Discovery Cove

Since JR and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary we decided to take a day away while we were in Orlando to celebrate. Since the last time we went I have been dying to go to Discovery Cove. It is an all inclusive, all day tropical Oasis where you swim with dolphins and get up close and personal with lots of marine life. It is kind of expensive so we didn’t take the kids this time but after having such a great time we will definitely go back with them, they would love it!!

We arrived around 8:30am and got our assigned dolphin swim time of 12:10pm. Other than the dolphin swim we were free to roam to Oasis and explore, relax, and eat as we pleased. We started off with breakfast then headed to get our wet suit vest and snorkel gear. We spent the day lounging in the Oasis chairs with frozen drinks, snorkeling in a coral reef with fish and sting rays, and laying on the beach. next to the dolphin swim the coral reef was awesome. The sting rays ranged from small to HUGE and swam right underneath us and we could reach out and touch them as they swam by. There were sharks too!!! Behind the glass of course but it felt like we were right with them. There was a aviary where we got to see and feed all kinds of birds too. The dolphin swim was amazing and they are such adorable smart creatures. Dot was out dolphin and she would swim past while we rubbed her back and her belly. We got to rest her face in our hands and kiss her, and she gave us a ride around the lagoon. I can’t wait to do it again with the kids.

It’s funny that as we were thoroughly enjoying the day to ourselves we couldn’t help but say over and over, “Lance would love this, or Ryan would be scared to death of that.” We plan to go back in a couple of years when they are 8 and 10 and hopefully by then both of them can enjoy the whole package. It was so great!

These pictures speak for themselves!

This is where we could sit on chairs in the water and enjoy drinks. You can see them in the back ground of this tree. The foliage was just beautiful!

JR petting an anteater

BIRDS!!! They would fly right down on you when you had food. The one on my head liked my glasses I think.

Bree would have died! :)

The one on his shoulders was walking along the back of his neck, hahaha!

“Can I help you lady?”

Tamarin Monkeys that roam freely on an island in the middle of the lagoon

This was the dolphin pool. The trainers took you out in groups and the dolphins performed, swam by for petting, and gave rides.

They are so sweet!!

I’ll post the pictures they took of us later. I have to scan them.

As you can see it was well worth the experience and we will definitely do it again! I was so sad to leave:(

We had a wonderful trip and JR and I talked a lot about the things that we are exposing our kids to. For us, we have decided that traveling the world and giving the boys these awesome experiences is far better than living in a big house with the finest “stuff”. There are so many more places that we want to see ourselves and definitely want to take the kids to. So that is going to be our focus over the next several years, seeing and doing as much as we can!