GKA,
No it is not necessary for you to be able to swim, you will never be out of your depth. The shallow is barely 12" and graduates to probably 1.5 metres as my memory serves me.

Hi Jerry

thank you! Was it the Algarve Zoomarine that you went to?

Thanks again

Gina

Yes that was at Zoomarine and very enjoyable it was too. That is my only dolphin experience to date so I have nothing to compare it to. If you are planning a visit I would suggest you book it in the UK to be sure of getting a place.

Hi Jerry

Thanks for the reassurance!

Both my daughters swam last year with the dolphins, they enjoyed it immensely, it lasted about 1/1/2 hours, you are only waist deep so no need to swim, the water is quite cold to begin with but you do get used to it. We did book before we went so that we got the time that we wanted, Zoomarine is a lovely complex and we spent the whole day in there. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience.

Hi, I'm very interested in swimming with dolphins. Can you tell me how to contact them re booking and approx costs

thanks

We put Zoomarine into google and there website comes up then e.mail them with your enquiry, i think we paid £90.00 each. last August.

Hi, i done it last august you get about 30-40 min with the dolphin in groups of 6 i think plus a talk for a hour or so before your interaction . It cost 125 euro + another 25 for the dvd and photos of your swim you also get a towel and flip flops . You will still have to pay to get in to the park. We booked the interaction with the reps at the welcome meeting and we did not get it untill the second last day before we came home ,so my advice is book ahead before you leave home.
It was the best experience i ever done.

We booked over the phone before we went as it can get busy it was a fantastic experiance, my wife is not a stromg swimmer and she was fine for more info http://www.zoomarine.com/Start.htm

What else is involved with the Zoomarine visit other than interaction with Dolphins?

Hi once you pay the entrance fee about 20 euro thear is a wide range of shows, dolphin,birds, sea lions,seals etc plus a big swimming pool ,a aquarim , fair rides and alot more. My advice would be to hire out your own bus to the park as tour busses dont give you much time there, It will cost about 15-20 euro . You can be there before the park opens and leave when it closes or if you get bored(which you wont as i have went about 6 times and will return) the park will ring the bus no for ya if you give them the number . Also if the day seems dull my advice would be to go as early as you can because when it gets dull the portugese and spainsh seem to hed to the algarve shopping center ( well worth a visit) and as this is on the only road to zoomarine there can be major tailbacks to zoomarine.
Hope this helps

DJ, I know the Spanish do visit portugal but did you mean this (when it gets dull the spanish seem to hed to the algarve shopping center)

some spanish and portugese