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Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari

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Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari

4.5-hour marine mammal eco-safari in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, departing from Downtown Auckland. Come and explore Auckland's Hauraki Gulf Marine Park!
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New Zealand's only eco-tourism and research-based whale-watching trip.

06/09/2024

In celebration of Te Wiki Tiaki Ao Tūroa/Conservation Week this week, we wanted to highlight the Revive Our Gulf Project! We've been supporting Revive Our Gulf through the Auckland Foundation for almost a year, and in that time we have donated over $16,000 to the cause 🎉

Our manager attended the Revive Our Gulf Project annual summit in April, and we were impressed to hear about the collaborative work the project is doing involving The Mussel Reef Restoration Trust, University of Auckland and The Nature Conservancy and partnering with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. Great progress is being made on bringing people together to restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf through scientific research, mātauranga Māori, and Mussel bed restoration that we are proud to support. Through one project initiative with an Iwi partner, recently 100 tonnes (approximately 7 million mussels!) adult kūtai (green lipped mussels) have been deployed in Motuora and Martins Bay, guided by Ngāti Manuhiri’s extensive knowledge 🦪

03/09/2024

It was a foggy start to the day yesterday, but it ended in a "trifecta" of marine mammal sightings out on the water! 🌫️🌊 Over the duration of the safari we found a pod of common dolphins, two Kekeno/New Zealand fur seals, AND a pod of Orcas! 🐋🦭🐬

07/08/2024

We are so proud we had to share the news that last week our First Mate Emily graduated with a Master of Marine Science with First Class Honours. 👩‍🎓🎓🥳
Emily has worked with us for just over two and a half years, during which she has been completing coursework and a 40,000 word thesis that compiled her research of fine-scale foraging and movement behaviour of butterflyfish from the Solomon Islands. Over this period she also accomplished training and certification as a Qualified Deck Crew to become a First Mate on Dolphin Explorer 💦🫶

05/08/2024

The team were very excited to be back on the water today, with Dolphin Explorer looking sharp after our winter maintenance period! 🛥
A pod of friendly Common Dolphins 🐬 welcomed us back to the Hauraki Gulf-Tīkapa Moana and we are looking forward to some awesome Safari's. Don't let winter put you off, the weather looks fantastic for the next few days, so come join us! 💙☀️

01/07/2024

The Dolphin Explorer has migrated north for the winter ❄️ Until the 21st of July, the Dolphin Explorer will be up the coast in Whangarei getting some well deserved TLC during its winter maintenance period 🛠️

21/06/2024

A sighting of a small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins last Thursday allowed the team to collect some valuable ID shots on this nationally endangered species.
Although a short encounter before they continued on their way, there was lots of socialising observed in the pod and some delightful back flips and breaching! 🐬

06/06/2024

On Tuesday we had a fabulous day out on the water, with a trio of different marine mammals: Common dolphins, several Brydes whales and two bottlenose dolphins 🐬💙🐋

12/05/2024

Saturday's safari had us flipping out! 🤸 Off the coast of Browns Bay we found a large pod of very acrobatic bottlenose dolphins, giving us an energetic aerial display 🐬

30/04/2024

We had a dolphin delightful safari yesterday, with neonate swimming alongside for ages 🐬plus a beautiful sunset to finish off our 1.30pm departures with 🌅 from today we're back to our 10.30 am safari's!

06/04/2024

On Thursday we were thrilled to have a safari with both a Whale and Dolphin sighting - living up to our company name! We even named a unique dolphin after one of our passengers celebrating his 4th birthday the day after - say hello to Charlie 🐬
The whale sighted is Bryde's "059", a female first spotted 20 years ago and has been seen with a calf in 2005, 2006, and 2017. A regular in our catalogue; however, the last time we saw her was 2020 so great to know she's still around and flipping 🐋

04/04/2024

We were so excited to spot False Killer Whale's (Pseudo Orca) last week for the 4th time this season! 🎉
These are very rare sightings for us, and the team and customers are always amazed by this species, in particular the co-habitation of this group (Social Cluster 1) with Oceanic Bottlenose Dolphins whom they are always seen with 🐬 The association may be due to benefits of co-operative feeding behaviours or predator evasion. These animals will be heading offshore soon to unknown areas, as they are seasonal in NZ, and gathering data while they are here is very valuable to get an understanding of populations. Researchers at False killer whales NZ hope to be able to discover where they head to for winter in the future ❄️

