Swim with and watch wild dolphins in Kaikoura
The Dolphin Encounter tour is a boat based tour that takes you to swim with or watch the acrobatic dusky dolphins along the Kaikoura coastline. An incredible tour and a "must do" during your time New Zealand!
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Organisation |
Encounter KaikouraCommercial organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Kaikoura Region ▷ Kaikoura |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Payment Requirement |
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Payment RequirementIs there a cost for this experience or is it free? Paid access/participation The experience costs money to access or take part in. |
Just awesome!
10 plus plus!
Swimming with curious dolphins was great!!!
In Kaikoura, it was amazing!!
Great experience with wild animals.
Rating | Count | Percentage | |
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10/10 | 136 |
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53% |
9/10 | 75 |
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29% |
8/10 | 31 |
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12% |
7/10 | 13 |
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5% |
6/10 | 1 |
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0% |
5/10 | 0 |
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0% |
4/10 | 0 |
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0% |
3/10 | 0 |
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0% |
2/10 | 0 |
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0% |
1/10 | 0 |
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0% |
4.5/5
A great tour!!
Good guides and a lot of dolphins😍 I would recommend, you won't regat.
Reviewed 11 months ago
Customer
5.0/5
Incredible experience swimming amongst a super pod of dusky dolphins.
Small boat with small number of participants made this a very special experience. Staff and crew were excellent.
Cannot recommend highly enough, worth every cent.
Reviewed almost 3 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Good and informative service.
Professional staff that make you feel comfortable, safe and well taken care of at all times. Very cold water!! But absolutely wonderful experience swimming with the dolphins and seals.
Reviewed almost 7 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
It was a great experience.
The people there are very kind and well organised. Cost $169 for swimming with the dolphins.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
5.0/5
Nothing to say more that this was a perfect trip, worth the money.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Unforgettable experience, nice employees, great photo opportunities, nice to see the animals in the wild.
Seasickness! But the employees did care for us.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Absolutely amazing but really expensive, something to have one time in life.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Well organised, saw a lot of dolphins, long time in the water, bad weather conditions.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Fabulous!
200 dolphins, a lot of interaction with them. Long time in the water so worth the money!
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
3.0/5
Quite pricey, we had really horrible weather and the sea was not great, but we didn't have much choice but to go as they were operating and we'd already paid.
The staff who handed out the wetsuits kept giving wrong sizes and even after we asked for a specific size they gave a different one that what we'd asked for, so suiting up wasn't a pleasant experience. I wasn't able to complete the swim as it was way too much for me and the waves were shocking. They did however refund my money and charge me a spectator rate. I think this would be a really wonderful experience in good weather, so I suggest you plan your swim around the weather.
Reviewed about 8 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
A great tour!!
Good guides and a lot of dolphins😍 I would recommend, you won't regat.
Reviewed 11 months ago
Customer
5.0/5
Incredible experience swimming amongst a super pod of dusky dolphins.
Small boat with small number of participants made this a very special experience. Staff and crew were excellent.
Cannot recommend highly enough, worth every cent.
Reviewed almost 3 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Good and informative service.
Professional staff that make you feel comfortable, safe and well taken care of at all times. Very cold water!! But absolutely wonderful experience swimming with the dolphins and seals.
Reviewed almost 7 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
Nothing to say more that this was a perfect trip, worth the money.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Absolutely amazing but really expensive, something to have one time in life.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Unforgettable experience, nice employees, great photo opportunities, nice to see the animals in the wild.
Seasickness! But the employees did care for us.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
5.0/5
It was a great experience.
The people there are very kind and well organised. Cost $169 for swimming with the dolphins.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in February 2017
Customer
4.5/5
Well organised, saw a lot of dolphins, long time in the water, bad weather conditions.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in November 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Fabulous!
200 dolphins, a lot of interaction with them. Long time in the water so worth the money!
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
We did the tour at 5:30am, when the Dusky Dolphins were very lively and playful.
The most enchanting thing I did in my life. The only negative is that the people in the water is too much.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
4.5/5
Breathtaking experience!!
Professional, experienced organisation. One minor issue: groups were too big. Besides that, a thumbs up!!
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Perfect = equipment was new, size of the boat, number of swimmers, respect of wildlife, time of the trip was comparable for the price.
Reviewed over 7 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Didn't get to experience it as access to Kaikoura was cut off after the earthquake.
Called in to cancel our reservation and it was very fuss free. Thumbs up to the staff! Will definitely return to try it in future!
