Swim With Wild Dolphins in Tauranga: Interact with Dolphins in Their Natural Habitat
4.4
183 Ratings
Tauranga
Swim with wild dolphins in Tauranga and have a once-in-a-lifetime adventure! Interact with friendly dolphins in their natural habitat. Book now and don't miss out!
Duration:
6 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Bay Of Plenty - Our Wild Dolphin Encounters will take you into the Bay of Plenty to search for the common dolphin and other marine wildlife. We do not have a set route, but follow the most comfortable pattern with regards to wind and weather to find a pod of dolphins for our encounter.
What's Included
- Professional guide
- Use of snorkeling equipment
- Live commentary on board
- Sightseeing dolphin cruise
- Beverages, Tea, Coffee
What's Not Included
- T-shirts available to purchase
Additional Information
Embark on this excursion for a unique, unforgettable journey with sociable dolphins in their organic surroundings! Recognized as number one on Trip Advisor with four consecutive years of Trip Advisor Awards of Excellence! We assure sighting of dolphins or whales as we desire your incredible experience!
Witness lively dolphins who adore engaging with individuals from a close range. You have the choice to remain dry watching the enchanting scene from the boat or dive into the water to swim alongside these remarkable wild dolphins. Our Guardian vessel is a swift, stable, fully facilitated power catamaran with an impeccable safety history over the past 14 years. Our ship’s crew is the most veteran in the entire Bay.
Embark on this lifetime journey with us!
The ideal tour for everyone and therefore, making a booking now is a must to avoid missing out!
- All trips are subject to weather and minimum booking numbers.
- Trips operate with a 48 hour non refundable cancellation.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
- Children must be over 7 to swim with dolphins and be confident swimmers in the ocean.
- Not recommended for travellers with mobility constraints
Location
Dolphin Seafaris NZ Ltd
Harbour Bridge Causeway
We meet at Tauranga Bridge Marina where there is plenty of free all day parking. Our boat is berthed on D1 just outside the restaurant.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(183 Ratings)
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Addimorris
May 6, 2024
Unbelievable dolphin cruise! - As a dolphin cruise, this was amazing. We dangled our feet off the bow and boated alongside them as they swam and jumped and played all around us! It was magical. I even touched one with my foot! Definitely the best dolphin sighting of my life. The guides said one of the pods was about 90 dolphins and the other was about 250! There were just so many swimming so close, I had never seen anything like it before. Unbelievable.
As a dolphin swim, it was a bit disappointing (at least to Mom). We thought we were going to be able to jump in and freely swim with the dolphins, but even if we were allowed to, we would have only been permitted to hold onto the back of the boat and put our heads in the water to see them as it pulled us. When I learned that that was all we could do, I wasn’t as sad as my Mom not to be able to “swim” with them. Because, even though we found two HUGE pods of dolphins, we weren’t allowed in the water because there were babies present (NZ law).
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Teresa_f
Mar 27, 2024
Happy Days - The dolphins swimming and playing in the water alongside of the boat was awesomely amazing!!
Just being on the water was an experience in itself!
Review provided by Viator
197grahams
Mar 16, 2024
Magical dolphin encounter! - The tour was extremely well organised. Heavy rain was forecast, so to avoid a bad experience we were contacted to see if we wanted to pull our tour forward by 24hrs, we did. Wonderfully enthusiastic and knowledgable guides. Great sightings of dolphins. Very sadly we could not swim with them on this occasion due to the pod having young babies (conservation rules, quite rightly too). Still I was gutted as this is the experience I’ve been seeking and keep failing. But the tour cannot be faulted for this. Refreshments free on board, and informal Q&A with the guides made this a magical and value for money trip!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nzsloans
Mar 2, 2024
Great day out on Dolphin Seafari - Great day out on the dolphin seafari. Saw heaps of beautiful dolphins. The staff were amazing and a special shout out to Maeva who was so knowledgeable and to Captain Kerry who was most entertaining.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Marcantoine_l
Feb 18, 2024
Amazing - It was purely amazing
We had an amazing pod.
The crew was kind, helpful, professional and we learned a lot thanks to their passion.
Thank you
Review provided by Viator
Wanderer64143544202
Jan 24, 2024
DO IT!!!!!! worth everything - Absolutely amazing 👏 once in a life time. We even saw Suda Whales and bottle nose. Common and uts was absolutely lifetime memories. Coming back tomorrow to take the kids THANK YOU
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kristy
Feb 24, 2024
Sadly… no dolphins - Didn’t see any dolphins. Very sad but only their fifth time not seeing them since November. Wish we could have at least gone for. Bit of a swim. We do have a free trip whenever we come back!
Review provided by Viator
Katja_g
Mar 29, 2024
No (hopefully only slow) refund of the money after cancellation - Tour got cancelled the day before because of weather conditions, all ok. Since then no answer, no refund of the money.
Review provided by Viator
Vladislav_k
Mar 3, 2024
Misleading advertisement - Let's be clear. It's overpriced, misleading and not worth the money. What they advertise is swimming and snorkeling with dolphins - none of this is actually true. The reality is that you get drag next to a boat while having snorkeling equipment and watching dolphins for less then a 10 minutes. That's not what I call swimming nor snorkeling. And that will only happen if the crew decides it is OK to do so. At the end of the day your chances of actually being in the water (not swimming nor snorkeling) with dolphins is pretty slim. Do yourself a favour and save your money, you can thank me later.
Review provided by Viator
613khushis
Feb 5, 2024
Prisoner of Bay of Plenty - I would like to start off by saying this was an horrendous of a trip. Me and my wife expected to be entertained or shown multiple sea animals which were promised by the company, we left the harbour and about 45 minutes later were introduced to dolphins (which were fun for 5 minutes) then the crew proceeded to wander around for the next 5 hours showing us nothing and not taking us back to land. Every passenger was exhausted from being held like a prisoner the entire ride. This was a waste of a day for our holiday. Me and my wife didn’t intend to swim either but a whole bunch of other people did and the crew didn’t let them for an unknown reason. If you do wish to go regardless, download some games on your phone prior to going or taking a deck of cards because you WILL be bored out your mind. Would definitely not recommend, save your money because this is definitely not worth it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor