Dolphin Academy

The dolphins here live in four connected lagoons on the grounds of the Curaçao Sea Aquarium at Bapor Kibra, open to the sea so fresh seawater and wild fish flow through. Every programme includes entry to the aquarium, so the rest of the day can go on the aquarium's tanks and shows.

The Encounter is the gentle one: you stand on a submerged platform in waist-deep water with a trainer and one dolphin, about 20 minutes in the water out of an hour and a half, and anyone from age one can join (it is also open to pregnant women). The Swim puts you in the lagoon with fins for half an hour alongside two dolphins, and you need to be at least 1.30 metres tall. There is also a snorkel session, a scuba encounter that needs no certificate, and, unusually, an open-water dive where certified divers aged 12 and up meet the dolphins out on a reef beyond the lagoons.

Staff photograph every session and sell the pictures afterwards. You cannot take your own camera into the water, but friends can shoot from the viewing areas once they have paid aquarium entry.