Reviewed almost 8 years ago
Customer
3.0/5
Quite pricey, we had really horrible weather and the sea was not great, but we didn't have much choice but to go as they were operating and we'd already paid.
The staff who handed out the wetsuits kept giving wrong sizes and even after we asked for a specific size they gave a different one that what we'd asked for, so suiting up wasn't a pleasant experience. I wasn't able to complete the swim as it was way too much for me and the waves were shocking. They did however refund my money and charge me a spectator rate. I think this would be a really wonderful experience in good weather, so I suggest you plan your swim around the weather.
Reviewed about 8 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
It was so amazing to swim with wild dolphins in the sea and totally worth the $170 and throwing up!
Reviewed about 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Had an amazing time swimming with dolphins, they literally swim around you.
It was incredible.
Reviewed about 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
A fantastic experience to swim with the wild dolphins, staff were really nice, also we made a short trip to see other marine life.
Reviewed about 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Quite cold, but we did swim with heaps of dolphins, definitely one of the highlights of travelling.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016
Customer
5.0/5
One of the most beautiful experiences in my life!!
The staff were friendly and the dolphins were amazing! Take some medication with you if you tend to get seasick.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Very well organised company: great location, easy to find, lots of parking space available.
Literally everything is taken care of, from a dry wetsuit to anti fog spray and hot showers. Once in a lifetime experience, but do not forget to bring your sea sickness pills because you really need them when the sea is a bit rough. It might seem a bit expensive but it is truly worth the money!
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in March 2016
Customer
4.5/5
The experience was amazing.
We wanted to swim with them but there was no more space. We watched and it was a special day. We saw four dolphins, something uncommon on this activity. But the boat went lots of times after the dolphins when it was enough. For us it was time to leave them alone.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016
Customer
5.0/5
I recommend to everyone to do this, doesn't matter if you decide to swim with dolphins or 'just' watch them.
Perfect day.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in February 2016
Customer
5.0/5
Simply amazing!
One of the best days I ever had!
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
We had an amazing time with the dolphins in the water, they seem to be playing with us, soooo cool.
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
Swimming with dolphins, it was a nice tour.
We saw lots of dolphins. It was our best experience here in New Zealand.
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
4.0/5
I went to swim with them but these duskies were not up for a play.
Enjoyed them from the boat the last half hour and then they got playful! No schedule for wild animals. Got a bit of a refund back.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in December 2015
Customer
5.0/5
Awesome.
Were warned that these are wild animals so there were no guarantees - but they did a really good job of finding those that were playful and keeping up with them. Plus free hot chocolate and soup to warm you up after!
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in December 2015
Customer
5.0/5
Amazing!
Definitely our favourite. We had good weather and a lot of dolphins and the dolphins are in the open ocean! Awesome!
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in December 2015
Customer
5.0/5
Just awesome!
So many friendly, wild dolphins to swim with, nice crew, yummy ginger cookies and hot chocolate.
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
3.5/5
We heard a lot about this and went in with high hopes.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to swim with the dolphins because of a rather silly procedure. When you register, you have to fill in a form indicating your swimming abilities, among other questions. The question asked how confident we were in our swimming abilities, and being on the conservative side and unaware of how conditions may be out in the open sea, we indicated that we were not confident of our swimming abilities even though we can swim. We were under the impression that if we chose this option, the crew would just give us more attention which wasn't a bad thing.
However, as the sea conditions weren't too optimal that day, the staff at the registration counter didn't allow us to swim, citing that we indicated we weren't strong swimmers. We argued that we were just being cautious. It also seemed very arbitrary and subjective, if we had indicated we were strong swimmers, we would be allowed to swim with no questions asked. As they have no way of really determining everyone's swimming ability, who's to say just because I state I'm a strong swimmer means I'm really one? Despite our pleas, they wouldn’t let us swim, and we had to switch to watching the dolphins instead.
While I fully understand the operator's need to take precautions, I don't agree with their method of sieving out those who "can" swim from those who "can't". Instead, the questions asked should have been more factual, such as whether you can swim unaided under certain kinds of conditions. Whether I'm a confident swimmer or not really doesn't say much about your actual swimming abilities. When we saw the other people allowed for the swim option, some really weren't "strong" swimmers as they had claimed, and we felt we were definitely on par if not better poised to handle the sea condition at that time.
While it was disappointing to be unable to go into the water, seeing the dolphins out in the wild did somewhat make up for it.
Reviewed almost 9 years ago
Customer