03/04/2024

Whilst collecting fin ID photo's during a sighting of False Killer Whales (Pseudo Orca) north of Tiritiri Matangi Island last week we noticed a particularly interesting dorsal fin 🤔 Researchers at False killer whales NZ have since confirmed this is a special individual, known as 'Moby'. She was the first False Killer Whale added to their ID catalogue back in 1995, 29 years ago! 😮

27/03/2024

We encountered some playful Aihe/Common Dolphins on our Sunday afternoon Safari, a couple of whom were observed playing a game of pass the seaweed! 🌿 Dolphins are highly social animals known to play games and interact using items they find in the ocean and it's pretty cool to watch first hand 🙌

24/03/2024

We thought we'd share a video of Friday's Orca encounter. This really shows how tranquil the conditions and the pod were. We were all very happy and grateful to be drifting alongside them. Wait untill the end for the large Male's fin to surface. Male Orca fins are considerably larger than females, being up to 1.8m tall! 🐼🐬

22/03/2024

What an epic Safari we had yesterday afternoon, with sightings of 3 species: Orca, a Bryde's Whale and Common Dolphins! 🐋 The crew thought it was a well 'Orca-strated' day 😆

22/03/2024

A pod of 5 Maki/Orca delighted passengers on both Safari's today. Conditions were superbly calm, creating ideal viewing of the pod which included an adorable calf, one large male and a few females. We were lucky to also encounter this same pod just 9 days ago, enjoying the Hauraki Gulf.

20/03/2024

What a gorgeous day to catch up with old friends ☀️🐬 the team noticed one of the Common Dolphins we saw today was C027 - who was first sighted way back in 2002! We decided to update the catalogue with her new name, Lucas, named after an adorable baby passenger we had onboard 💙 Lucas also had a calf with her, and we're excited to keep any eye out for them both in the future! 🙌

14/03/2024

We had a "killer" day out on the water yesterday 🐋 We found orca once again in the Gulf! We were able to identify the large male as Rua, swimming alongside other females and a calf 💙

Orca, also known as killer whales, aren't whales, but the largest species of dolphin 🐬 The name is thought to come from them being "whale killers", reaching lengths of up to 10m! These animals are extremely intelligent and can work together to bring down prey much larger than themselves 💪

13/03/2024

Here's a sight we don't see too often - thousands of common dolphins surrounding the Dolphin Explorer 🐬On Friday we had calves and juveniles swimming amongst all the adults, breaching and chin slapping in the choppy waves 🌊

08/03/2024

I’m sure you can probably guess that our crew member Danielle is a BIG fan of zooplankton from this reaction to a sample that was taken during safari last month 😍😮🤯 The zooplankton sample had a massive amount of krill with a few beautiful blue copepods 💙 we can see why there was a Te Whai Rahi/Manta-Ray feeding nearby, lots of tasty things to scoop up 🥣

06/03/2024

Yesterday's Safari passengers and crew were delighted by an encounter with Orca 😍 The pod of 5-6 individuals included one large male and at least 2 juvenile's. Rangitoto Island made a perfect backdrop for the sighting and the crew snapped some great fin ID shots to pass on to researchers 📸🙌

23/02/2024

The Hauraki Gulf is buzzing with life! The last couple of days have been very exciting, we have had several sightings of a pod of false killer whales and oceanic bottlenose dolphins together. It is rare for us to see these animals in the Hauraki Gulf, with only a few sightings a year. The pod were hunting, breaching, and swimming around the boat as they fed.

The false killer whale is scientifically known as Pseudorca crassidens. Pseudorca relates to its common name, meaning "false orca/killer whale" and crassidens means "thick toothed". They are studied in New Zealand by Far Out Ocean Research Collective who we share sightings details with. They identify this particular pod as Social Cluster 1 a group of around 85 individuals that are usually associated with the same group of Bottlenose. They typically search for Kingfish but also eat Snapper and Kahawai. From our photo's we're pretty sure they were feeding on Kingfish on these occasions!

