Celebrating 10 years of marital bliss (part 6): Cozumel

Cozumel may be the prettiest island we visited during our trip.  It also must be the one that relies most heavily on tourism since we felt like exorbitant fees were constantly being added without notice.

Nevertheless, I knew that it would still cost more than twice as much to ride dolphins in Disney World (we have a trip planned later this year), so we seized the opportunity to interact with dolphins in Cozumel.  The dolphin training center was built right into the ocean and provides magnificent views.  These photos were taken from our lunch table where we enjoyed the best fajitas I've ever had.

The logistics of getting divided into groups and into the water was tedious and complicated for our host, but once we were in the water with the trainers, the entire experience seemed almost magical.  The dolphins were incredibly playful.  When we first arrived (via taxi) at the training center, I saw a dolphin relaxing on an inflatable pool raft while two other dolphins were playing some sort of game with a toy that looked like a dumbbell comprised of 2 floats and piece of rope.

 

Our group was introduced to 19 different dolphins.  The trainers spent some time at first teaching us the basic commands to get the dolphins to do such tricks as hug, kiss, shake hands, swim close so we could pet them, sing, make funny flatulence noises out of the blowhole, give us rides on their bellies, and do some synchronized jumping.

We were not allowed to bring our cameras into the training area, and we didn't feel like spending another $263 on the few photos they took for us, so I regret that I do not have more photos to share.  The photos they took of my husband kissing those dolphins and giving them high fives were especially amusing and I almost broke the budget to purchase them.  Taking a ride on the belly of that adorable dolphin was a fun memory we will always treasure.