Swimming with whales & wild dolphins

"Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars, and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reason"

The best destination for year-round encounters, due to the warm, dry climate and sheltered waters. Dec-Feb will be cooler and slightly less pleasant – while any school holidays will bring bigger crowds and higher prices (as well as searing heat in July-Aug) – so we recommend spring and autumn as the best months.

Amanda Stafford:

“We insist people come for a week. We don’t do any one-off trips. That’s huge – if you take someone for a day, they’re desperate, it puts pressure on everybody, the skippers are worried about delivering an experience, everyone’s clambering around and desperate to get into the water. There’s a kind of anxiety which means the animals don’t want to be around. They’re all thrashing around in the water and it just makes for a ghastly experience. But if you have five days, each day you get more confident, each day there are different things in the water, you get better at what you’re doing, you watch other people enjoying the experience too – there’s a great group spirit on the boat. You feel like you’re a little pod with other people, it’s a very profound experience.”