Today was probably the best day of the trip so far as we managed to fit in a few really good experiences and the weather held out unlike yesterday!
I didn’t sleep much last night so this morning I got up at 6am to read on the balcony. Mena woke up early to call the dolphin place to see if they had any swimming with dolphin tickets left for the day and luckily they did have 3 places available at 230 but only for the “Dolphin Encounter” where you stood waist deep in the water rather than go swimming with the dolphins. This wasn’t the one we were aiming for but myself, Gary and Kelly decided to go anyway.
We went to Earth Mamas today again for breakfast but today I decided to sample the Eggs Benedict with hash browns to compare it to the eggs benedict I’ve been having back home – it wasn’t quite as nice but I still enjoyed it. I decided to make use of the snorkel rental next door as it was cheaper and the equipment was better condition too – only $5 plus a deposit rather than $10 if you hire it directly at West Bay.
The sun was out all day today so I made full use of the time over in the West Bay today. I saw even more fish than before, including some large shoals, and probably stayed out in the water for an hour in total. This caused problems, however, as I managed to miss a small portion of my back while putting my sun cream on and I ended up getting rather badly burned just above the waist line and decided to spend the rest of my time at West Bay just relaxing on the beach.
After returning to West End on the water taxi we dropped off our snorkeling equipment before catching a taxi to Anthony’s Key Resort for the Dolphin Encounter. The resort is lovely but is fake compared to the rest of the island. We arrived a little early so after checking in for the encounter there was time to head to the bar for drinks before returning for the briefing.
It was a short boat ride to the dolphin lagoon where we changed and put all of our valuables, except for cameras, in lockers that were provided before heading down to the waters edge. The dolphin in our encounter was called Mr French and we were told all about him and the other dolphins before seeing him do some tricks. We then got into the water where the encounter portion started and we were able to rub / touch Mr French as he swam past before the obligatory official photos which we could purchase afterwards. A word of advice be careful where you put your hand when you have the official photos taken as Gary said when he put his hand underneath he felt his hand slip into one of the little holes on the underside!
The official photos actually came out well and at $10 each on a DVD, or all of the photos with us in for $40 we decided to get all of them for $40 and then just share the photos afterwards. After purchasing the DVD and a few souvenirs it was back into town where we had an early dinner at the pizzeria in town which, considering the location, was actually really nice. The rest of the group wanted to go out for another group meal but as we had already eaten we formed Team Breakaway (Mena, Kelly, Gary, Gina and myself) and had a few drinks at the bar over the water before heading back to the room to relax.
Luckily it’s a lazy start tomorrow as we have two full days of travelling ahead of us, plus my sunburn is starting to hurt.