We loved PV and swimming with the dolphins but we did the sea lion encounter and there was major problems. They are alittle pushy with the photos but I brought my own disposible underwater camera. I bought it at walmart before we went to the sea life park . I felt wierd using it but they never said I couldnt. Anyway, we did the sealion encounter and we were what you call "hugging the sea lion" one at a time. It was my hubbys turn..so he did everything the trainer said to do. The sealion bit him on the arm and he began to bleed. The poor trainer was shocked. She got the sealion out of the area and told all of us to get out of the water. They took my husband to the Dr. and they gave him a stitch and antibotic to take. They did pay for all of this plus the taxi ride back to our hotel but when my hubby asked to be reembursed for the day, they said NO. They tried to tell my husband that it was his fault, but he is not dumb. He noted like the other reviews, that they have a video of the whole incident. I thought that I got a picture of him holding the sealion before it bit him but we had to wait until we got home to develop the pictures. After my husband said the video thing they got quiet. Then they tried to blame it on the trainer he again said you have the video, if the trainer did something wrong it would be on video. I cant believe that they didnt refund our money and tried to blame this on my husband. I developed the film right when I got home and i was suprised to see that I have infact a photo of the sealion bitting my husband and in the foreground you can see that they are video taping the whole thing. Now I would love to post this photo so all can see but, as we told the sealife park if they didnt refund our money we were going to get a lawyer. Of course, they didnt so it looks like we will take action. We need to show the photo to our lawyer first to see if we can submitt it. By the way my husband speaks fluent spanish so he could understand everything that was going on. Dont get me wrong we do not want the sealion hurt or the trainer to loose her job (if she did nothing wrong) we just wanted our money back and want them to not have a sealion encounter where paying customers get in the pool with the sealion ...its best if they just have a show. My parents are both in the medical field and they said that the sealion could have cut a major artery in his arm. What if this happen to a child (we had a child in our group) it could have severed their artery and killed them!

I would have had a great time with the dolphins if the whole process wasnt so driven towards making as much money as possible off of visitors. ..or at least if it wasnt so obvious.

The jokes are recycled...you can tell all the staff have been saying the same things to each group all day. Once you watch the video they take you to the appropriate "pool" IF the dolphins are ready...otherwise they make you walk around the premisses with them to see different birds. Once you get in the water you line up in an assembly line manner and wait until you are called to do an activity with the dolphins. The nose push is the funnest....but of course they do NOT take a picture of this one because they want you to buy the video instead, everything else you can buy photos of for a high price.

When in the water they tell you that you MUST look at the camera and smile each time you are with the dolphin, I felt so forced that it made me very unhappy. I HATED our group leader, she was forcing us to do things like we were children. At the end she asks everyone to individually say something nice to the camera... I was Not happy at this point and i didnt want to be on camera so I said something quick like "thats was fun" and she kept the camera on me and motioned to say something else...I was so uncomfortable, and the worst part is that they left it in the video instead of ediitng it out.

After the swim you are forced to wait in a room and watch the video....I knew that the video was super expensive so I decided i would only purchase some photos...I asked the group leader if the photos are to be purchased at the gift shop and she dismissed me and said she'd tell me after the video. I was soo angry! They give you a ticket to pick up your photos and so they say you need to wait till after the vieo but that is not true....if you have no ticket you can still go and get photos at the gift shop, so if you dont want to see the video just leave, dont let them force you. Also....since all the screening rooms were full, the group leader made us walk around the premisses some more to see animals and waste time.

I did NOT enjoy this as much as I had hoped. And it's not cheap yuo know.

My family and I just returned from a cruise vacation to Mexico where we had the pleasure to visit the Sea Life Park in Puerto Vallarta. The park features the Dolphin Discovery where you can pay to interact with their dolphins (various programs with a range of prices). This was, without question, a major highlight of our vacation. The level of interatcion with the dolphins was incredible and the staff was outstanding. It was clear to us that their highly trained staff were not only there to assure our safety and great time with the dolphins, but also to aide us in every way possible to assure that our entire visit was perfect. My children, 3, 6 and 8, were involved with the program on thier own levels and everyone left with a big smile. Pricing for the programs was very reasonable. Should I find myself back in Puerto Vallarta again (and I intend to), then I would not hesitate to go back to Sea Life Park.

