Last month we spent an epic week in Roatan, Honduras. It was amazing for several reasons I plan on sharing with you. Today’s reason? The Dolphin Encounter at Anthony’s Key Resort. Elliot was too little to swim with dolphins so we opted for the dolphin ocean encounter, there is no minimum age requirement for this amazing experience.

After checking in at the at the resort, we took a very short boat ride to Bailey’s Key – Home to a family of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins. We were broken up into English and Spanish speaking groups and given a 10 minute orientation.

Then it was time to enter the water and meet your dolphin. The water in Roatan is amazing, warm and super clear. I loved that each family had their own trainer and dolphin.

After learning a little about our dolphin, Alita we also met her baby who was training next to us.  We were able to touch her (gently) as she swam by. Dolphins are very smooth and soft to the touch. After a few photo opps including kisses from Alita, she showed us a few tricks.

The encounter is $69 per person, with a discount for resort guests. My grandmother and uncle didn’t participate but came with us to watch. It’s $5 per person to ride over on the boat and. They allow you take your own pictures during the last 10 minutes or so of the encounter but not during the posed pictures with the dolphin. Official pictures were $15 EACH (minimum of two pictures). Packages with all the picture taken start at $55 for parties of 2, plus $15 for each additional person in your group. We paid $100 for all of our official photos (51 shots total) for our group of 5. A little steep in my opinion but honestly it’s not everyday you have the chance to kiss a dolphin, especially when you live in the desert. 😉

We’re already making plans to snorkel with the dolphins on our next trip. In fact we could of on this trip if we had realized how the dolphin activities worked. Snorkeling with dolphins starts off with the same dolphin encounter experience we had (approximately 30 minutes in the water). Then snorkelers grab their gear and head into the water for a free swim with the dolphins (another 30 minutes). It’d be easy for a few members (including small kids) to wait on the beach and watch the rest of the group swim with the dolphins.

If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, then you might have caught my video of our experience earlier this week.  It’s a short video (I promise) and just shares a little of what you would expect during the dolphin encounter in Roatan.

Would you swim with dolphins?