Seaquarium Punta Cana — Attraction in Higüey

Can't even begin to describe my disappointment and sadness with this excursion. Bought this trip via my hotel Melia Punta Cana Beach Resort and I am so so upset to have been sold this and that the hotel even sells this trip. When we were described the trip & shown photos it looked like we were going to see lovely coral reefs & wildlife. Not once was it mentioned that where half of this wildlife comes from is a small cruel enclosure for far too many dolphins, sharks/stingrays, and a lonely depressed sea lion (even one dolphin being held in this place would be too much) who are being held in far too shallow waters which are absolutely barren except for very few seaweed. If we had known what this trip really was about we would never have given our money to support this.

The seawalk was disappointing at best, we did see some fish through the murky water but only because the divers were throwing fish food in our faces to make them come to us. The walk lasted all of 5 minutes but the entire time was spent being forced to take photos that we didn't even want to buy in the first place and when you think you're about to see something cool and actually be able to enjoy your walk, divers point you to look somewhere and it's the ladder back up to the platoon.

When we arrived at the "sea lion experience" which is where the poor dolphins, sea lion, sharks and stingrays are held, one look reduced me to tears and I spent half an hour whilst we were stuck here sat on the boat crying because I couldn't bring myself to step foot in there. Everyone else seemed oblivious to what they're actually seeing and supporting and seemed happy to be there so I guess if you don't care about animal welfare and love animal cruelty then this is the perfect trip for you. My partner is a zoologist and he was absolutely disgusted with this entire trip and that we paid any money into it. We both feel so awful and I honestly feel traumatised by what I've seen. Dolphins are such intelligent animals and watching them be imprisoned in this small enclosure and so close to the sea was absolutely heartbreaking. They kept looking out into the sea through the fences that have been put around them. I can't even describe it.

I was unlucky enough to have paid for this trip before looking at the reviews. Do not listen to the positive reviews if you are at all concerned about animal welfare. This place is absolutely awful and nothing here was worth the money we paid or the hurt that it has caused us. I'm not usually one to post negative reviews but I am heartbroken to have witnessed what I did yesterday. Please do not support this organisation or any organisations in the Dominican Republic that are promising dolphin experiences or any sort of snorkelling with animals. They will convince you that you'll go out somewhere and find these animals in the wild but the truth is that these are mistreated animals locked up in tiny pens in the middle of the water. Whilst we were travelling on the boat we saw many similar platoons in the distance so I assume this is not the only organisation like this in the Dominican. None of these animals deserve any of this and if you really want to experience dolphins or sea life, look for trips where you genuinely search for WILD animals and experience them in their natural environment.

The last but least important point in my opinion is that they promised drinks including alcohol on the trip for the "Carribbean party" but no alcohol was served and the snacks were a literal bread sandwich with the thinnest slice of cheese and ham that looks like it was cut with a prosciutto cutter. The "Carribbean party" was a cringe fest.

I do not recommend...

My family and I travel all over and this is hands down the worst experience I’ve ever had. They put my daughter in danger and should honestly lose their ability to operate. My daughter is almost 6 and met the requirements for the Seawalk. She’s tall and fearless so we figured we’d let her try it. There are 3 ladders that they use to descend you into the water. I made it VERY clear to 3 different divers that I was going to go down first, then my daughter, then my husband. That way if she got scared or couldn’t do it, he would stay back with her. Well, they are in a huge rush when they do this and literally yanked my legs down the 4 meters to get to the bottom. I could barely get my ears popped to adjust and I’m trained (have scuba dived and very comfortable in the water). They were extremely aggressive with me. You are slightly disoriented with the helmet on but I was able to look up and see my daughter and husband on the ladders. All of a sudden, my husband is down behind me and my daughter is nowhere. I’m panicking at this point because I don’t see her feet on the ladder anymore. There are now multiple other people behind my husband and they are slowly moving us along this pole under the water. I’m trying to get through this and not hyperventilate. I finally get to a point that I can get them to get me up but it has been about 10 minutes. I fly up the ladder and she’s sitting there alone sobbing. She was inconsolable for a long time. She said the helmet was fine but she was trying to do as they said and point to her ears that she needed help popping them and instead of helping her, they just yanked on her legs and pulled her. Then she got scared and motioned for them to pull her up. So then instead of getting one of us they just left her up there alone. If they would have taken a few extra seconds with her, she probably would have been able to come down fine. And they NEVER should have brought my husband down before her. I made that extremely clear. The poor fear that is now in this child because of these incompetent people is horrible. They should not operate. Multiple people approached me after this happened to tell me that they clearly heard me give instructions and that the divers were rough with them too. Unacceptable. The rest of the trip is mainly a booze cruise with a bunch of drunk people. As multiple other reviews state, the snorkeling is confined to a very small area and the sea lion encounter is about 15 seconds or less. We were all so upset and it really ruined the entire day. Please do NOT book this trip. If I can even stop one person. We are all about supporting the local community. My husband was born and raised in Jamaica and we love to support the local economies everywhere we go but this was dangerous and so poorly done. They should be ashamed...

Wouldn’t do this if it was free - beware not as advertised and double the price of much nicer actual snorkeling excursions I’ve done in DR. If I had more cash I would have paid them to take us back early. Of the 4 hours of the excision, expect to be in the water for less than 30 minutes. You spend most of the time on the boat waiting in the sun - there are about 5 bracelet colors assigned and they call groups one by one to snorkel or be in the water. All other groups wait in the boat. There were several guests that had colors that were never called and they complained at the end. With so much time on a rocking boat several people got seasick while waiting over an hour for their “turn;” they weren’t allowed to wait outside of the boat. The “snorkeling” is not on a reef, there’s a sunken ship and the area to snorkel is restricted to roughly the square footage of the boat. Really small and overly crowded with other guests. Didn’t see any fish the day we went. The “swimming with sharks”‘wasn’t really as advertised. A little concerned about mistreatment of animals actually, there are these small pools with tons of dolphins and sea lions and sharks in a small area. Not sure how animal rights laws work in this country. Did not see sharks or stingrays as advertised. The “ocean pool” was 100 yards off the dock you leave at. About 10 other boats were there all blasting hip hop at the same time - a fever dream would have been more pleasant. Again, if I wasn’t with a large party I would have swam the 100 years to get off the chaotic boat. Everyone on the boat was pretty starved - there were some stale “ham and cheese” sandwiches near the end. Was supposed to end and be back at hotel by 1pm - ended after 2 pm and many boat guests missed their lunch reservations.

Overall wouldn’t have done this if it was free and if I could have paid double to go back to the beach where it’s much nicer...