30/01/2024

On Thursday we really saw it all! 💯 Starting with a lunge feeding, chin slapping Bryde's whales alongside two barrel-rolling giant oceanic manta rays! 😍 As we moved on, we came across a white capped albatross, a bird we do not often see this close to land! 🏝️

Finally, we stopped near Rangitoto island to take a Secchi disk reading to monitor the health of phytoplankton. During this stop, a pied s**g swam close to the boat. Sadly, this bird had a fishing hook embedded in his or her neck 🎣😔 This highlights the growing problem ghost gear (discarded fishing equipment) has on our wildlife. This is a worldwide problem with an estimated 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear lost at sea every year 🌊

17/01/2024

On Sunday we had an incredible sighting of a Te Whai Rahi/Manta-Ray 😍 It was feeding on plankton, making big barrel rolls through the water's surface 🤸

Individual Manta Rays can be identified by markings on their underside and their grey saddle colouration on top, so if you see one in the waters around Aotearoa, try and take photos and share them with Manta Watch New Zealand who are studying the New Zealand population and aim to track individual rays 🔍👀

15/01/2024

These photos are from an encounter with a mum and neonate pair who came over to our bow for a hello 👋 Mama dolphins are very protective of their babies so neonates rarely spend time close to boats. The crew and passengers were honoured to see how much this mama dolphin trusted our vessel and demonstrated why it's important for all water users to respect cetaceans, keep it slow, and allow the animals to approach on their terms 🙏

13/01/2024

On one of our recent safaris, we stopped by Gannet Rock which has 2500 breeding pairs of gannets (tākapu) that nest there 🪺 It is currently breeding season for the gannets which lasts from July to February. During this time, female gannets will lay one single light blue egg which they incubate for 35 to 50 days 🐣 The fluffy chicks will fledge after 3 months and most will make a non-stop journey to Australia 🇦🇺 They typically spend between 3 to 7 years in Australia maturing until they eventually return to the Aotearoa New Zealand colony 🏃

11/01/2024

At the beginning of this week we captured a short video of the gannets and dolphins feeding, and our crew member Ben giving the passengers a bit of info on Gannet diving! 🌊🐟

10/01/2024

Ghost gear no more! 👻

After some epic encounters, we noticed some ghost fishing gear floating in the water and stopped to pick it up. What we thought was going to be a quick rubbish stop ended up being two floats, two small anchors, 25 fishing hooks, one dead fish (RIP snapper friend) and around 140m of fishing line! 🤯

Ghost gear is one of the greatest threats to cetaceans worldwide as it causes entanglement. When a cetacean is entangled it can slow that animal down and make it harder to maneuver through the water. They expend more energy that would otherwise be spent feeding. It is estimated that 640,000 tonnes of ghost fishing gear (the equivalent of 30 Sky Towers) is left in our oceans every year 😔

08/01/2024

We were stoked to start this afternoon's safari with a kekeno (NZ fur seal) who found a sunny spot for a nap on a channel marker! They are pretty rare to see on safari, with most colonies being found in the South Island. The kekeno we do come across are typically bachelor's that have been kicked out of their colonies and are waiting to grow bigger and stronger so they can return home to fight for their own females.

04/01/2024

Fantastic encounter on today's afternoon Safari with a pod of Orca including a young calf! The pod spent some time along the Auckland coastline and in the inner harbour today. Orca are always a special encounter for those lucky to be onboard for one!

Address

Viaduct Harbour
Auckland
1010

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 6pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm
Saturday	9am - 6pm
Sunday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

0508 365 744

Website

https://www.whalewatchingauckland.com/

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Videos

Our much loved vessel Dolphin Explorer is having some scheduled maintenance for the next few weeks. We'll all miss being on the water daily for Safari's, but look forward to springing back into it with a new lease of life.

@izabella_sk

We're always in our golden hour while out on Tīkapa Moana ✨🌊 🎥 IG: izabella_sk

26th March 2024 Afternoon Safari

One of these things is not like the other ... 😜 Tuesday's afternoon safari featuring a psudeo orca 🐬

AWADS Safari 080324

Safari 22nd Feb 2024

The Hauraki Gulf is buzzing with life! 🌊 In Feb we came across a pod of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins together. It is rare for us to see these animals in the Hauraki Gulf, with only a few sightings a year. The pod were hunting, breaching, and swimming around the boat as they fed. The False killer whale is scientifically known as Pseudorca crassidens. Pseudorca relates to its common name, meaning "false orca/killer whale" and crassidens means "thick toothed" 🦷

