Wild about Sea Life, Passionate about Dolphins
Dolphin Watch UK started as a hobby in childhood, an infatuation you might call it, that’s become a way of life an adulthood. Im very lucky to be able to work with some of the top skippers in the UK with countless years of experience to deliver a day to remember and if you bring your camera the photos to prove it. Although we specialise in Dolphin Safaris, we also hope to see other beautiful marine life including Seals, Porpoises, Seabirds and theres always a chance of Sharks, Sunfish and even Whales….
Check out our dolphin counters to see how the skippers are getting on in finding them in the different ports the we currently run from.
We work closely with skippers, their crew and other boats to maximise the chances of giving you an exceptional day and whilst sadly its not always possible, these are wild animals after all, luckily the OFF days are very few and far between.
To find out more about why we use the Boats and Skippers we do and to see some of the fantastic animals we are lucky enough to see while we are at sea, click the below;
Brixham
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Fowey
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St. Ives
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OUR TRIPS AND INFORMATION
OUR TRIPS WE RUN AND ITINERARIES
Ok, so this page will give you a little run down of all of our most popular trip types that we run, the cost, how long they last and where they depart from. You can either head over to the "BOOK NOW" page for the calendar or hit the "BOOK A TRIP NOW" button to take you there. Group bookings are always welcome and so get in touch to discuss. Spaces are often limited as we only ever take a maximum of 12 passengers plus a guide, and skipper. When booking, please book for the maximum amount of passengers in your party (babies included). It's very simple to use and just remember with notice, it is easy for spaces to be re-advertised, but it is impossible to put extra people on an already full boat. If you would like more information on why to book with us check out the TESTIMONIAL PAGE. For frequently asked questions, please click here FAQs PAGE for some of the often asked and answered questions, and if you have any further questions on the type of trips we run or indeed anything else you can think of, feel free to CONTACT US here.
Itineraries for our extended wildlife holidays to ALDERNEY, SARK, GUERNSEY, SHETLAND and THE SCILLIES can be found on those pages themselves or by clicking these links. (some are still a work in progress) And if you just want a bit more info on BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH AND KINGSWEAR, WEYMOUTH, LYME REGIS, PLYMOUTH, FALMOUTH, ST.IVES or SALCOMBE then just give them a click as well.
Want to keep up to date with all of our newsletters, offers, trip dates and reports? Then SUBSCRIBE here to our Emails. We won't spam you with anything other than DWUK material that we hope you'll be interested in.
2 HOUR WILDLIFE CRUISES
EARLY BIRD, DAY TIME, EVENING/SUNSET CRUISE
DEPARTING DAILY IN SEASON, £25 PER PERSON
BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH, WEYMOUTH, PAIGNTON, TORQUAY, PLYMOUTH, ST.IVES AND LYME REGIS
We like to start the trip with a tour along the coastline towards Berry head and Dartmouth or Portland or the Great Mew Stone searching for a few seals and harbour porpoises along the way, before heading a few miles out for the rest the our safari, increasing our chances of finding the bigger pods of dolphins and ever hopeful of whales. We'll also see a host pelagic seabirds such as kittiwakes, terns, storm petrels, skuas and a variety of shearwaters some as rare as Polar Bears along with a whole lot more. These are normally evening and early morning trips but we also arrange them during the day as well. A fantastic trip for families with younger children and is always VERY popular.
