Traveler Descriptioncean World Adventure Park - Located just 15 minutes from the centre of Puerto Plata, on the beautiful Cofresi Beach, is the most advanced interactive marine park of its kind. Guests will have the opportunity to touch, pet and feed all their favorite animals and mammal friends, including dolphins, sea lions, sharks, stingrays, exotic tropical birds; meet tigers, walk through rain forests and much, much more! Truly an experience of a lifetime.
Address: Calle principal # 3, Cofresi
Phone: 809-291-1000
http://www.oceanworld.net/html_site/oce_home.htmlTraveler ReviewsGreat Experience
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Sep 16, 2008
This was very enjoyable and a once in a lifetime experience. The interaction with all the different animals was amazing. The best part of the day was the Sea Lion excursion it was the best bang for your buck. The Sting Ray excursion made me a little uneasy but the swimming w/ the sharks was surprisingly enjoyable and would do them all again over. The excursion with all the animals is worth the money.
Trainer for A Day Program - INCREDIBLE--Truly once in a lifetime
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Sep 7, 2008When I booked a vacation to Puerto Plata, one of the reasons was to participate in the Dolphin Swim. It is a 30 minute program at Ocean World and costs about $ 165,00 US which included general admission into the park. Then I read about the Trainer for a Day program. For $ 250.00 for a full 8 hour day, I worked directly with the most incredible dolphin trainer, Robinson. I participated in the Dolphin Encounter along with spending time in the water with 4 different dolphins. I learned to check the dolphin's exterior, learned commands that I used, was in the water with the dolphins, prepared food for them and got to brush the teeth of Boomer, the largest male dolphin. I cannot put into words what the day was like. Robinson, the trainer walked me through all of the other animal exhibits and allowed me to asked questions of EACH of the trainers for the sea lions, sharks, birds, and Bengal tigers. Each of the trainers took a great deal of time with me and they answered every question I asked. I cannot really express what the full day experience was, but it was a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. In addition to the experience itself, the cost included an Ocean Trainer shirt and hat, lunch at the buffet which was delicious ( and the food was actually much better than the resort where I was staying), and two pictures that were taken by their photographer. If you have a full day to spend at the park and you would like a much more hands on role with the dolphins, the Trainer for a Day program is a MUST. It is an experience I will never forget.
Not a top priority...
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Sep 4, 2008
Started the day at 9, ended at 12. Although the bus driver drops you off at 9:00 and picks you up to go to the hotel at 4:15, me and my girlfriend ended the day sooner than expected. I had a sea lion encounter at 9 and a dolphin encounter at 11. Each is about 1/2 hour long so you can imagine what it was like when there is definitely nothing to do after that. we walked the entire park in 1/2 hour (only thing to do was look at birds). The food available was regular fast food. It was my first time doing a dolphin & sea lion encounter so for those who think that this is a once in a lifetime experience, I suggest to do this sort of thing in another country (hopefully with a much bigger theme park). Only reason this does not get a TERRIBLE rating even though it's very close is because the sea lions and dolphins were entertaining (equivalent to watching a horrible 3 hr action movie with 30 seconds of great action scenes). As an upside, you will take lots and lots of pictures, but if you buy them, it can prove to be quite expensive. Do not recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to waste a day. I was fortunate enough to see the bus driver at noon and asked him to drive my girlfriend and I to the hotel. Feel extremely sorry for all the people that had to wait until 4pm to end the day...
Once in a lifetime experience
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Jul 10, 2008I really enjoyed myself, both me and my boyfriend done everything the sealion encounter, swimming with the sharks and stingrays as well as the main highlight of my day swimming with the dolphins.
I feel as though we got a great deal for the money we paid which was cheap we booked with our rep as we have had some bad experiences in the past where we have booked tours with people outside the hotels so this time during our first visit to Dominican Republic we decided it would be better to book with our rep and we were so glad we did.
Both of us had such a great day packed with so many special memories we purchased pictures and a dvd of us doing everything.
The sharks were fantastic I was a little scared of the stingrays they felt slimy when they brushed up against you but it was amazing swimming above them and getting really close to them.
The nurse sharks were scary as well especially when the men pretend that the sharks would bite you, it was surreal to have a shark sat on your lap but also a great photo to get to show your friends and family, again swimming with them was a great experience.
The sealions were amazing such clever animals and so funny.
The encounter was fantastic you get to feed them, stroke them and much more.
The dolphins were my main highlight I had wanted to go to ocean world months before my holiday on the 22nd of june because of what other people had said about it.
You get to hug, kiss, stroke, get pulled by two dolphins, hold their flippers as they jump up and down infront of you feed them and have one of them jump over you etc it is a fantastic day and I would highly recommend that this is one trip well worth paying to do.
Don't bother if you have toddlers and are not doing an 'Experience'
Reviewed by A TripAdvisor Member on Jun 18, 2008My husband, 2 daughters (aged 11months and 3 and a half years) and I went to Ocean World on 9 June 2008. The shuttle collected us from our hotel in Cabereta at 8:10am
We were very excited as my older daughter was really looking forward to seeing the dolphins. We decided not to do any swims or experiences as I had already done the swim in Mexico and my daughter did not want to get in the water with the animals yet.
On arrival we went straight to the dolphin show, this was excellent. The trainers really looked like they enjoyed their job and loved the animals. My only complaint with the show was that people who had paid for an experience were then incorporated with the show. I did not pay to watch other people swim with dolphins.
We then went onto the shark and sting ray show, again the trainers were brilliant. They made it very enjoyable and exciting. Again though - my only complaint with the show was that people who had paid for an experience were then incorporated with the show.
We the walked though the rain forest and saw a few birds and the tigers.
By this time it was 11:30, we decided to have an early lunch. After lunch we saw the end of the sea lions show. What we saw was good.
But by now it was 12:30 and we had seen everything. Our problem was that the return shuttle was at 5:30 pm and our hotel was about and hour and a half away. We asked if there was another shuttle or a taxi. There were no shuttles and the taxi would cost $70! This was ridiculous considering the shuttle only cost $5 return.
So we had 5 hours to kill. Now with a baby and a toddler in the sweltering heat there was really not much to do and we were all very grumpy. We went to the man made beach for about an hour, but with limited shade it became quite unbearable.
My major complaint is that this is really a "swimming with the animals kind of park" and that if you do not swim or do an experience there is really no point in spending $55 per person.
In conclusion it took us 2 and a half hours to see everything. Not at all worth $55. I would most definitely not recommend this to anyone who is just going to see the animals.
