Saturday - Discovery Cove

So time for a park we'd never done before - Seaworld's Discovery Cove.  It seemed the best option for us giving us unlimited Seaworld and Busch Gardens tickets with a bonus day at Discovery Cove. 

We arrived early-ish at about 9.15 (they open at 7 but as we weren't doing the dolphin swim we didn't need to get their earlier to book a time slot).  Are registering at reception we headed for the restaurant for breakfast. this is an 'all inclusive' park so food and drinks are available day.  We grabbed various breakfast items from scrambled egg, bacon and sausage to French toast with chicken tenders!! Keith had a yoghurt and we both had Danish pastries.  

Once we had finished eating we changed into our swim suits then headed off to pick up wetsuits (optional as we weren't booked on an experience but everyone else appeared to be wearing them!!) and goggles and snorkels for using on the Grand Reef.

We headed back to the main gift shop as they also supply prescription goggles if you need them.  Sarah and i ended up not bothering, but Keith had some.

We waded into the warm waters of the Grand Reef and after some fiddling to get the snorkels right we were off! Well, most of us! I just could not get the hang of it. But the kids were soon off swimming among the fish and rays.  Keith managed too, although not as confidently as Sarah and Stephen. We spent a good hour or so in here, there were so many colourful fish including some huge rays and nursing shark. 

The grand reef

The spotted Eagle Ray was probably about 5-6ft across

We grabbed some coffee and slushies from a nearby hut, there were also peanuts and crisps available to help yourself to.  Sarah and I chatted to the attendant there who hadcan obvious English accent and came from Nottingham and had ties to Lincoln. After a short cgatcwith him we lounged on the sunbeds for a while. It was a little chillier than we'd hoped today with top temperatures of 19c, but in the park sitting in the sun sheltered by trees it felt surprisingly warm.

We had a wander round the park and saw the flamingoes, the shark enclosure and an otter. We also saw some of the Dolphins doing their swim interactions.   We spent time in the wind away river and freshwater oasis, floating and swimming through the waterfalls and caves.

It was now around half 2 and the boys decided to get changed out of their swim stuff before we had lunch.  Another fantastic choice of food including burgers, pulled pork, jerk chicken and salmon, along with lots of salads, rice, mac n cheese and fries. There was also a selection of desserts.

We grabbed some more drinks on our way back to the loungers, where the boys relaxed while Sarah and I went back to the Grand Reef.

We didn't do the bird aviary or see any other mammals, we think there may have been sloths and marmosets but we didn't see them.

Sarah and I showered and changed and we stopped on our way out of the park at the gift shops.

All in all a wonderful, relaxing and entertaining day, that I would highly recommend! Don't know what took us so long to get round to it!

Back to the villa for a quiet evening, playing pool and eating cheesecake!