HALF DAY WILDLIFE CRUISES
4 HOUR MORNING AND AFTERNOON SEA SAFARIS
DEPARTS DAILY IN SEASON, £45 PER PERSON
***FAMILY OF 4+ TICKET AVALIABLE***
BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH, WEYMOUTH, PAIGNTON, TORQUAY, PLYMOUTH, ST.IVES AND LYME REGIS
Like the 2 hour trips we generally start the day with a tour along the coastline searching for a few Seals and Harbour Porpoises along the way, before heading on out to sea for the rest of our safari increasing our chances of finding the bigger pods of dolphins including the RARE White Beaked (Lyme Bay area) and Risso's and ever hopeful of Minke Whales. We'll also see a host pelagic seabirds such as Kittiwakes, Terns, Storm Petrels, Skuas and a variety of Shearwaters some as rare as Polar Bears, along with a whole lot more. This trip is very popular with our guests wishing to see the most wildlife possible. These trips run as both morning and afternoon trips and are ideal for families with children. We do a Family discount ticket on 4 or more (MAX 2 adults)
ALL DAY DOLPHIN AND MARINE SEA SAFARI
8+ HOUR MIXED MARINE LIFE SAFARI
BRIXHAM - 22nd May, 18th June, 17th July, 17th Sept
DARTMOUTH - 28th May, 24th June, 30th July, 19th August, 21st Sept
WEYMOUTH - 15th May, 25th June, 17th July, 21st August, 24th Sept
ST.IVES - 30th May, 24th June, 28th July, 22nd August, 23rd & 30th Sept
PLYMOUTH - 18th May, 14th June, 13th July, 17th & 31st August, 16th Sept
LYME REGIS - 30th May, 24th June, 8th July, 29th August
£95 PER PERSON
We generally start the day with a tour along the coastline searching for a few seals and harbour porpoises and looking at various landmarks along the way. We'll then head offshore for the remained of our safari increasing our chances of finding the bigger pods of dolphins and ever hopeful of whales. Depending on the time of year White Beaked or Bottlenose might put in and appearance along with the Common Dolphins. Tuna and Thresher Sharks are also possible later on in the season, (see the BIG 3 specialist trips of you want a trip to dedicated to finding these). We'll also hope to see a host pelagic seabirds such as kittiwakes, terns, storm petrels, skuas and a variety of shearwaters some as rare as giant pandas along with a whole lot more. These trips are very popular with wildlife watchers and wildlife photographers... (we also offer professional photography tuition trips as well...keep scrolling)
2022 Dates
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BIG 3 LYME BAY TRIPS
8 HOURS DOLPHINS, SHARKS AND BLUEFIN TUNA
NEXT TRIPS... SEPTEMBER 30TH 2021 £100 PER PERSON
BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH, WEYMOUTH, PLYMOUTH, LYME REGIS AND ST.IVES
New for 2021
Like any of the full days we generally start the day with a tour along the coastline searching for a few seals and harbour porpoises along the way, before heading on out to sea for the rest the our safari increasing our chances of finding the bigger pods of dolphins including the rare White Beaked. We'll head to Dartmouth off the back of the skerries bank and down to Start Point in search of giant Bluefin Tuna that frequent our shores in the Autumn months and can provided some unbelievable feeding frenzies and all the time we'll be scanning the horizon for one of the most acrobatic of sharks...the Thresher often seen leaving the water like torpedoes and landing with a huge splash. We'll also hope to see a host of pelagic seabirds such as kittiwakes, terns, storm petrels, skuas and a variety of shearwaters some as rare as giant pandas along with a whole lot more. This trip is very popular with our guests wishing to see the most wildlife possible. These trips run all day and hopefully provide some true David Attenborough moments.
HALF DAY PHOTOGRAPHY TUITION TRIP
HALF DAY TUITION WITH SIMON PALMER
June - 4th, 17th, 18th. July - 3rd, 8th, 10th, 26th. August - 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 23rd, 24th, 28th. September - 1st, 6th, 10th. October - 1st and 8th. £55 PER PERSON, DISCOUNT FOR WHOLE BOAT BOOKINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHY CLUBS.
BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH, PLYMOUTH AND LYME REGIS
New for 2021
Welcome to our wildlife sea safari with a little difference ADDED photography tuition! Something that is so important when you go on a wonderful trip such as these, is making sure you have the memories to remember it by. Dolphins breaking the water, birds diving for fish, Seals checking you out and the occasional Basking Shark. The problem is that you can’t ask them to hold on while you frame the shot. Leaving the camera on Auto might get a picture, but will it get you something that you are happy to talk about for ages with friends! With professional wildlife photographer, Simon Palmer on board, he'll help you get to grips with a better understanding of the fundamentals of photography. Knowing how to use the camera gives you a better chance of making the picture you want. While it’s never guaranteed that it will happen every time, it will increase your chance of it! Simon will cover using Aperture, ISO, and Shutter to gain a better photograph along with other tools and composition ideas while at Sea!!
