Most people have “Swim with Dolphins” on their bucket list.
Unfortunately, if you want to swim with the dolphins in Destin and the 30A area, including Blue Mountain Beach, Watercolor, Seaside, and Rosemary Beach, that currently isn’t available. However, you can take a short drive to Panama City Beach to take a dolphin tour. There, you’ll have the opportunity to get in the water and swim with the dolphins off of Shell Island.
How do I select a dolphin tour company?
Choosing the right PCB boat tour company for your dolphin swim can be confusing. Just imagine: there are over 20 tour companies vying for your attention in Panama City Beach, offering dolphin tours on about 50 different boats and jet skis.
Here’s the kicker: Florida state regulations and Bay County don’t actually vet folks looking to kick off a dolphin tour business. Essentially, anyone with a boat and a valid US Coast Guard captain’s license can dive into the dolphin touring scene and dub themselves a dolphin expert. Crazy, right?
As you know, ads and social media can be very deceiving and superficial. Do you want a quick generic dolphin tour or do you want to combine fun with learning and excitement? Learning is accomplished by interacting with someone who knows. And real knowledge comes with time and passion for the subject.
Experience of the Tour Company and Captains
Do you want to get in the water and swim with the dolphins? It takes years of experience and a solid knowledge of wild dolphins’ behavior to facilitate this unique experience in a safe and meaningful way.
Before investing in this relatively expensive dolphin tour for your family, it’s essential to do your homework. Take the time to visit the websites and read the reviews, making an effort to sift through purely adrenaline-fueled testimonials.
While swimming with dolphins is exciting, ensuring a safe experience requires experienced captains. Take the initiative to call and ask any questions you may have directly. This direct contact will provide you with a good understanding of who you’ll be spending your time with. While the dolphins will play a crucial role in your boat tour experience, perhaps the most critical factor will be the captain with whom you’ll be “stuck” with for the duration of your dolphin tour.
Would you prefer to simply observe from a dolphin tour boat while hearing generic facts about bottlenose dolphins found on Google? Or would you rather spend your morning or afternoon with a well-educated and knowledgeable guide? Instead of just wondering, you might be curious to learn about the specific female dolphin you’re observing and understand why she carries that scar on her dorsal fin. You might want to know when, how, and why the accident happened.
Additional activities…
If the dolphins don’t appear within the first hour of the tour, what additional activities does your dolphin tour provide? A 4-hour Dolphin Swim Tour (over a 2-hour tour) offers more time to find and interact with the wild dolphins. It also gives you time to snorkel and look at tropical fish and other marine life or to look for shells on Shell Island.
Why choose Water Planet for your swim with the dolphins experience?
We have been offering the swim with wild dolphin experience in Panama City Beach, Florida, since 1995. We wrote the book!
Learn more about our 4-Hour Dolphin Swim Tour or book online.