A group of 7 of us went there from Playa del Carmen. 2 of us participated in the Encounter and 4 in the Royal Swim. Overall, we enjoyed it, but I have some caveats. We did this in July 2008.

First off, my biggest complain is the "free" transportation. We booked this. A bus picked us up at our hotel at 9:30 am for an 11 am swim time, and we were the 2nd-to-last pickup stop. We arrived about an hour before the appointed time, checked in, put stuff in the free provided lockers, and waited. We also had a 1 pm swim time, as I was doing 2 different swims with 2 children. That finished by 3 pm (including looking at photos and gift shop). Then the bus didn't depart until 4 pm, and we would've been one of the last stops. So, we opted to pay for a taxi back to our hotel. It wasn't easy to find a taxi around there. The whole bus thing makes this take a whole day of your vacation and is a lot of wasted time. When we booked, we were told we would be back at our hotel at 4 pm, not that the bus left at 4 pm - some misadvertising. Anyway, strongly consider your transportation options.

I would recommend taking water shoes, as you stand on a mesh metal platform for all swims, and it hurts the feet, though you'd probably want to remove them for the foot push. You do get to see some tropical fish swimming around the platform area.

I did the encounter with my 5 year old. This was the only place I saw with kids 5 and under free, so that is partially why we chose it. The encounter was simply ok. First they do a live orientation for about 60 people, then separate you into smaller groups. We had about 10 adults and 10 kids in our group. All people took turns doing hugs and kisses, while being photographed. The free time was really just hanging out in the water for 5-10 minutes while the dolphins swam by. They did do a couple flips at the end. My daughter wasn't really thrilled with it, but we felt we had to do it with her since the older one was doing a swim. If you can get away with it with a younger child, I'd probably skip this. At the end, you go into a room and see the video of the swim, which they try to sell for $32. Then they take you to the gift shop and show you photos. They cost $14 or $17 depending on what size they print. Definitely negotiate on the photo and DVD prices - more later. It probably took 1.5 hours in all.

Then a group of 4 of us did the Royal Swim at 1 pm. We all enjoyed it, and I recommend. I consider the foot push activity one of the highlights of our trip. We all did! I would definitely do this over the Swim Adventure, which doesn't include the foot push. We started with about 30 and watched an orientation video, then separated into smaller groups. Each group had 10 ppl in it. In the water (also on mesh platform), we all took turns doing kiss, hug, foot push, and dorsal tow. We swam out into the lagoon for the last 2. The dorsal tow seemed just ok to me, but the foot push was thrilling. The dolphins are amazing how they keep readjusting and balancing you. The free time, again, was basically watching the dolphins swim by - not really swimming with dolphins. We did not snorkel to see the dolphins under water as advertised. Our spectators were at the side of the lagoon and got decent pictures (only of foot push and dorsal tow, the others had our backs to them) and videos. They took us into a room and showed us a video (better than the Encounter one), which was cool and closeup, and priced at $55 (I don't remember exact amount). Then they took us to show us photos - same cost as above. BTW,the photos are only of the kiss and hug, not the foot push or dorsal tow, those are on the video (just 1 guy doing both).

They were offering "deals" to buy all the photos and the video. We definitely decided against the video since we did our own (not as good). We were going to buy 4 photos, then they started offering more at less cost (like 2 more at $6 each). Even when we were finally done, they offered to throw in more at less. So, when purchasing, start out with a minimum amount, as then the price will lower. It's still overpriced, but at least don't pay the original prices.

Overall, it was a good time, though questionable value. We all will remember the foot push for a long time.

There are shops and restaurants surrounding the dolphin lagoon. We didn't eat there, other than some snacks, and didn't shop much.

Also, they don't allow you to take waterproof cameras into the water. They also say they don't allow goggles or sunglasses (for dolphin safety), though I wore sunglasses because I really cannot go without them due to sensitive eyes.