It brings together commerce and science, education and entertainment, and seven bottlenosed dolphins with their new Island home.

Premier David Saul and Tourism Minister David Dodwell yesterday cut the ribbon to officially open Dolphin Quest's new marine habitat at the Southampton Princess' East Whale Bay site, allowing guests to wander the boardwalk surrounding the facility's "safe'' area where the two male and five females -- aged 3-32 -- will sleep, give birth, and ride out any rough weather.

The $1.6 million, three-acre facility also promises to put Bermuda on the map as one of the finest, largest, and most natural dolphin habitats in the world, says Dr. Jay Sweeney, who together with Dr. Rae Stone, co-founded Dolphin Quest in 1988.

The seven dolphins -- flown in over the weekend from the Chicago Zoo's Brookfield facility in the Florida Keys -- will spend the next few weeks acclimatising to their new surroundings before being introduced to the general public.

Calling it a "terrific example of a major hotel undertaking product enhancement'', Mr. Dodwell stressed that Dolphin Quest promises more than mere entertainment.

"It's not just a dolphin show,'' he said, adding that Dolphin Quest was internationally recognised for its first-class educational and research work.

Already, researchers are lining up to take advantage of the habitat said Dr.

Sweeney, noting two researchers from the Woods Hole Institute in Massachusettes are primed to fly to to the Island.

Researchers, he added, will most likely take advantage of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and the Aquarium's superior facilities as well.

Meanwhile education and conservation will form the core of Dolphin Quest's offering to the public.

School programmes -- though not yet finalised -- are in the wings while the general public will pay to learn and interact with the dolphins. Guests of the Southampton Princess will receive a discount, said Dr. Sweeney.

Meanwhile Doplhin Quest, part of the non-profit group Ocean Conservation International, plans to channel the proceeds of its commercial success to underwrite a breeding programme at the South Shore habitat.