There are two places in the Punta Cana area to interact with dolphins. The first and oldest is Manati Park but unfortunately they have a very bad reputation for their treatment of those beautiful animals and there are many international efforts underway to try to either get them to mend their ways dramatically or close. Even the DR government, which has historically turned a blind eye has begun to make noises due to the international pressures. Some resort have refused to allow this excursion to be sold from their properties.
Manati Park has, in the past made promises to clean up but when it came time for action their actual response was to build Dolphin Island, a floating series of pens anchored off the coast.
Yes, you read right, Manati Park and Dolphin Island share the same uncaring ownership and utilize the same dolphins for their interactions, which are allegedly traumatized by their Manati Park experiences.
Dolphin Island consists of one large and four smaller enclosed pens with wooden walkways around the perimeters. I have yet to see pictures of nor hear of anyone who has seen the dolphins in the large enclosure, presumably due to their lack of socialization in large bodies of water resulting in their preference for the smaller pens.
I hope you will do a Google search for "Manati Park cruelty" without the quotation marks and read a broad selection of the information which pops up before you decided to support this company.
Ocean World,
.:: Ocean World ::. (a company with an impeccable record) has purchased land in the Punta Cana area and will hopefully begin construction soon as this area sorely needs an alternative to Manati Park / Dolphin Island, IMHO.
Good travels.
Gregg
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Dolphin Island
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