40 Rankers Reviews
28 Face-to-Face
2 Marine Animals
9 Boat Cruises
1 Dolphin Watching
4 Picton / Marlborough Sounds
Swim with Wild Dolphins in their natural environment of the calm sheltered waters of Marlborough Sounds, Scenic Wildlife & Nature Cruises and walks in Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, Picton, New Zealand. TOURISM AWARD WINNER!
Dolphin Swimming & Viewing- "Want to see Flipper...we'll show you Flipper" :
Our Dolphin tours provide a wonderful opportunity to swim and view dolphins in calm and sheltered waters. You can expect to encounter bottlenose, dusky and rare Hector's dolphins. We also visit NZ fur seals and spot a variety of seabirds like blue penguins, Gannets and Shags on the water. Our knowledgeable skipper and guide will provide you with an informed and interesting commentary on the wildlife encountered along with local history of the Marlborough Sounds.
Our success rate in finding Dolphins is 98%.
Nature & Wildlife tour to Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary, Ship Cove or Bird Watchers Expedition:
See the very best of the Marlborough Sounds by combining a scenic and informative Eco-Cruise about the wild life and the region, with a fascinating walk on either “Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary” or “Historic ship cove”. In the “Bird Watches Expedition” we’ll go extra lengths to ensure the viewing of the rare King Shag and SI Saddle back. You can expect to encounter dolphins, NZ fur seals while spotting a variety of seabirds like blue Penguins, Gannets and King Shags on the water. Our knowledgeable skipper and guide will provide you with an informed and interesting commentary on the wildlife encountered along with a bit of local history.
Best of the Marlborough Sounds Wildlife, Nature & Art tour:
Join us for a magical experience as we cruise through the southern parts of the Queen Charlotte Sounds! Sit back and relax as we explore and educate. Enjoy our majestic seabirds, feed the friendly fish and be delighted by the cheeky NZ Fur Seals! Our journey continues as we disembark at Lochmara Lodge, venturing through the native bush and being inspired by the art and wildlife wonderland! After a true ‘kiwi-ana’ morning tea and a little retail therapy, it’s time to cruise towards home, relaxing and reflecting.
Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
E-Ko ToursCommercial organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Picton / Marlborough Sounds |
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Feature | Value | Info |
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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. $49-$165 |
Weather Requirement |
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Weather RequirementWhat weather conditions are necessary for this experience to operate? Normal weather The experience operates under most conditions but not when their is heavy rain or strong winds. Cancellations due to weather are rare. |
Our tour to Motuara island was amazing.
No dolphins to swim with.
Very friendly and enthusiastic staff.
Very friendly staff, care about the dolphins.
Professionals.
Rating | Count | Percentage | |
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10/10 | 20 |
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50% |
9/10 | 11 |
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28% |
8/10 | 6 |
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15% |
7/10 | 3 |
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8% |
6/10 | 0 |
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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% |
5.0/5
Our tour to Motuara island was amazing.
Paul the Skipper was spot on with his directions
and his knowledge of the area was second to none.
If Paul was the conductor then Will was his full orchestra,, very entertaining while still being informative at the same time.
If he’s not the top guide then there’s no man on the moon.
He was A1 quality,, and don’t get me started on his sun glasses.
Brilliant effort all round.
H and Janie.
Mozzies.
Reviewed 9 months ago
Customer
5.0/5
Amazing day on the water!
Saw 2 types of dolphins, blue penguins, seals and heaps of birds. Well worth the money. Staff were friendly and very informative. Loved all the little extras that came with the tour that are not advertised, I wont spill what these are :)
Reviewed almost 6 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Very friendly staff, care about the dolphins.
Price is worth it. Great experience.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016
Customer
3.5/5
Nice boat, friendly crew, great knowledge sharing.
Positiv:
Seen loads of Hector dolphins even a new-born playing with its mother. They gave us enought time to enjoy the sighting.
Negativ:
- No dolphins to swim with. And as we heard afterwards they hadn't had dolphins for over a week. This is of course disappointing....but nature.
- Too many people on the boat 18 swimmers alright, but another approx. 10 additional ones for viewing.
- Kids are only allowed to swim once 8 years old. Very disappointing, if you have a 6 year old strong swimmer with various badges..
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
We saw a lot of dolphins among others the rare Hector dolphin and we were in the water with a lot of big dolphins playing around really close to use - nice.
Good information about the dolphins and their environment with focus on behaviour in the dolphin's premises.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
5.0/5
Dolphin swimming and viewing: best experience from New Zealand.
Highly recommend. We swam with many dolphins. Guides took us close to a dolphin pack where we saw within an arms length of 12 dolphins.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
4.5/5
Very friendly and enthusiastic guide with a great knowledge about what we saw.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
4.5/5
Nice trip, we saw the animal they said we could see, nice guides.
A smaller group would be nice, eg maximum 20.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
5.0/5
Superb tour, we easily found dolphins and were in the water within minutes.
Friendly, knowledgeable and hugely enthusiastic staff who tended to everyones individual needs. A must in Picton!!
Reviewed over 11 years ago and experienced in December 2012
Customer
5.0/5
Our tour to Motuara island was amazing.
Paul the Skipper was spot on with his directions
and his knowledge of the area was second to none.
If Paul was the conductor then Will was his full orchestra,, very entertaining while still being informative at the same time.
If he’s not the top guide then there’s no man on the moon.
He was A1 quality,, and don’t get me started on his sun glasses.
Brilliant effort all round.
H and Janie.
Mozzies.
Reviewed 9 months ago
Customer
5.0/5
Amazing day on the water!
