[New Zealand] A Diver's Dream Itinerary: Swimming with Dolphins in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Even though this was written during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, once things ease up and borders reopen, New Zealand should be a relatively safe destination to visit — and I truly, truly, truly recommend coming here to see the dolphins!!

This is Kaikoura, on New Zealand's South Island. Wildlife encounter rates here are extremely high. The most common sightings include sperm whales, the dusky dolphins I'll be introducing shortly, New Zealand fur seals, royal albatrosses (the world's largest seabirds), and occasional encounters with orca, the world's smallest Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori), humpback whales, and blue whales.

Timing

We joined the activity in early December 2020. The weather was slowly warming up, but the water temperature was still very cold — around 14°C! That said, once you're in the water, the excitement takes over and you quickly forget how cold it is. I'd recommend visiting between December and April for dolphin swimming. This period covers summer through early autumn, making the water more bearable, and it also avoids the dusky dolphin breeding season, which typically runs from September to November. Regulations here are strict: when a vessel encounters a mother with a calf, passengers are not permitted to enter the water.

The Operator

The only operator in Kaikoura offering dolphin swimming experiences is Dolphin Encounter.

This company also offers an Albatross Encounter tour. From booking online to check-in to the activity itself, their well-trained staff and knowledgeable guides left me — someone who hadn't participated in a water activity as a regular customer in quite some time — thoroughly impressed. We booked directly through the official website. There are four pricing tiers (all in NZD):

• Adult dolphin watching & swimming: 210/person
• Child (8–14) dolphin watching & swimming: 195/person
• Adult dolphin watching only: 105/person
• Child (3–14) dolphin watching only: 65/person

Another recommended booking platform is New Zealand's popular activity discount site, Book Me: Dolphin Encounter on Book Me. Discounts pop up regularly — for example, we booked a separate Hector's dolphin swim in Akaroa through that site at half price! We ultimately booked through the official website because we spotted a promotional code at the time of booking that brought the price down to the same level as the lowest available on Book Me — so we secured our trip for NZD 168 per person. During the pandemic, despite New Zealand having virtually no local cases, the closed border hit the tourism industry hard in a country that's already sparsely populated (around 4.4 million people at the time). Almost every operator was running promotions to attract business, so scoring a discounted booking was quite easy.

The Experience

• Total duration: 3–3.5 hours (realistically closer to 4 hours)
• What to bring: personal drinking water, sunscreen (please use reef-safe mineral/physical sunscreen — chemical sunscreen is harmful to marine ecosystems), a towel, a change of dry clothes, and an underwater camera or GoPro (optional)
• Equipment provided: mask and snorkel, 5mm wetsuit and hood, short fins (long fins are discouraged as they can easily injure dolphins, whose skin is very delicate — even a minor scratch can lead to serious infection). You're welcome to bring your own gear. Hot cocoa and ginger biscuits are also provided on board.

We were booked on the 08

departure. While researching beforehand, I found that the earliest slot used to be 05 (during New Zealand's summer, sunrise comes before 6 a.m. and sunset is around 9 p.m.). I assume that slot was cancelled due to lower demand during the pandemic. A 12 departure is also available, but both online reviews and staff alike recommend going earlier — the dolphins are more active in the morning. At check-in, you'll be given a liability waiver that also asks about your swimming ability. Because the dolphins inhabit open water that can be 100–200 metres deep, and staff do not enter the water with you (they remain on the boat to assist), guests who aren't confident swimming in open water are advised to opt for the observation-only package. After completing the paperwork, staff gather all participants in the changing room for a brief orientation, followed by equipment distribution. Once everyone is suited up, you're ushered into a small screening room to watch a video covering guidelines for swimming with dolphins — prohibited behaviours, how to attract dolphin curiosity, and so on.

Once we left the harbour, intern Nicole introduced the layout of the vessel, while naturalist Tracy kept up a running commentary on dusky dolphin behaviour and biology. Before locating the dolphins, we spotted numerous seabirds — albatrosses, shearwaters, and more — which Tracy identified and described one by one. We headed south for about 30 minutes before encountering a large pod of dolphins — by rough visual estimate, well over a hundred individuals! Dusky dolphins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere, can live up to 30 years in the wild, and reach 165–190 cm as adults. Dolphins are highly social animals; dusky dolphin pods can range from just 2 individuals to over 1,000. When I later asked Tracy about pod dynamics, she explained that a pod is fluid — today's pod isn't necessarily one family unit. It's a bit like signing up for a fun dive at a dive shop with your partner: you, your partner, the dive guide, and two other divers are all in the same group for that dive, but once the dive is over, you each go your separate ways.

Once dolphins were spotted, the captain followed New Zealand's regulations strictly:

• Approach the pod carefully from the side or rear.
• Operate at "no-wake" speed within 300 metres of the pod.
• If three or more vessels are already within 300 metres of the same pod, do not approach.
• Do not obstruct the dolphins' path of travel, cut through the pod, or separate a mother from her calf.

