Hawaii - Dolphins (Part 2)

I left out one adventure from the Kona side - our chance to swim with dolphins!  Early on when we told the kids that we were headed to Hawaii this year they both made a short list of things they wanted to do while we were there.  Abby picked swimming with dolphins, Hazel picked drinking out of a coconut.  When it came time for the girl's birthday's Dan asked me for gift ideas and I suggested this activity.  It wasn't inexpensive and it was so generous of him to do this for the girls.  Joey and I got to swim with dolphins when we were kids and it's a memory I still remember to this day.  I wanted to be a part of that for the kids.

The experience only allowed 6 people per session, so Dana chose to sit this one out but honestly it was so nice to have her there too!  She took all the pictures for the day and without her we'd have been stuck ordering from the company.  The price for the photos was OUTRAGOUS ($250!) so we're going to go with these photos that are a little far away and grainy...but I just didn't have it in me to suck for the professional ones.  We'll have our memories!

The experience was short - only 30 minutes in the water with the dolphins but they really make the most of it.  You get to touch them, and swim alongside them.  You get to observe them underwater and you get to feed them.  You get to pose next to them and learn a ton of facts about them.  We got to learn about their personalities and how the organization works (and how our millions go toward supporting the dolphins there and out in the wild).  Overall it was a great experience for the kiddos and one I think (hope) you'll remember it for a long long time and that someday they'll do the same with their kids.

(Look at Abby's smile!)

The dolphins were housed on the grounds of the Hilton resort and we ended up buying a day pass back to the resort on our final day in Hawaii.  We spent another hour or so watching the dolphins train while we ate lunch there on our final day.  It was great add on to the Hilton and I am sure they book a lot of tours by being located right there.  I don't know how you'd say no to a kiddo if you were staying there!