icr dolphin trips?

[martandstacey]

i have been to turkey a few times now but never noticed the dolphin trips.couple of questions what time of year are these trips available? as my partner and i are off to icmeler 25th june and would like to take this trip in if possable.2ndly has any one ever done this trip and what is it like as would be great to do somthing a little diffrent this year.
thanks
mart and stacey

[redrhino12]

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8360&hilit=dolphins

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=7815&hilit=dolphins

Try the link above for pics.
I would think that the trips run in June.

Gene

[salford_steve]

I have walked past the place last June and it was open.

Steve

[sandybeach]

EDITED: I am the first to scream about animal cruelty as you all know, but this isn't the forum to do it on!

Col

[madmackem]

Hi all
I am also one of those people who feel that wild animals of any kind should be just that, but in this case I made an exception. The conditions that the dolphins are kept in are clean and spacious and they recieve a lot of attention from the staff, speaking to Ali who is one of the instructors she informed us that the dolphins of which there are 4 have all come from other captive conditions and would not survive if they were released. The pens are out in the sea which is better than being in a tank on land, there are 2 pens and there was hope that this winter they would be able to put a connecting tunnel in place so all 4 dolphins can interact. The numbers actually allowed to swim with the dolphins is kept to a minimum, when I swam there was only myself and another girl, and we had 15 mins in the water all other interaction was at pool side. We asked about the training and had to laugh when we were told that just like children they can be very tempremental and if they dont want to train they will just swim to the center of the pen and refuse to interact. We walked round the pens after the swim and just watched the dolphins playing together, no trainers no body in the water just them and they were having a whale of a time, excuse the pun.The work that the trainers and dolphins do with handcapped and disturbed children and adults is fantastic and the only reason swimming with the dolphins is allowed is to help fund research into this kind of therapy,surely this can only be a good thing.
The experience is not cheap, and I proberbly would never do it again but the feeling you get from being so close to such a powerful yet gentle creature is something I will never forget.

Elaine

[loopylou1303]

Hi

We were in Icmeler at the same time you are going this year and the dolphin swim was opened. We booked through ICR. I think you can just turn up on the day also but wont be guarenteed to swim with them. We had the trainer kim and Frosia the dolphin. Kim was amazing with the dolphins and Frosia was so well behaved. U get 15 mins each with them depending on how busy it is. You will get to play with them, kiss them and get really close to them. There is a photographer there who takes loads of pics and sells them at the end of your swim. He is quite expensive though but really good pics. If you dont want the spend money on the pics you can take your own camera with you.
Take a look in the photo gallery i have my pics on there. It is the best thing i have ever done. It was my mum annemc, my partner Isla and my dream to do this. Now we hae done it i would recommend it to anyone. If you do it in June give Frosia the dolphin a kiss from us!!!

[martandstacey]

thankyou for your replies,we will defo be doing this trip and will be bookin it with icr once we are over there,its my partners first time over in turkey,im hoping she will love it as much as i do fingers crossed

[John V]

This is a report on four dolphins which have died in captivity over the last few days in Alanya

[maxiboy]

where is the report?

[JT]

Here its is

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=-2010-02-18

I hate anything being held in captivity and this article makes it even worse

I did read something maybe on there about Turkey is not in the eu so that is why its allowing and that is utter crap as there are dolphins parks all over Spain so unless they moved Spain overnight then there is something wrong.

Ban then all ban zoo's and keep going as far if people like to ban the breeding of animals to keep as pets.

I see all kinds of topics on subjects similar to this where people are going crazy that animals are in captivity but how far do you go.

I never ever wanted our agency to sell trips to see the dolphins but our customers keep asking us to arrange it for them so we are providing a service but I do not have to agree with it but then I cannot shove down peoples throats my personal beliefs or I would be as guilty of those irritating religious people that used to knock on my door to try to turn me to THEIR beliefs.

I'ts wrong and should not be allowed in my opinion but who am I.