Hi Susie,

We went to Ocean world on our visit to the Dom Rep back in Feb/March, it does have its own website which gives you a full tour and guidance as to what is there...you can find it a this link

http://www.oceanworld.net Myself and my 4 year old son went, taken by coach from our hotel we arrived about 915am before the first of the encounters had started for the day. because of this they announced buy one get one free offers on the shark/sting ray encounters which were $45 each. You get to spend most of the day (we were picked up at 4pm) and you can watch the sealion show which happens twice a day, swim in the tiger grotto pool or indeed down off the beach near where they do the dolphin encounters. There is also a fairly small snorkelling reef, you get this and lunch (not drinks) included in the price. They also have a rainforest exhibit where you can watch them feeding piranha and the tigers and also wander through the love birds, toucans and parrots where you get to feed them also. While we were there they did tell us this may become a chargeable extra, I do not know if this has happened as yet.

The difference between the encounter and swim, depends on if you literally want to swim with them or not, you still interact with them, dance, feed, them etc on both, but in the swim you get to be pulled through the water by holding onto the dolphins, this you do not get on the encounter.

Myself and my son done the encounter, a) as he was not old enough and b) cannot swim But we did spend about 45 mins in total with the encounter although probably only 5 minutes of that was with the dolphins themselves. You also get to hug and kiss the dolphin and there are loiads of photo opportunities of your own and of the people from ocean world who video the whole thing.

Pricewise, I feel that it was quite expensive as my son was unable to use some of the facilities due to his age etc, but we had an enjoyable day and a memorable one, and is perhaps the best memory of our holiday overall. The place is clean, not overly busy and there are plenty of lockers to leave your stuff in.

If you'd like to know anything else, please feel free to ask.

Karen x

Thanks Karen

We did do a dolphin swim in Florida last year, but have same problem in that our youngest is only 5 so wont be able to do the swim anyway.

So do you think it is worth it to just spend 5 minutes with the dolphins?

What were the prices like for the photos etc.

Thanks

Sue

You are more than welcome.

It was worth it for us because it was something we had never done and are unlikely to do again for a while (florida trip planned in a couple of years) so, although a short time, it was a wonderful experience. If maybe I had done it elsewhere whether I would go to just do an encounter I dont know...

The photos vary in price, the videos cost $38 for our version but do not just show your own encounter, but give a tour of ocean world and include sealions and different encounters. The photos start from about $8 for small postcard sized ones, and go right up to deluxe packages around $60 which include different sizes, magnets etc In total we purchased 3 or 4stand alone pics (6x4) a deluxe package, 2 additional keyrings, and the video and it cost us about $120 quite a lot but im glad we did. Photos are of excellent quality.

We also took of course disposable waterproof cameras...still havent got them developed yet lol

We enjoyed the encounter, it was an experience, but then not one we had had before. would have been better of course if it was longer, but we were in a large group as well, so time spent was minimum. Altho I think it was pretty standard. Its something we hadnt done and did enjoy the day, but having done it once, I wouldnt go back and do it again...not there anyway.

It is a nice place tho.

Karen x

Where about is Ocean World? I am presuming it is on the north coast.

We are staying in Bavaro. I wonder if they have coaches from there?

Sue

hi, we went to Ocean world last summer and it was the best part of our holiday, for all the reasons in the previous post. The parrots sitting feeding from your hand, tigers swimming next to you (behind a thick pane of glass!!!) sharks fed by hand and of course the dolphins.
We had the dolphin and sea lion encounter and really enjoyed both. It would have been good to swim with them too but the water is deep and people only seemed to get a couple of minutes each.
It was our first trip without the kids and I wish they had been with us that day. We are planning to go back again and take the girls to ocean world, they will love it.
Have a great time
Kaz

Susie

Yes it is in the North of the Dom Rep, whether they do trips from Bavaro by coach I haven't a clue, and if they did am sure it would take a good couple/few hours?

I do know that there is Manati park down on that side of the island, but many operators refuse to take people there due to the conditions the animals are kept in

Karen x

Suzie,

no operators in the east (bavaro) offer Ocean World as a trip. the coach trip time is approx 6 hours each way !!

Please do not be tempted to go to Manati park as it has a terrible rep for keeping it's animals in bad conditions and a very high death rate amongst their young animals.

We stayed at Riu Bambu in Punta Cana last Nov and went to Ocean World. We booked it through Thomsons tour rep, they had just started to do it. We had about a 45 minute plane ride which was great as you really got to see alot of the island. The only thing was that it was quite expensive but well worth it.

Sam

Sam

Can you by any chance remember how much it was with the plane trip?

Thanks

Sue

I'm really not sure but I think it was about £175 for the swim and about £140 for the encounter. Please don't hold me to that though but I'm sure it was around that price.

Sam

Well it looks like we wont be going then as I dont fancy 6 hours on a coach with the kids.

Thanks anyway

Sue

There are definately no coach trips to the north anyway so plane is the only option!

Sam

I have heard that there is a trip called Dolphin Island in the Bavaro Punta Cana regions, is this correct? I am going to Bavaro in June and would really like to go and see/swim with dolphins but have been totally put of the Manati park by other posts etc. If anyone has any info on this that would be great! cheers.

Just to let you know that Dolphin Island is also run by Manti Park!

Sam

Oh right?! So are the animals in the same sort of conditions as they are in the park then?

I must admit that I don't know what sort of conditions the dolphins are being kept in so i can't comment. The way that I do look at it is though that any money that Dolphin Island is getting is going towards the running of Manti Park, which is helping to keep this so called Park open! Just my point of view. Have you thought of going to Ocean World?

Sam

Wasn't sure if we could go seeing as we were going to Bavaro, but from reading the above posts we obviously can! Will probably wait and see what excursions we do when we get there....maybe it is best to just stay clear of this Manati Park place and do something like the Sonsua(sp) trip or something....

Hi, can anyone who has been to Ocean World tell me whether we need to book this before we go. We will be wanting to do the Dolphin Encounter not the Swim. We are going in May next year and want to book it as a surprise for our daughter.

Thanks.

Ocean World website HERE

Pippy