I am writing this tonight so you know that I have not decided to join the circus and run away.  In this case the circus would be Discovery Cove.  What an amazingly wonderful experience!  Today, Edie Grace and DeWayne joined me for a day in fulfilling my long time dream of being a dolphin trainer.  We knew this was a super exclusive experience - but I had no idea that there would only be 24 total “trainers.”  The group of 24 was broken out into three groups of eight.  Our official Discovery Cove trainer was Shannon Snyder.  Shannon LOVES her job and it shows!  Can you imagine what a day at “office” must be like for Shannon and the over 100 other trainers that work at Discovery Cove?  Well thank goodness today was as routine as could be.  I started to say that this day was ordinary - but honestly there was NOTHING ordinary about this day or Shannon’s job.  As you will see in the pictures, the creators of this experience have done a phenomenal job making you feel like you are in the ocean with dolphins, sting rays, mullets, sharks and many, many more exotic fish from around the world.  I have been fortunate to travel the world (Europe, Mexico, Caribbean, Jamaica, and the British West Indies to name a few) and swim with dolphins once before in the Caribbean and this experience rivals any of my trips.  Best yet, it was only a five hour car ride!  Immediately as we were paired with our other members of our group, Edie Grace met her match, Joy Lynn Anderson who is seven and from Houston, Texas.  Joy Lynn was accompanied by her mother Joselyn and Aunt Nell.  For those of you who know my mom, may not realize that her name is Joy Lynn also.  So I knew that this was going to be a fun and exciting day for Edie Grace also.

We began the day with a series of briefings then had an opportunity to go behind the scenes and see how much work it really takes to make this place run as seamlessly as it does.  We even were taken to the food preparation area and see the level of detail and care given to each dolphin’s specific diet.  After that we had an orientation swim with the dolphins.  This was so much fun.  I am not sure who enjoyed this more - me or Edie Grace.  As you can tell - she jumped right in.  I think it was interesting how Shannon made this fun and interesting for six year olds as well as old folks like us.  After the first swim with the dolphins we enjoyed a gourmet lunch and then we met the Sharks, Sting Rays, and other exotic fish up close and personal.  We were allowed to feed the Sting Rays and other fish - not the sharks thank goodness.  I could see them lowering me into that huge pool in a small cage - like on the TV commercial.

After this we headed for our final swim with the dolphins.  We were allowed to choose from a series of swims.  Edie Grace actually rode on the Dolphins belly, I did a two foot push (two dolphins with their nose on each foot simultaneously pushed me through the water) and DeWayne did a two fin pull (where he held on to the fins of two dolphins as they pulled him through the water).  Forgive me Shannon if I did not get all the names correctly of the different dolphin swims but hopefully the description was correct.  Thanks to the wonderful photographers at Discovery Cove we have pictures to share with you so you can get a feel of how incredible this was.  There is no way I can put it into words.  If you love the water, enjoy snorkeling and like adventure - this is a MUST DO trip for you.  It is so hard to believe we were in Florida!

Edie Grace sure hopes that we have the opportunity to experience another adventure soon with her new friend Joy Lynn.

I encourage you to add this to your life list.  Of course, now that I have checked this off I must replace it with something new.  Tomorrow will be one on Edie Grace’s list - being slimed at the Nickelodeon Hotel and water park.  We will report in soon as our adventure continues.