and now the day we'd all been waiting for...nassau, bahamas and the atlantis resort...mom and dad had spent a long weekend here, and told us it was not to miss...so all of the rest of us booked excursions for this day - the waterpark and dolphin experiences.
we had to meet up earlier in the morning, so we opted to have room service breakfast this day. it was cloudy and raining as we approached, but even thru the weather, we could see the huge resort in the distance.
we gathered in our meeting place (one of the adult 'night clubs' - where we never had the time or energy to go any other time...) to catch our shuttle to the atlantis resort.
the 11 of us (everyone but mom and dad) were out for the day...we had booked 2 different dolphin encounters - a deep swim for the big girls and me, and a shallow water encounter for everyone else. the big girls and i had our dolphin date at 10:35am (which was unfortunate, cause we barely arrived at the resort by then, and then were led on what should have been a productive tour of the resort before getting to the dolphin facility, except the place is so incredibly GIGANTIC we couldn't find our way around after said tour anyway...) we arrived 'late' and felt a big rushed, but once we were in wet suits with our 'complementary' snorkel gear, we were ready to roll...the rest of the crew didn't have their encounter until 12:40pm, so they did some splash park and swimming elsewhere...after our excursion, we sat and watched everyone else do theirs, and then we joined together for lunch and water park fun.
so first - our deep swim with the dolphins...
the lagoon with the dolphins has two basic depths...shallow...and deep. for this part of our encounter, we stayed on the edge of the shallow part, and the dolphins came to us...first up was the kiss and the hug...the trainers provided the basic commands to get the dolphin up into the shallow portion, then we had to hold our hands a certain way to move in for the kiss... then we got to 'hug' them, one hand on top, and the other on their belly...
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| maya didn't quite go in for full lip contact! |
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| group hug! |
then came the 'dancing'...the trainers said it was important to make sure to boogy, so that's what we did. we had walked up to the edge and gave a basic command that caused the dolphin to move upright and then shake their tail back and forth for 'dancing' and we did the same while holding their flippers...not very photogenic, but totally fun!
the next part of our swim was the actual deep swim part...so we have no pictures of that, as we were underwater with the dolphins! we donned our masks and snorkels (which I had to teach lilly how to use properly as she was doing her best to drown herself...) then we had these personal propellers (you can see them in the background of my and lilly's kissing pictures...) basically, you hold them out in front of you and push the buttons to make the propeller go, and you shoot forward, to keep up with the dolphins...then the dolphins are trained to swim around you, and you can reach out with one hand and touch their body as they go by....it definitely took some skill, and was really cool. unfortunately, in our group of 5 people, one of the other women (who was there with her probably slightly autistic son...) could not swim...and didn't know how to use a snorkel...um, HELLO!?!?!? we did our best to not let her damper our spirits or experience...as that meant more time for US to have with the dolphin because she couldn't do anything.
after the swim came the nose push....we had a 'boogie board' and were given instructions on how to hold our legs, etc for the push...straight, and locked, with flexed feet...as you don't know which foot the dolphin might choose to push! the trainer drags you out to the position and the dolphin is on their way...but since they approach from behind you, you're not really sure when it's going to happen...and then you feel the bob, bob, bob of a nose picking a foot and then a slight push forward and then WHAM - when that dolphin kicks it into gear, you're making a wake and cruising thru the water at what feels like a wicked fast speed! awesome. that's all there is to say about that.
well, our encounter came to end, and we got all our stuff gathered up and checked out the gift shop...where we waited FOREVER to view our photos...but, in the meantime, found out we could combine our photo package with the rest of the family, who appeared outside for their excursion shortly thereafter...so we waited in a viewing area and i snapped a few picts (stupid palm tree kept blowing in the breeze...) and then we headed to lunch.
the other 8 of our group heading from the locker area to the lagoon...
the shallow water encounter got to do some similar things to ours...here's our crew assembling in their small group to meet their dolphin...
they got to line up and the dolphin swam by so they could touch it...
keeping cool by sitting in the lagoon...
then came the kissing, the hugging, the feeding and the high-fiving!
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| i love that his eyes are closed! |
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| no kissing for molly, but she would feed the dolphin, and do the group hug! |
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| group hug! |
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| my brother and his crew... |
then it was off to lunch, which turned into a painfully long experience, but the kids were happy with their fries (which they had to protect from overzealous seagulls...)
then came the 'lazy river' - except, atlantis' version of 'lazy river' isn't lazy at all, as it is VERY long, and includes short drops and LOTS of rapids....it was great! we heeded my father's warning that keeping your butt UP in your inner tube was essential to your enjoyment of the ride...
after the river ride, we made a successful attempt to find the waterslides, specifically the one called 'leap of faith' that is featured in all the atlantis resort commercials...it is a nearly-straight drop down and goes into a tube that is in the shark tank of the resort's aquarium...so in essence, it's suppose to feel like you're plunging into the shark tank....however, the consensus was that it didn't matter, as no one had their eyes open to even see the sharks!
molly and i opted to wait at the bottom, while jason, maya and porter decided to take on the 'leap of faith' - the other kids went for a slightly less traumatizing ride...
by the time jason made it down, the other kids were also waiting at the bottom...and then they chose to hit some other slides, and jason took the patiently waiting molly on some pint-sized slides!
it was a somewhat-rushed trip back to the ship - again, the resort is ENORMOUS - and somewhat hard to navigate...then it was resting time and then time to get into full pirate mode for pirate night (MANY thanks to my friend lisa, the best hairdresser and manicurist ever, who hooked us up with great gear!)
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| quite the scurvy band! |
We dressed for the party and dinner and headed to the pool deck - which is really neat in that the pool can be completely covered for the night to offer more room for the parties! there were crew members playing pirate-y games and then a little piratey show with mickey teaching everyone how to join his pirate crew.
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| don't those smiles pretty much say it all!? |
then we headed to dinner - even though there are three restaurants in the dinner rotation, on this night, everyone gets served a pirate menu...and thanks to complimentary bandanas in our staterooms, mom and dad were dressed for the occasion, too!
we had some more great food (go figure...) not sure how piratey it was, but i'll eat it regardless!
the kids did 'dine and play' and then we retrieved them in time for the evening show - which included fireworks! the funnelvision didn't turn out too well in the picture below, but i also want to point out all the lights on the aquaduck - the onboard waterslide!
the fireworks were neat, like a pirate fight from two ships, with fireworks shooting from each funnel, and there was another little pirate show, featuring 'jack sparrow' - when the event turned to a pirate night club and dance party, we opted to hit the hay!
tonight's turndown...a crab!
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