I must confess I’m not a water person. It is a long story that goes back to not liking my face in the water, being a bit claustrophobic, and having the arms of a 95 year-old woman. Oh, and add almost drowning in the ocean as a teenager. So on a recent cruise to Cozumel with my nieces, I asked them what adventure they wanted to do. They picked a dolphin encounter at Dolphinaris. The cool thing about our cruise was that if one person wanted to do an adventure or wanted the drink package, all guests in the stateroom also had to do it. Way to rake in the bucks, Carnival.
My advance sleuthing told me that buying photos at the Dolphinaris gift store was super expensive. So, I snuck my cell phone with me, stood at the pool edge, and took photos of our group kissing the dolphins. The Dolphinaris photographer ladies got very angry with me. So I stood behind them and clicked away. They weren’t fooled and called in our hospitality host. That ended my free photos.
I finally had to get in the water with my nieces and another small group. The more brave folks took dolphin rides. I gave my ride away so a kid could go twice. Yes, I’m that kind of generous person.
Our trainer realized that I wasn’t doing too much interacting and asked if I wanted to hold a dolphin like a baby. The result is below and worth much more than the $30 I had to spend to get the professional photo (click to enlarge).
Val’s big baby
