Swim With Wild Dolphins in Tauranga

Overview

Available languages

Norwegian

German

English

French

6 hours

Mobile ticket

Join this tour for a must-do, once-in-a-lifetime adventure with friendly dolphins in their natural habitat! Number 1 on Trip Advisor and Trip Advisor Award of Excellence 4 years in a row! We guarantee dolphins or whale sightings as we want you to have this amazing experience!

Get up close and personal with playful dolphins who love interacting with people. You can stay dry and watch the magic from the boat or get in the water and swim with these fantastic wild dolphins. Our vessel Guardian is a fast, stable, full facility power catamaran with a 100 percent safety record over the last 14 years. Our crew is the most experienced in the Bay.

Join us for the experience of a lifetime!!

This is the perfect tour for everyone so book now and don’t miss out!

Additional Info

Public transportation options are available nearby

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

Professional guide

Use of Snorkelling equipment

Live commentary on board

Sightseeing dolphin cruise

Beverages, Tea, Coffee

T-shirts available to purchase

What To Expect

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.

Options

Wild Dolphin Encounter

Reviews

4.45

185 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

143

Great dolphin tour
sabinewL493PR,
Jan 11, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
I made this trip together with my daughter on 07.01.2025 and am totally thrilled. We were there at 8:30, and we got a wetsuit borrowed. It was good that we had a fleece and rain jacket, cap and headband with us, as it was quite cold and windy in between but they also have blankets on board. The crew is super nice and everything is thought of. We particularly liked the fact that they take the protection of animals seriously. We saw bottlenose dolphins right at the beginning, then some schools of the smaller common dolphins. Also a flying fish, a small penguin and a hammerhead shark. Swimming with the dolphins didn't work as it can't be done when the dolphins are hunting or having babies but it was still quite great. Finally we met a group of pilot whales, what an experience😍. I will not forget this day in my entire life and would definitely recommend a trip with the Dolphin Seafaris 100%. Many thanks to Lizzy, Vincent and Dior and of course to the great captain!
Unbelievable dolphin cruise!
addimorris,
May 6, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
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).
No (hopefully only slow) refund of the money after cancellation
Katja G,
Mar 29, 2024
- Review from Viator
1.00
Tour got cancelled the day before because of weather conditions, all ok. Since then no answer, no refund of the money.
Happy Days
Teresa F,
Mar 27, 2024
- Review from Viator
5.00
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!
Magical dolphin encounter!
197grahams,
Mar 16, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
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!
Misleading advertisement
Vladislav K,
Mar 3, 2024
- Review from Viator
1.00
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.
Great day out on Dolphin Seafari
NZSloans,
Mar 2, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
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.
Sadly… no dolphins
kristy,
Feb 24, 2024
- Review from Viator
4.00
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!
Amazing
MarcAntoine L,
Feb 18, 2024
- Review from Viator
5.00
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
Prisoner of Bay of Plenty
613khushis,
Feb 5, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
1.00
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.