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By land and by sea, the Caribbean island of Curacao offers a unique blend of family adventure. Whether interacting with dolphins, spending a week at Sea Camp or just chilling out on the beach, you'll be sure to find something that sparks your interest.

Just imagine swimming in the blue Caribbean Sea off of the largest island in the Netherlands Antilles, laying your hands on the dorsals of two majestic dolphins that carry you across the waters and with the precision of an ice skater heading towards the boards. Suddenly, the dolphins magically come to a halt just short of hitting the dock. The dolphins then kiss your cheeks, making you forget that you were thinking with terror for a moment that if they didn’t stop you’d be sent airborne onto land.

This is just one of many memorable family adventures to be had on the island of Curaçao.

Discovering the Sea & its Creatures

If swimming with the dolphins is your idea of a great holiday, then you will be enthralled by the Curaçao Sea Aquarium (5999/461-6666). The aquarium has 40 aquaria, an underwater observatory, and a tidal pool where you can hand feed stingrays, small sharks and turtles. There is also a 3D theatre and museum.

At the aquarium’s Dolphin Academy (5999/465-8900), tourists can enjoy an acrobatic dolphin show and then have an on-land encounter, dive, swim or snorkel with the very same amazingly trained mammal stars of the show. The staff at the aquarium teaches you commands that have you interacting with these sea creatures directly.

In the summer, children can enroll in Kids Sea Camp (800/934-3483), held at the aquarium by Florida-based Caribbean Adventures/World Dive Adventures. Each session runs one week and introduces youngsters from 4 to 15 years of age to what the sea has to offer. The standard Kids Sea Camp package includes 7 night's accommodation, daily camp program from 8:30 am–3:00 pm with a selected amount of snorkeling or diving, daily lunch, dolphin and sea lion encounters, Kids Camp T-shirt, a copy of Sports Diver Magazine, and other goodies. A variety of programs and packages with different levels of inclusiveness are available. Space is limited, so book ahead online for summer family programs at http://www.kidsseacamp.com/.