Wyndham Wedding Spectacular - Feb. 18-19, 2012

The Wyndham in Kingston Jamaica is having a fantastic Wedding Spectacular on February 18-19th, 2012 at the Grande Independence Ballroom, Wyndham Kingston, Jamaica.

This event will feature many top wedding locations, top designers, photographers, and more!

A "must attend" event for anyone planning a wedding in Jamaica.

Among the gate prizes will include 5 nights at any Wynham Resort and a Designer Gown by Nandi Chin, a top designer, who in June 2011, was the winner of Bride’s Magazine’s Operation Dream Wedding Dress competition.

Nandi Chin's creation is featured on this cover of Brides Magazine

 Please be sure to drop by and visit Dolphin Cove's booth which is one of the top wedding locations in Jamaica. 

Dolphin Cove, where every wedding is a fairy tale come true!

This could be your wedding photo!

Tickets on Sale at Wyndham Kingston and Kerry, Man Woman Home.

Hope to see you there!

Get a Hug from an Iguana!

Do you love Iguana's? 

If you don't, you will after your visit to Dolphin Cove. 

Dolphin Cove has the most cuddly .... If it is at all possible ... Iguanas that you will ever meet. 

The Iguana's at Dolphin Cove lounge over your shoulder as if they were babies.  Anyone who thinks reptiles can't be loving, obviously don't know Dolphin Cove's Reptiles.

"The key is to treat them like they were your own children", one of the Dolphin Cove reptile handlers explained, "if you love them and care from them like they were your own babies, they will respond with trust and love."  Beautiful words and a testament to the love and dedication all the Dolphin Cove handlers have for the animals under their care.

The Iguanas at Dolphin Cove are fed on a diet of vegetables and fruits.  They receive daily visits from the in house vet and a lot of love from their handlers. 

So make sure you visit Dolphin Cove's reptiles and get a great big hug from one of these misunderstood and super loving creatures!

Beta - Our Mischievous Dolphin!

Beta is one of our beautiful Dolphins here at Dolphin Cove. 

She always has a mischievous look in her eye and is so very smart!

Too Cool!

"Can you do this?"

When she is not hanging with her best friend Cometa ....which is normally very funny as they look like two old ladies gossiping as they swim practically "fin" in "fin"...you'll normally find her chasing fish and searching for treasures at the bottom of her natural lagoon.

Beta and her BFF Cometa

End of their program DC superstars and BFFs jump together

Just to show how smart this girl is...the trainers actually started rewarding her for bringing different objects that may have drifted in with the tide and settled at the bottom of the lagoon to help keep the lagoon clean.

Beta actually started hiding objects and bringing them up when she felt like being rewarded.  One such object was a garbage bag that a trainer had in his kayak, Beta managed to steal the bag from the kayak and hide it in the bottom of the lagoon.  She was asked to retrieve it but instead of bringing the entire bag (thereby getting only one reward) she would tear the bag one small piece at a time and hand it to the trainer .... getting multiple rewards. 

As much as the trainers searched they could not find her little hiding place and so had to wait until she had completely torn the bag and brought it back piece by piece.  This took almost a week.

Months later after a trainers gold necklace went missing .... the trainers did eventually find Beta's hiding place under a large rock....and stuffed in a hole below the rock ...was a snorkeling mask, some keys, a couple ship cards that had dropped into the lagoon and the trainers gold necklace.

Beta still has her special hiding spot but has since moved the location....again leaving the handlers in the dark about her secret place.

Beta is a unique Dolphin with a unique personality and a mischievous heart that only makes her handlers and the staff of Dolphin Cove love her more and you will too!

Beautiful Beta in her first modelling gig!

A Dolphin Cove Myth - "El Fantasma"

Dolphin Cove has been open since 2001 and ever since the opening their has been stories of mysterious sightings of a Dolphin swimming along the outside of the dolphin lagoon.  Before anyone can take a picture, or even go near him, he disappears without a trace.

Phone calls have come in over the years from fishermen in Runaway Bay, 20 minutes West of Dolphin Cove, and Tower Isle, 20 minutes East of Dolphin Cove, of this lone Dolphin who wreaks havoc on the fishes in their fishing zone.

All sightings have given a description of a large dolphin with a white patch on his back that travels alone.

The Dolphin handlers, at Dolphin Cove, believe him to be a male as on his occasional visits all of the older females exhibit signs of coming on heat....perhaps he is very cute!!

He has been affectionately named, El Fantasma (a Spanish word meaning The Ghost), due to the fact that no one is able to come close to him without him vanishing.

Will we ever be able to come close enough to take a picture of this elusive Dolphin?  He really does seem to enjoy his occasional and random visits to drive our females wild!

On your next visit keep on the look out, just beyond the Dolphin Lagoon, maybe you will be the lucky one to finally get a picture of El Fantasma!

Dolphin Babies!