Learn more about the way you can change your settings to help capture; Dolphins breaching, Birds in flight, Birds diving, When you aren’t seeing wildlife what can you see? Abstracts - Waves, ocean, and ship, Landscapes, seascapes, skyscapes, Catching Sunrise/set.
GIANT BLUEFIN TUNA CHASE
8 HOUR ALL DAY SPECIALIST TRIP
2022 DATES TO FOLLOW SHORTLY, £100 PER PERSON
***GROUP DISCOUNT AVAILABLE***
BRIXHAM, DARTMOUTH, WEYMOUTH, PLYMOUTH, ST.IVES AND LYME REGIS
Just like The BIG 3, these are specialist all day trips. We are targeting the mass feeding frenzies of the GIANT ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA, these I can tell you are truly spectacular, both in terms speed and the energy produced by the frenzies but also in terms of the sheer volume of other animals attracted to bait balls created by the tuna. These include many dolphin and whales species that can arrive on the scene along with masses of birds that are attracted by the chaos of it all. One thing we have noticed with these trips, because the BFT don't really turn up in numbers until September the recordings of Pilot Whales has increased hugely during these times. The Tuna Chase trips allow for a fantastic chance for photography and filming of all of these. We'll use both Drone and underwater cameras on the days as well to give you a better insight into what is happening from a birds eye view and below the waves. The skippers we use for these trips also fish on the CHART, a Tuna Catch, Tag and Release scheme. If anyone is going to find these incredible Attenborough worthy days then it's these guys.
New for 2022
PLEASE REMEMBER, regardless of what company you book with, (we do hope it will be us), please consider the following in order to get an unforgettable experience: 1) Make sure the operator holds a WiSe ACCREDITATION and follows a STRICT CODE OF CONDUCT on the water. This will ensure that the ANIMALS are APPROACHED SAFELY and RESPECTFULLY WITHOUT CAUSING DISTURBANCE and that they are able to LEAD THE INTERACTIONS. Whilst everyone wants to be close to the animals, it shouldn't be at the detriment to them and you will get a far far better encounter this way than by chasing them around. 2) The trips are LED BY PASSIONATE AND KNOWLEDGABLE GUIDES, meet our fantastic team by clicking here.
Additional Trip information
Depending on the location you are departing from you will be advised on the best car parking and the meeting point in your booking conformation email. You will also receive the full details you need to know about your trip. Please bring warm clothes and full waterproofs, particularly during the colder months, but also on warmer summer days. Its always worth bringing some sun cream along as well regardless of the weather as you do just never know, please bring plenty of food and water, remember the skippers and guides like chocolate biscuits. There are full working toilets on our boats and teas, coffees and hot chocolates for the children are provided, if your lucky there could even be some biscuits. Binoculars and a camera are recommended.
Myself, the guides, and the skippers will work their hardest to find wildlife and to give you great sightings but specific wildlife aren't always possible. Please remember that these are wild animals, they all have tails or wings and can move very quickly, because of this because of this we can never guarantee sightings. BUT when the weather allows, we are very good at what we do, we're not called Dolphin Watch for nothing.
Sadly if the conditions aren't quite right to head out to sea for the full duration of, we will either shorten the trip accordingly or reschedule, some of our ports offer us the luxury of very picturesque river cruises that's an absolute haven for all sort of wildlife (the River Dart for example offers you currently the best chance to see both grey seals and common seals side by side, one of the few places in the South West both can be seen) and can be as enjoying as and relaxing as going to sea, these will sometimes be put on as a last minute trip if the weather suddenly deteriorates during the day. As much as we all love to see and be close to the marine wildlife its not worth making anyone feel ill or endangering anyone's life. But rest assured we will be in touch in the days before to try and communicate this. The weather and the sea can be a fickle mistress at times and even the best made plans sometimes result in last minute or on the day changes or cancelations...Remember in 1987 when Michael Fish said we weren't going to have a hurricane...
You can check out the local weather by CLICKING HERE.