The only place on the planet, where you can get close to the world's smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hector's Dolphin. Simply rare and unique.
SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS – AKAROA
Watch the video above!
Akaroa Harbour is the only place on the planet where you can get close to the world's smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hector's Dolphin!
These magnificent creatures have made their home base in Akaroa, a stunning French inspired sea-side village just a 90 minute scenic drive from Christchurch. The name Akaroa means "long harbour".
Join Black Cat Cruises for an unforgettable journey where you’ll get the once in a lifetime opportunity to swim with these dolphins inside the naturally protected harbour, not out in the open seas.
Black Cat Cruises are a supreme tourism award winning company with an excellent safety track record and a portion of every ticket sold goes towards the conservation of the Hector's dolphin.
We only allow 12 swimmers in the water at one time allowing greater opportunity for one on one interaction with the dolphins.
Success Rate:
We have a high success rate for swimming with these dolphins, but they are wild dolphins, so seeing them is a great privilege.
The great thing about viewing or swimming with dolphins is that you are doing it in their natural habitat completely on their terms, and so of course we cannot absolutely "guarantee" dolphins on every single trip, and nor can any other operator.
Sometimes dolphins may have calves with them, or are feeding, mating or just resting. It's important for us not to interact with dolphins when they don't want to.
But you may be interested to know that in the last 12 months we saw dolphins on 98% of our cruises and had successful swims on 81% of our swim trips. So you have to be a bit unlucky to miss out!
In the unlikely event you don’t see any dolphins (average 3% of cruises) then we give you a refund of 50%. If the dolphins don’t want to interact with swimmers (average 17% of cruises) then we give you a 25% refund.
Amazing! Service was great. Attached photos for glimpse of experience
Great day . We saw loads of dolphins. Team great. Unfortunately lots of mothers and babes so we could not swim with them. Great day out so we still give 5 stars. Ron and Jackie Goodfellow
We had the most amazing experience swimming with dolphins! I liked how respectful they are of the dolphins, you don’t swim with mothers in calf and only if the dolphin is showing interest in the boat. We were lucky enough to have a good swim with them, and they swam within 1 metre of us. The gear is high quality, with wetsuits and boots to keep you warm and buoyant in the water. Would recommend this company.
Chris and Lily were fantastic, great to swim with the dolphins, very warm and safe with the gear provided. Highly recommend
This award identifies a business with a high level of professionalism, a keen awareness of the impact it has on the environment and a commitment to a customer centric approach.
This award is evidence of a sophisticated tourism business that consistently exceeds visitor expectations. Their proactive leadership and management ensure the business’s focus on continuously improving their economic, social and environmental performance to create genuine, constantly evolving and sustainable tourism experiences.
This award recognises the best sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand. It denotes exceptional customer experiences at the heart of everything the company does. This business is leading the way in making the New Zealand tourism industry a world class sustainable visitor destination.
When you see the Qualmark logo, your activity of choice is endorsed by New Zealand Tourism’s official quality assurance organisation and backed by leaders in the industry. It’s your trusted guide to iconic activities and experiences that are awarded for their exceptionally high level of quality, safety and sustainability.
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Grace Aberhart-North from New Zealand wrote on 20 February 2021
Absolutely incredible
We had an amazing day. The wetsuits were incredibly buoyant which definitely made us feel comfortable in the water Staff were great and had amazing local knowledge. Had an amazing time, would recommend in a heartbeat !! 5stars!
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