Dolphin Cove has been blessed to have five healthy and beautiful babies born in their breeding program. 

Dolphins have a gestation period of 12 months and will lactate for 18 months.

Dolphin babies known as "calves" are born tail first and are approximately 39–53 in length, weighing 22–44 lbs. 

The calf once born usually sinks to the bottom as it is not able to swim yet, the mother quickly lifts her calf to the surface for it's first breath and then spends about 3 minutes teaching the dolphin to swim; which it quickly learns....even though it looks a bit clumsy for a while.

In caring for her calf, a mother dolphin stays close by and attentively directs the calf's movements. The calf is carried in the mother's "slip stream," the hydrodynamic wake that develops as the mother swims.

Calves nurse under water, a process that takes approximately 15 - 30 seconds.  The mother's milk is more like a gel, allowing the baby to get a great deal in a very short period of time. 

Dolphins are also born with a mustache (tiny hairs on their upper rostrum (mouth)), one of the major characteristics of a mammal.  This mustache helps the calf in breast feeding and will eventually fall out.

Dolphin Cove truly loves their babies and it is amazing to watch as the handlers night after night perform their vigilant 24 hour watches, with the veterinarian checking in constantly, just to ensure that the babies and mothers receive the best postnatal care.

Stingray Interaction! - Don't Be Afraid.

There is a great deal of fear associated with swimming with stingrays, but at Dolphin Cove there is nothing to fear.

The well trained stingrays have had their barbs removed, humanely, by Dolphin Cove's in house marine veterinarian. 

It is like cutting a finger nail and does not hurt the animal.  In fact the Stingrays at Dolphin Cove do this behavior voluntarily, (meaning aside from a handler supporting the animal on the surface of the water, the stingray is not restrained).

By removing this barb, guests are now free to enjoy the wonder and beauty of these misunderstood creatures without fear of being harmed.

When beginning your stingray interaction, you are first placed on a floating platform and given some information about these amazing creatures.  The highly trained handler will pass the stingray along the platform allowing all guests participating to feel how soft and smooth the skin of the stingray really is; truthfully it kind of feels like a giant mushroom!

The guests are then invited to enter the lagoon individually, as a couple or as a family, to hold the large stingray all on their own. 

You will be amazed at how relaxed the stingrays are as you hold and pet these beautiful creatures.  

After your alone time with your new found friend.  The handler then fits you with a mask, snorkel and snorkeling vest and allows you to snorkel freely in the stingray lagoon. 

You will see these creatures in a whole new light as you watch them gliding gracefully and peacefully by you. 

...but the stingrays are not alone! Their natural lagoon is home to a variety of sea creatures that come and go, lobsters, sea slugs, squid, octopus and a variety of colorful, tropical fish.  You will, however, see very few conch as the stingrays find them DE-LI-CIOUS!

Trust me, you will have a new understanding and appreciation for these fascinating creatures when your stingray encounter comes to an end.

Face your fear and swim with the sharks at Shark's Cove!

Even before the hit movie "JAWS" mankind has been fascinated with sharks, natures most well designed eating machine. 

At Dolphin Cove you have the opportunity to come face to face with the world's most feared creature, The Shark!

After a very in depth orientation about where and where NOT to put your hands, you wait with shaking knees as the Pirates of the Shark's Cove perform their rambunctious and hilarious shark show....you would be laughing if you were not so nervous.

The Pirates then call upon YOU!! Their Victim!....to come and enter the shark's lagoon. 

Your last bit of courage in tacked you make your way down the floating dock, feeling very much like you are walking the plank, and descend into the lagoon with the pirates!  Your nerves now causing your heart to beat in time with the theme song for JAWS that is loudly playing from the speakers on the boardwalk. 

You soon relax as you realize that the Pirates are actually well trained Shark Encounter facilitators, who quickly, and in sync, gain control over all the sharks in the lagoon. 

You are then asked to have a seat on a submirged bench, at which point a very heavy shark is placed on your lap like a long lost cat!  You are in awe at the rough feel of the shark and at your own courageousness as you stroke the massive beast relaxing on your lap. 

Feeling like you can rule the world you grab hold of some shark bait handed to you by the Pirates and drop it in front of your new friends mouth!  Feel the power as the massive animal launches forward with every muscle in it's body instinctively contracting as if going to war!  You of course Scream!!

The pirates remove the animal and safely return you to the "Plank", before releasing the beasts to swim freely in their natural lagoon.

You've made it, all your fingers and all your toes! .... But it's not over..... armed with nothing more then a life vest, mask and snorkel you are sent into the lagoon to snorkel among these animals, that you are so happy you just help feed. 

This experience can be described as nothing short of amazing as, the pirates now snorkeling at your side, point out the animals swimming around you.

The ultimate test of courage. 

On your next visit to Dolphin Cove, join the Pirates and swim with their sharks at "Shark's Cove".