2014 Vacation: Snorkeling with Dolphins

The last time Daniel and I had an opportunity to take a dolphin tour, I was pregnant with Jack. This experience was a little different in that we were able to get in the water with the dolphins.

I don't know what it is, but dolphins in the wild mesmerize me. Every morning, I would drink my coffee on the front porch of our beach house in hopes of a glimpse of the pod that swam by several times a day. It made me down right giddy to catch a glimpse of their fins and I even saw one jump out of the water.

Daniel and I debated for several days whether or not we wanted to do a dolphin tour. I really wanted to, but it was $39/person and you needed a minimum of 4 people (we had 3) and we weren't sure if Jack would enjoy it. In the end, we agreed that we would enjoy it, and at the very least Jack would enjoy the boat ride.

Daniel contacted Mexico Beach Dolphin Tours to see if we could get out on the water. We had to wait for them to call us back – they were going to try to find another person to go with us. In the end, we met our captain and boat at the Panama City Marina and we were the only people on the tour!

It was pretty cool to go out on the water, just us. Jack called our captain "The Pirate" for the duration of the trip. Thankfully The Pirate took it well. The Pirate was a firefighter that moonlighted as a tour guide when he was off duty. He also had 4 kids of his own and was very sweet to Jack.

The Pirate took us out past St. Andrew's Bay State Park and then to Shell Island. Since it was off season, it took a little while to find any dolphins, but we enjoyed our ride out on the open water.

When we finally found a dolphin, I was surprised that the Pirate encouraged us to get in the water with it. I guess I missed that part of the sales pitch. So Daniel and I took turns donning snorkeling masks and slipping into the water for a chance to see the dolphins up close.

At one point, one of the dolphins swam right under Daniel – almost within reach!

On one of my turns in the water, all of a sudden a second one appeared out of nowhere! It was an amazing surprise to see two up close like that.

Jack got brave and got in the water with us a couple of times, but I think it made him nervous and I'm not really sure that he saw any dolphins.

After the dolphins went their way, the Pirate took us to snorkel a small shipwreck off the coast of St. Andrew's Bay State Park. 

We had a wonderful experience and it was definitely worth the $39/person to be able to get in the water with the dolphins. This is an outing you shouldn't pass up if you have the time and are in the Panama City area.

2014 Florida Vacation Recap: Trip Overview // Restaurant Reviews 

Biking St. Joseph's Peninsula // Snorkeling with Dolphins // Time with Family

Dolphin Tour

Daniel and I are not ones to go on vacation and lay around at the beach all day. For us, a trip to the beach generally means bike rides and walks on the beach and maybe a kayak rental. However when we vacation with other people we have learned that we have to take into account that not everyone wants to be active on vacation {some people like to lay on the beach or shop or stay inside and watch movies}.

Since we were spending the weekend with Daniel's dad, we came across an inexpensive dolphin tour that we thought we all would enjoy. Unfortunately Wesley was still recouping from his walking pneumonia so he told us to go by ourselves. I felt bad that he was still not feeling up to par all weekend, I think he would have really enjoyed the dolphins.

For $22 per person, we got to go out on a boat for about 2 hours with Kohootz Dolphin Encounters. Captains Gary & Susan led the tour. Captain Gary informed us that the dolphins like music, especially Jimmy Buffet... so we listened to Jimmy Buffet for the entire trip.

Daniel and I started out sitting on seats at the front of the boat before moving to the platform on top of the boat. The first little cove we came to, there were several schools of dolphins {presumably mothers and their little ones}. I haven't seen many dolphins {a few at Hilton Head}, so for me, it was a special experience. 

When the dolphins moved on, our captain turned the boat around and took us back towards the Lydia Ann Lighthouse – it is on an island that can only be reached by boat. Evidently during the civil war, when the Union soldiers took over Port Aransas, they had plans to use the light house to help guide their ships in. However they discovered that the Confederates had removed the lens from the light house and it was useless. The lighthouse has been restored and is "manned" year round by lighthouse keepers.

We saw dolphins a few more times, but nothing like the first encounter. It was an enjoyable morning on the water. It would have been nice to see more dolphins but we still had a good time.