Monday 22nd Jan Safari

Monday last week, passengers on both safaris were lucky enough to encounter oceanic Manta Rays feeding alongside Bryde's whales 🐋 Following @mantawatchnewzealand best practice guide to ensure we didn't disrupt the feeding activity, we were delighted to see the manta somersault feeding around the vessel 😍 and the best part about the manta trusting us was that we managed to collect some epic data to contribute to oceanic manta ray conservation in Aotearoa. Shout out to the awesome passengers who submitted their footage for the database too 💙 Oceanic manta rays are currently classed as data deficient in Aotearoa so any data collected is critical! If you see a manta ray while you're out on the water, remember to take down the date/time, GPS coordinates and photos/videos if you can. Here's to more manta-tastic safaris 🤩

Safari 8th Jan 2024

At the beginning of this week we captured a short video of the gannets and dolphins feeding, and our crew member Ben giving the passengers a bit of info on Gannet diving! 🌊🐟

The start of Summer means we've had lots of encounters with nursery pods of common dolphins lately. We call a pod with neonates or calves a nursery pod and the team always enjoy spotting newborns amongst the group. They are super cute! Here's a recent encounter with some commentary from one of our awesome crew George!

Safari Tues 22nd Nov 2023

We had a beautiful day yesterday out on Tīkapa Moana ☀️ the dolphins bow riding the Dolphin Explorer is always awesome to see 🌊🐬

video-20231113-224320-c7ae97fa

Amazing sighting today of a pod of resident orca including Funky Monkey and Pickle 🐋 We were able to identify some individuals by looking at their dorsal fin (the fin on the centre of their back). Some have notches/dents on the side, others have different shapes and sizes, and each dorsal is unique to the individual 🔍 Today we estimated that we had 12 orca in total dispersed around us, exciting the crew and passengers as they swam past 😍

A large pod of lively Aihe - Common Dolphins gave us a fantastic viewing today with feeding activity switching to travelling mode all around us! 🐬 It sure is challenging trying to get a count estimate on so many dolphins for our research data collection! 😅📋

Safari Wed 18th Oct 2023

Today our passengers and crew were absolutely delighted to come across not one, not two, but THREE marine mammals in one viewing! 🎉 We first noticed 2 whales feeding amongst common dolphins and then, out of nowhere, a pod of about 10 orcas came to join the fun! 🐋 Our skipper Jo has been working on the boat for more than 17 years and has never seen anything like this before! A truly magical day enjoying the taonga of Tīkapa Moana 🙌💙

15th Oct 2023 Safari

Yesterday we had a mind-blowing encounter with a superpod of dolphins! 🐬 Tīkapa Moana was bursting with life, with dolphins as far as the eye could see - we estimate the pod was at least 1000, but it was probably closer to 4000! The crew and passengers onboard were totally lost for words, we'd never seen anything like it 😍😍

Safari Sat 9th Sept 2023

Here’s George being rudely interrupted by a large male orca last Saturday! 😜 On this safari we didn’t have to search for long as we came across some orca about 10 minutes after leaving the harbour 🐋 This was a small pod of about 4 orca who were busy hunting stingrays and one of them even came up to the boat to show us his breakfast! 🍽️

31st Aug Safari

Today we had incredible conditions that allowed us to deploy a special gadget - a hydrophone! 🌊🎤 A hydrophone is an underwater device that detects and records ocean sounds. While you might think the underwater world is quiet, it’s actually the opposite! With a pod of chatty dolphins surrounding the boat, and the hydrophone linked up to our sound system, our passengers were able to tune into some dolphin conversations 🐬

Whale Watching - 7th Aug 2023

Although not on Safari today, we're taking our vessel Dolphin Explorer up the coast today for some winter maintenance 🌊 But when encountering 5 (!!) Bryde's whales feeding just north of Tawharanui, we're still going to take the opportunity to collect some research data 😍📸

Matariki - Maori New Year Instagram Post

💫 Mānawatia a Matariki! 💫 Matariki is a momentous occasion for Aotearoa, symbolizing the arrival of the Māori New Year and heralding the start of a fresh chapter. It's a time to honour the past, cherish our heritage, and envision a brighter future together. We hope that everyone is able to gather together with friends and whānau this long weekend to reconnect and celebrate!

15th May 2023 Safari

"Safe to say we've got two whales..." 😆 We think it's safe to say that today was one of the top 3 whale watching encounters for most of the crew onboard! And safe to say our passengers onboard were stoked with the fantastic safari experience 🐋🐋