Dolphin Research Center

This non-profit spot is part research facility, part education organization and part tourist attraction, and it fulfills all three of its roles with aplomb. Those after a cutesy dolphin show will be disappointed, but that’s not the point: staff here are more concerned with the benefits of dolphin-related therapy on handicapped kids, although anyone can swim with the dolphins by booking in advance. The giant statue of a bottlenose dolphin in front of the center is of Mitzi, the star of the original Flipper movie.