Staff then reminded everyone to zip up their wetsuits, adjust their masks, and put on their hoods — a green marking is applied to each hood so crew on board can easily spot swimmers in the water. Once ready, everyone sat in a row at the stern, buzzing with excitement, waiting for the bell to ring before jumping in. The water in the Southern Hemisphere is genuinely cold 🥶 — so unlike swimming with dolphins in Mikurajima, Japan, there's no chance of looking stylish for photos, and visibility isn't brilliant either. But dusky dolphins are extremely curious animals — you don't need to chase them. They come right up to you, often close enough to almost touch (though feeding, touching, harassing, or harming dolphins is strictly prohibited). Besides dolphins, I also noticed plenty of tiny creatures in the water — I was probably the only person not photographing dolphins 😅. These small creatures are called squat lobsters; despite their name, they're actually a type of crab. Juveniles live near the surface of the sea and sink deeper as they grow.

Compared to freediving, this activity is essentially just surface swimming with dolphins — though if you can freedive in a 5mm wetsuit (no weights are provided), the company won't stop you. Diving down is actually one of the best ways to spark a dolphin's curiosity! During the session, we were put in the water three times in total. After the final entry, Nicole had everyone peel off their wetsuits and change into dry clothes, and we gathered at the bow to watch the dolphins leaping and playing.

• 

• 

• 

On the way back, naturalist Tracy came to chat with me and Wenhao. It was then that we learned she had previously worked for WWF's Hong Kong office. Between her expert commentary throughout the trip and the unmistakable passion in her eyes as we talked, it was clear she does this work out of a deep love for wildlife. Tracy's spirit is exactly why I became a dive instructor — and the future I aspire to.

Conservation

In New Zealand, any business operating activities involving marine mammals must hold a special permit issued by the Department of Conservation (DoC). Operators are required to strictly follow all guidelines and conditions for whale and dolphin encounters, which are built on years of research and prioritise animal welfare. Examples include:

• Each vessel has a limit on the number of swimmers allowed in the water at any one time.
• Each vessel may run no more than three trips per day.
• Within a single trip, a vessel may put guests in the water no more than five times.
• The same dolphin pod must be given at least 2 hours of undisturbed "rest time" per day, to avoid excessive disruption to their natural behaviour.

Dolphin Encounter also established a foundation in 2009. A portion of the company's revenue goes into this foundation, which funds marine mammal and seabird conservation research, community education initiatives, and environmental programmes. The company states openly to its customers:

As a business relying on a healthy ocean habitat, we want to ensure that we are doing as much as we can to educate all customers that we meet about the precious marine life of Kaikoura.

It's a simple idea, but a deeply thought-provoking statement. Like New Zealand, Taiwan is an island surrounded by sea on all sides. Our geographical isolation has given us unique endemic species; the Kuroshio Current brings extraordinary marine resources; and every summer, our offshore islands are packed with visitors both above and below the waterline. But in Taiwan, how many businesses that "depend on the sea" truly give back to society? How many water-activity operators genuinely take the time to educate their customers?

As a dive instructor taking a first-timer on their first ocean experience — have you ever let them grab coral for a photo simply because it was easier?

As a freediving instructor — have you ever dropped a bottom weight carelessly, with no regard for the coral beneath?

As a snorkeling guide leading group after group into the water — have you ever looked the other way when clients kicked their fins wildly or harassed marine life, just to avoid the hassle of speaking up?

As a boat captain who spots dolphins — do you follow the rules, slow down, and keep your distance, or do you gun the engine into the pod just to give your passengers a thrill?

As someone who lives by the sea and makes their living from it — do you sit on the internet calling for ocean conservation while eating salt-and-pepper chicken in a single-use paper bag, carried home in a plastic bag, eaten with bamboo skewers and washed down with a plastic-bottled cola?

If you, as an instructor, cannot lead by example, how can we ever expect to educate the general public to love and protect the ocean?

A Call to Action

If you claim to love the ocean — if you call yourself a "child of the sea" — yet you choose to spend your money at aquariums, marine parks, and ocean theme parks watching beluga shows and dolphin performances, ask yourself honestly: do you truly love the ocean?

Perhaps you don't have the money or the time to chase dolphins in Mikurajima or Kaikoura, let alone fly to Iceland or Russia to see beluga whales. But you can choose not to spend money on captive shows. I know I'll probably never see an orca in the wild, and I would never buy a ticket to a SeaWorld orca show. The internet, National Geographic, and Animal Planet can teach us more about these animals than we could absorb in a lifetime.

No demand, no harm — we all know this principle.

It was only after personally experiencing a swim with truly wild dolphins that I truly understood how profoundly a "free spirit" can move you. If you're watching just for the sake of watching, captive animals display only abnormal, broken behaviour. Even if you walk away thinking "how cute," what comes after that?

The Cove plays out every single day in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Today, eating dolphin and whale meat is no longer mainstream in Japan — yet the dolphin-hunting industry continues under the banner of cultural tradition, sustained almost entirely by the enormous profits of the aquarium industry and captive animal entertainment. A single dolphin can fetch millions of Japanese yen. The marine parks that claim to be "conserving animals" are, in reality, businesses generating vast profits with no conscience.

Dolphins are highly intelligent, deeply social animals. During a drive hunt, only a handful are selected; the rest are slaughtered. Those that are "spared" suffer the most. After enduring the terror of a chaotic capture, watching their companions killed beside them, they are sold and shipped to aquariums and marine parks around the world — living in isolation from nature. For an animal capable of swimming at least 12 knots (approximately 20–30 km) per hour, how unbearably cruel must that existence be?

This article ends on a heavy note — but the truth is often hard, and we need to know it.

I hope the day comes when everyone can say they no longer spend money at aquariums — because the magical experience of encountering wild cetaceans in their natural habitat is something you deserve to have.