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

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.

07/11/2024

Yesterday was a super day! 🦸🐬 While out on safari we saw a superpod made up of potentially thousands (!!) of Common Dolphins, as well as a Bryde's Whale 🐋 Such a "super" safari makes for happy customers and happy crew ✨

28/10/2024

On Sunday we saw Tīkapa Moana’s apex predator - the pelagic orca 🐋 This pod of three females were roaming in the deeper waters of the Hauraki Gulf, which is an unusual sighting for us. We rarely see orca, as they are endangered in Aotearoa New Zealand, and when we do see them, they are the coastal variety. There are estimated to be less than 200 coastal orca in NZ and they are specialised stingray hunters, also feeding on sharks and other fish 🐟 However, there are only 6 confirmed pelagic orca in NZ, all female. They hunt marine mammals, and in 2010 some were involved in an attack on pseudorca (another species of large marine mammal) and even rammed three of them into the air before consuming one of the calves (Visser et al., 2010). Using a photo we took of the dorsal fin of one of the individuals, we were able to ID her as NZOP-005 (swipe to compare our photo to the Orca Research Trust’s catalogue) 📸

10/10/2024

Yesterday we had the pleasure of spotting one of our regulars! 🐋 She was easily identifiable from the notch in the middle of her dorsal fin and its unique blunt tip. This female, 089, was first spotted in 2010, and was seen with a calf in subsequent years. However, we haven’t seen her since 2021, so it’s awesome to sight her once again and add the sighting to the catalogue 📝

08/10/2024

"No words, just tears" 😭 Happy tears of course on yesterday's safari, with bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, a BREACHING HUMPBACK WHALE, AND ORCA! 🐳🐬 Yesterday's crew are all retiring because it doesn’t get much better than this ☝️🙏

02/10/2024

Ever seen a dolphin nostril? 👃Technically, they’re called blowholes, but, like our nostrils, they are connected directly to the dolphin’s lungs. This series of photos demonstrates the process of a dolphin taking a breath! In the first photo, you can see bubbles forming where the dolphin is beginning to expel air out of its lungs under the water. Then as its back breaks the surface and its blow hole is exposed, it can expel the rest of the air from its lungs and take a fresh breath, like in the second photo. The third photo shows the blowhole closed just before the dolphin disappears back under the water’s surface again. The common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) in these photos could hold its breath for up to 8 minutes if needed! 🌬️

29/09/2024

Time to congratulate one of our team, George, who recently passed his Skipper qualification! 🥳 George has been with us for nearly 3 years, working as a marine guide, training for his Qualified Deck Crew Certificate, progressing to Mate position and now gaining his Skipper license in order to take the helm! ⚓ George has a ton of knowledge on and passion for the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana so join us on Safari and learn something new from George and the rest of our friendly team 👋

28/09/2024

There's a lot of activity out on the water this week! On Wednesday's Safari we encountered three marine mammal species and tons of bird life! 💙 Orca, Bryde's Whales, Common Dolphins, Australasian Gannets, Shearwaters, and Gulls were all ticked off the sightings list! 🐬🐦‍⬛🐋

27/09/2024

We have had a couple of incredible Bryde's Whale encounters this week, viewing some spectacular feeding behaviour 🐋 Bryde's are baleen whales and they often feed on very small prey filtering them from large amounts of water, as well as small fish. Our crew captured some of this action this week and conducted some sampling of the water where the whales were feeding one day to see what they were eating, finding it brimming with salp, a type of zooplankton that got the curiosity of many on board! 🔍 Another day this week they were feeding on Pilchards with fish flying everywhere, showing the variety of the diet! 🐟

12/09/2024

Today we were joined on Safari by family and friends of Stephen Stembridge who was one of the founding owners of Auckland Whale & Dolphin Safari 🐋🐬 Steve sadly passed away not long after the launch of his dream and Dolphin Explorer, back in 2000. We are proud today to continue the legacy of a wonderful man who originally envisaged combining a research and tourism vessel for the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana 🌊 We had an incredible trip today, with Bottlenose and Common Dolphins, as well as multiple Bryde's Whales! Thanks Stephen for starting the journey that we continue today ✨

11/09/2024

Happy 24th Birthday to the Dolphin Explorer! 🐬🎉🎂 For nearly a quarter of a century, the Dolphin Explorer has been riding the waves of the Hauraki Gulf, and sharing unforgettable moments with over 300,000 guests! Cheers to 24 years of safaris, and here's to many more! ⚓🌊✨

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! 🐋🦭🐬

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

Safari 25th Sept 2024

Now this is what we call a multi-species feeding aggregation! 🍽️ Not one, not two, but SEVEN different species feeding together here in this video from a safari last week 🤩 This aggregation includes tohorā (Bryde's whale), aihe (common dolphin), mohi (pilchard), tākapu (Australasian gannet), pakahā (fluttering shearwater), rako (Buller's shearwater), and tara (white-fronted tern). If you look closely, you can see pilchards flopping around on the back of the whale! 🐟🐋 Over 22 species of whales and dolphins and at least 70 species of seabirds can be seen in Tīkapa Moana/the Hauraki Gulf - we’d love to see you onboard soon to show you what the Gulf has got 👋