Puerto Vallarta Vacation and Information Center

Our Dolphin Encounters allow visitors to our Nuevo Vallarta marine mammal center to interact with a dolphin in the safe and controlled setting of a shallow-water area connected to the deeper pool. An encounter has some advantages for some participants over the dolphin swim. If you are not comfortable swimming with these large, yet gentle, marine mammals, you should select the Dolphin Encounter so that you can engage with a Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin in a setting that is more comfortable for you in waist-deep water. You will have the chance to have physical contact with these charming animals. They enjoy being petted on their smooth stomachs. You can even give a dolphin a warm hug or a sweet dolphin smooch. Our highly-educated animal trainers will be on hand to instruct the dolphins and oversee visitor interactions with the cetaceans.

After you enter our cutting-edge marine research compound, you’ll have the chance to learn all about the Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins including their social habits, communication, courting behavior, migration, diet, anatomy, habitat, and so much more. Our English-speaking trainers will tell you about how these highly intelligent creatures communicate over great undersea expanses. These cetaceans also utilize sounds for echolocation; this biological sonar assists dolphins in navigation, hunting, and finding their companions.

Participants will also be taught how to converse with these brilliant animals by utilizing hand signals. Next to the pool habitat, you’ll have the opportunity to show off these brand new dolphin communication abilities by instructing the dolphins to execute spectacular acrobatics. The highlight of our dolphin encounters occur on the shallow-water platform where you can actually interact with these gentle and friendly creatures.