :balloon I have seen them ride our dives boats bow wake off of California and off of North Carolina - zooming along, being pushed by the boats forward wake, jumping over each other and playing. Never heard of one mis-jumping and hitting the boat, but you can't help but worry a little. :scared:

Hope you enjoy that encounter, and someday in Cozumel, Florida, or Roatan, maybe you can snorkel with some. I did a Scuba-dive with some in Roatan once, but only because the Snorkel-with encounter for my open day was already full. I understand that the snorkel encounter is better than the scuba, for dolphin encounters anyway.

Hope you'll join us in the deeper dives someday, tho

 

[El Orans]

Hello Michelle,

welcome (Scub)aBoard! :happywave

Do let us know if you did get the chance to swim with dolphins.

Laurens

 

[tx.lakerats]

welcome to the boards!!

 

[yeehawherb]

Hi Michelle,

There is no place in Galveston (or on the Texas Coast that i'm aware of) that has dolphins. I recently began working at Moody Gardens and let me tell oyu, that place is great. No dolphins (very difficult to keep in captivity). But the Rainforest Pyramid is Awesome, make sure you go through slowly. Every day people come up to me by the Ocelot (his name is Ozzy) Area and tell me how bored they are. You have to remember to look up, there are many exotic species of bird in there and many endangered species that we may never see again in the wild. The Aquarium Pyramid is alot of fun aswell. Our Carribean Tank is 800,000 gallons, complete with Sand Tiger Sharks, Brown Sharks, a Laggerhead Seaturtle, penguins and seals as well.

As far as seeing dolphins goes, you can usually see them on the Free Ferry from galveston to boliver. Exit your car and stand on the upper deck, you get a great view of th entire bay and can usually see quite a few Porpoises (sp?). On several fishing trips i was swimming afterwards in west bay (from the boat) and there were several that were curieious enough to nuzzle into me and check me out, they are magnificent animals. I hope you enjoy yourstay.

(I didn't mean to sound like a MG commercial, i really enjoy my job.... most of the time)
Brian