Martin Family Vacation 2023: Discovery Cove

This is the last installment of our Martin Family Vacation, and we saved the best day for last at Discovery Cove on Saturday, December 30th.  Discovery Cove is an all-inclusive day resort, so you arrive at 7am and they feed you all day long and provide the wetsuits, snorkelling gear, and towels.  There are optional packages that you can buy, such as Swim with Dolphins.  I couldn't imagine driving all the way to Discovery Cove, where swimming with dolphins was an option, and then not picking it.  Luckily we were able to get the tickets to all three parks (Seaworld, Aquatica and Discovery Cove) at 30% off so the splurge was a wee less splurge-y.  But still, once in a lifetime!  

When we were getting our wetsuits, the lady just looked at us and gave one that she thought would fit.  I was flattered that she thought I was two sizes smaller than I actually was, but also annoyed to put on and take off a wetsuit three times until I finally got the right size.  It's a little disheartening to keep asking for the next size up.  Ah well, I only ended up wearing it for the morning anyway.

We ate a yummy breakfast, walked around the park and swam in the lazy river that was really long and beautiful with lots of animals to see along the way.  Then it was our time to swim with the dolphins!  We met up with others who had the same time, and were divided into four groups.  The perk of having a big family was that we were our own group.  The head trainer who talked to us all about the experience before it started was awesome, and I was praying that we got him as our group's trainer because his energy was so fun.  As we all headed over to the dolphins, he told us that he would be our trainer.  Yay!  I told him we were all one family, and he said "I know, that's why I picked you guys.  I love having big families!"  He also told us that we were going to get the best dolphin, named Aries, for our group (we had our own dolphin and two trainers and a photographer for 30 minutes) and he was right, she was so cute and amazing.  OK I'm just gonna post all the photos, feel free to scroll fast :)

The trainer made Aries squirt the little boys :)

He had each of us pose with Aries kissing us and then us hugging her...we had Declan the Dolphin Lover go first:

And then is was time to swim!  Don't believe my Brendan when he says that he "rode on a dolphin's back".  It was actually swimming beside the dolphin, holding onto her fins.  We each took a spin and it was wild:

There were three other groups and dolphins in the same pool as us, and they had each dolphin show off a bit:

The trainer said "Let's do a really cute pose with Mom and Dad"...

A Philip Sandwich

It was just an incredible experience and I am so glad we did it.  Declan may have loved dolphins the most before this experience, but now we are all big fans.  Huge.  Of course I had to buy the photo package at the end, because otherwise there would be no photos of the day, which is a huge money maker for the park because how can you say no?  These photos will be turned into books and gifts for years to come - you've been warned kids ha!

 A very close second to the dolphin experience was the snorkelling.  The teens spent over 3 hours snorkelling.  It was something we have never done, and it was so cool to touch the sand sharks and stingrays.  JP took this video:

The lunch spread was delicious - I had salmon with rice and a pineapple rum sauce - and we told the kids to eat again before they stopped serving food at 3:30 so we were able to fit in breakfast, lunch and an early dinner.  They also have bars where you can order food like pizza and pretzels and dole whip and frozen drinks and hot cocoa, and it's all included!  It's the perfect vacation day for a mom because there's no cooking or cleaning up involved.  The park closes at 5 pm so we all showered and changed and then drove to the 6 pm vigil Mass at Our Lady of the Universe.  

After Mass we drove back to the rental home and packed up the car for our long drive to Maryland the next day.  The week went by way too fast!  I have to say that I was dreading the long car rides (especially the 13 hour one from Florida to Maryland) but the kids did so well and I realized that travelling with seven kids who are all aged 7 and older is so much easier than travelling with even one baby or toddler.  Phil drove the whole time, and we only stopped for gas twice and food once and arrived back to MD with a homemade meal waiting for us (thanks Nana!).  The next day was January 1st and a lot of Phil's family came over to visit and it was a fun day.  JP's girlfriend came over to spend the day too, as she only lives about an hour away from Phil's parents.  It was great to sleep there for two nights before we had to drive back home on Tuesday, January 2nd.  Once back home, we unpacked in a clean house (thank you Colleen from 11 days prior) and thanked God for a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime vacation as a family of nine.  I am so grateful that we were able to do this, and it was worth the years of saving and not vacationing to be able to pull it off before kids start marrying off or settling far away.  It's memories we will all cherish, and they'll have the photo gifts to prove it ;)