Saw 2 types of dolphins, blue penguins, seals and heaps of birds. Well worth the money. Staff were friendly and very informative. Loved all the little extras that came with the tour that are not advertised, I wont spill what these are :)
Reviewed almost 6 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Very friendly staff, care about the dolphins.
Price is worth it. Great experience.
Reviewed over 8 years ago and experienced in January 2016
Customer
3.5/5
Nice boat, friendly crew, great knowledge sharing.
Positiv:
Seen loads of Hector dolphins even a new-born playing with its mother. They gave us enought time to enjoy the sighting.
Negativ:
- No dolphins to swim with. And as we heard afterwards they hadn't had dolphins for over a week. This is of course disappointing....but nature.
- Too many people on the boat 18 swimmers alright, but another approx. 10 additional ones for viewing.
- Kids are only allowed to swim once 8 years old. Very disappointing, if you have a 6 year old strong swimmer with various badges..
Reviewed over 8 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Nice trip, we saw the animal they said we could see, nice guides.
A smaller group would be nice, eg maximum 20.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
4.5/5
Very friendly and enthusiastic guide with a great knowledge about what we saw.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
5.0/5
Dolphin swimming and viewing: best experience from New Zealand.
Highly recommend. We swam with many dolphins. Guides took us close to a dolphin pack where we saw within an arms length of 12 dolphins.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
5.0/5
We saw a lot of dolphins among others the rare Hector dolphin and we were in the water with a lot of big dolphins playing around really close to use - nice.
Good information about the dolphins and their environment with focus on behaviour in the dolphin's premises.
Reviewed over 10 years ago and experienced in February 2014
Customer
5.0/5
Superb tour, we easily found dolphins and were in the water within minutes.
Friendly, knowledgeable and hugely enthusiastic staff who tended to everyones individual needs. A must in Picton!!
Reviewed over 11 years ago and experienced in December 2012
Customer
5.0/5
Friendly staff, knowledgable, good equipment, adequate size of group.
Reviewed over 11 years ago and experienced in December 2012
Customer
4.5/5
Half day wildlife cruise and nature walk (cruise in Marlborough Sounds plus bush walk on Motuana Island) In one word: excellent!!
We enjoyed the dolphins, seals and many birds and the guide and skipper were excellent.
Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012
Customer
4.0/5
Went on the "Marine Wildlife & Motuara Island" tour and it was a lovely afternoon activity !
You get to see some more remote part of the Queen Charlotte Sound and its wildlife ! The Motuara island is also a bird paradise, you see so many of them ! Good times !
Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in February 2012
Customer
5.0/5
Charming, informative guide - Marlborough Sounds are beautiful, Motuara Island is a fascinating piece of conservation - even a great biscuit with our cup of tea.
Reviewed over 12 years ago and experienced in November 2011
Customer
4.0/5
Sometimes you see dolphins, in the evening penguins.
When there is sun and wind its wonderful at the beach.
Reviewed over 13 years ago and experienced in March 2011
Customer
4.0/5
Good guides who did their best to give us a good experience,however the dolphins were not very friendly on the day.
Reviewed over 13 years ago
4.5/5
Guide very enthusiastic, made it fun.
Tried hard to make sure our kids had a good time.
Reviewed over 13 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
What a magical time, had a woonderful morning cruising the sounds and then swimming with the Bottlenose Dolphins.
Very impressed by the company's knowledge and attitude towards the dolphins and respecting their freedom. Very different to my experiences in Mexico with dolphins! Amazing in the water and very lucky that the dolphins wanted to play! Special, a big THANKYOU Dolphin Watch!
Reviewed over 13 years ago and experienced in October 2010
Customer
5.0/5
Small group, personal attention, enthusiastic guides, experienced.
Reviewed over 14 years ago and experienced in November 2009
Customer
5.0/5
Trip was even longer as booked (more than one hour!!) because there was so much wildlife to see in the sounds.
Guided walk on Motoua Island with a lot of birds and beautiful views.
Reviewed over 14 years ago and experienced in November 2009
Customer
5.0/5
Even if there hadn't have been so much wildlife, the skipper and guide made the trip a memorbale one.
The guides knowledge of the flora and fauna was excellent. She worked hard.
Reviewed over 14 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
We did the Motuara Island eco cruise.
The guides were very knowledgable and interesting. We saw dusky dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, the king shag and lots of other birds. The island was lovely with a stunning view from the top of the island. A great trip for all ages.
Reviewed almost 15 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
A very interactive cruise and we got to see killer whales and rare Hector's dolphins before walking on Motuara Island to see the little penguins.
These guys really know their stuff and as far as kiwi experiences go - a perfect 10!
Reviewed over 15 years ago and experienced in March 2009
Customer
4.0/5
No dolphins to swim with.
Reviewed over 15 years ago and experienced in February 2009
Customer
4.5/5
Same as carino, we really liked the ECO thinking of this company.
Reviewed over 15 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Professionals.
If you pay for swimming with dolphins & there aren't any, they refund you the money.
Reviewed over 15 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Friendly staff, enjoyable day.
Company has a policy of refund if don't have interactive swim.
Reviewed over 15 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
Even though we didn't get to swim with them, the swimming with seals totally made up for it and we still got our 50 dollar back.
Great guarantee, no swimming = try again for free or 50 dollar refund
Maximum of 12 swimmers, great staff and apparently a success rate of 80%
Recommended!
Reviewed over 15 years ago
Customer
5.0/5
Great tours, great informative staff, and great scenery.
We actually saw two pods of playful dolphins, along with plenty of other wildlife. The stopover at Ship Cove was a nice touch, as well.
Reviewed over 15 years ago
Customer
4.5/5
Excellent value for money plus a nice visit to a bird sanctuary.
Reviewed almost 16 years ago
Customer