96 Esplanade,
Kaikōura 7300,
New Zealand
Albatross Encounter Kaikoura
Albatross Encounter Kaikoura
Welcome to Kaikōura, where majestic birds soar and dive over stunning waters beneath endless sky. Discover many species of albatross and pelagic birds on your Albatross Encounter tour, an unforgettable experience in one of New Zealand’s most breath-taking destinations.
Your Albatross Tour off the Kaikōura Coast
A short boat ride and you're in an entirely new world, where you'll discover a large variety of pelagic birds including albatross, shearwaters, petrels, penguins, gannets, skuas, terns and more.
You're on-board a boat designed just for this experience, giving you the best perspectives to watch and take photos. With a maximum of only 11 others on each tour, it's an intimate and special experience that brings you as close to the wildlife as possible. For photographers it's a dream come true!
Our staff, on-board identification guides and souvenir information pack will help you learn about what you're seeing - or you can just stand back and let the wonder of nature overwhelm your senses.
Location
Phone
03 319 6777
Address
Opening Hours
- Monday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Tuesday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Wednesday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Thursday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Friday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Saturday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Sunday: 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Reviews
3 months ago
SK Joga
Hands-down, we had the best experience today. We not only encountered hundreds of Dolphins but also got to see the Orcas, Royal Albatros and Whale. We are completely overwhelmed with the experience in a positive way. The tour guides are extremely friendly and understanding and they know absolutely what they are doing. Very well organised and quite comfy as you get to experience this in a small group. We got lucky and our hearts are full with this beautiful experience. Thank god, it was lovely sunny day.
4 months ago
Luisa
One of the best experiences of my life! Had such an amazing day on the water. The weather was perfect luckily and the crew was the best. Ruby, Lottie and a skipper I unfortunately forgot the name of :( They did a great job always answering every question patiently. Being so close to dolphins in the water was mesmerizing and having more opportunities to take photos from the boat after swimming is just a great concept. We where so lucky to also see quite a lot of Orcas that day, which is pretty unusual which made the day even more unforgettable. Would definitely do again!!! 😍
4 months ago
Alex B
One of the top experiences of our 17 days in New Zealand. Had a clear, calm day end of February and were on a morning tour. Typical time to check in, suit up and bus out to the marina. Dolphin pod was about a 20 minute ride away and along the way we were briefed and prepared for the swimming with tips for interactions with the dolphins as well as safety. Ended up being a super-pod of 600 to 800 dolphins - there were dolphins EVERYWHERE!!! It was an amazing experience where we swam with them three times, hopping back on the boat in between for a quick repositioning. IT - WAS - AWESOME! Bonus: on the way back, a pod of orcas came through, swimming right up and under the boat. Perfect finish to the tour. The cafe back at the tour office was also great; we grabbed a couple of panini to go for lunch in the car for our drive up to Blenheim.
5 months ago
Mafalda Pereira
We had a truly perfect and once in a lifetime experience!!! We did the Dolphin swim and it was so great!!! The whole thing is very well organised: you start by selecting and dressing your gear, there is a safety briefing and tips to attract dolphins and then you hop on a bus that takes you to your boat. Each boat has around 20 people. They looked for dolphins and when we found a big group we got on the waker and it was amazing!!! The guide was quite knowledgeable and help us identify 3 species of dolphins. The experience was simply unique and great value for money! Afterwords we ate at the cafe and it had a excellent brunch. Boom this well in advance as it can be sold out. Overall perfect experience! Would definitely do it again!!
