earlier postings enquired about swimming with dophins. well in lisbon at the oceanarium you can be as close as two feet to seeing sharks plus hundreds of other marine life...its at the park of nations..it really is a great experience..about 9 euros to get in

Zoomarine will let 12yrs +(approx) swim with Dolphins also for younger thay have a special 2 hour session where thay gey to touch the Dolphins

zoomarine is ages 8+ to swim with dolphins and you must be ale to swim/tread water....its brill and the photos of it are really good.we have just come back from carvoeiro................from lozzie(jennies daughter)

Dear lozzie, glad you had a great time, my daughter can't wait to do it again in august, did you get the video as well ? best wishes, julia

Julia.......we had an awesome experience swimming with the dolphins .........and yes did the 'tourist' thing and brought the photos AND the video.....but the photos were exceptionally good and the video is something the kids can treasure ........it was DEFINITELY the highlight of the holiday .

I will also be doing a 'wrtie up' about it to add to the 'Zoomarine' details on this site!!!

Hope you have a great time too.....just wish it was us going back.......we loved Carvoeiro and had a fab holiday......with special thanks to this site too!!!

Jennie

Hi

I have just got back from Skiathos having spent one worderful afternoon in a boat between there and Skopelos, with the the dolphins dancing in the wake of our boat - first in small family pods of three or four and then finally a huge family pod of twenty to thirty dolphins jumping in and out of the sea around the boat, under the boat, alongside the boat, wanting to be there for us and entertain us - now that was magic!

Now I know I am one for some politics - but . . . I have been to Zoomarine, taken the children and done the whole thing and having seen them as described in the paragraph above am now embarressed and ashamed - Make sure your children get to them as 'me and mine' have just done one day.

Maddi

maddi I'm with you there. Had my first dolphin experience at WInsdor Safari park many moons ago and it upset me greatly that these wonderful creatures were not free. Did visit Zoomarine with the kids, and again, soppy bunny that I am, couldn't help but get emotional at the thought of these brilliant animals doing tricks for the tourists in confined environments. That said, I am aware of the wonderful work that many of the biologists around the globe do in helping injured and sick dophins, rearing young etc. some I know could not be sent back to nature, but you can't help but feel that seeing them "au natural" would be better. I'm jealous Maddi:mrgreen: It must have been a wonderful sight.
PS my eight year old is desperate to return and swim with the dolphins - ethical dilema, should I let her?!

I too have been to Zoomarine with my children and always have a twinge of guilt about these beautiful creatures in confined surroundings but recent news in UK has been about the unnecessary suffering and dying of dolphins caught in fishing nets.

At least the dolphins @ Zoomarine are safe and cared for and seem happy. Maybe we should pester our Big Chain Supermarkets to boycott industries whose fish have been caught in nets which are not dolphin friendly and which have been invented and could be used if more people protested.

I have a pass to Sea World in Florida for October (purchased prior to Skiathos trip) - I am not particularly an environmental evangelist although for those who have read some of my previous ramblings - I can get political and often do - but . . . I can only ask that if you get that chance to see them as I just have - you take it - it was wonderful and it will certainly take much of the pleasure out of my Sea World trip.

Maddi

p.s. I will make it all right by hanging on to their conservation work

I agree too - I have always avoided Zoomarine like the plague. It may be wonderful for us to swim with dolphins, but why do we assume it is for them too? We choose to do it, they don't.

I too have seen dolphins in the wild, whales too, and that is the only way I want to see them in future. Preserving and researching the species is one thing, and I know that lots of places do really good work on this, but using them for entertainment is something else altogether.

Ktee.........I can understand where you are coming from and yes, I would rather see the dolphins in the wild than captivity.....(but for most of us that is virtually impossible) but as we were shown in the Zoomarine 'pretalk', dolphins (even on the coasts of Portugal) are being mistreated by man i.e......being lured by human food, brightly coloured plastic bags etc which have killed and will continue to kill many of them.......... .....this talk and experience with the dolphins at Zoomarine, (which we felt was much more research based than the Florida Seaworld Park) highlighted greatly the need for their preservation. I too felt a 'twinge of guilt' at the thought that 'swimming with the dolphins' maybe just a bit commercial.........but my children (12 and 10) and I found the whole experience gave us a much greater understanding and respect for these beautiful, intelligent creatures.

Jennie

Just in case anyone's interested, it's not so impossible to see whales and dolphins in the wild - all you need to do is take the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao or Plymouth to Santander and you will probably see loads.

I am not sure what is "virtually impossible", my whole fortnight in Skiathos for two adults and two kids cost £1000 (including the half-term week and not a late booking which could have halfed the price), the boat trip on which we saw the dolphins cost E15-00 per adult and E7.50 per child.

As we all know what it costs to get to the Algarve, pay entry to Zoo Marine and pay for the dolphin swim - it seems to me that my in the wild, beautiful experience was very much the cheap option and it's impact priceless.

Maddi

Ok .....sorry I spoke.....Ill just be quiet and crawl back under my stone now

Jennie

Ahhhhhh.......but........(as she peeps from under her stone).....you STILL had to PAY for the boat trip (commercial tourism?) to see the dolphins in Skiathos.............

And I hope those HUGE ferries dont disturb/pollute the waters for the dolphins either......

Jennie