Boat trips out to look for dolphins off the coast. Babies do not pay.
There are bottlenose dolphins off this coast all year round, and in summer it is common to see them in groups. But they are wild animals: there are days they do not turn up, and that cannot be promised.
The trip is by boat and lasts as long as it takes to find them, usually between one and two hours. The skipper knows where they tend to be according to the season and the time of day.
Boats have to keep the legal distance and must not chase them: the engine is stopped or throttled back and you wait for them to come to you, which is also when you see them best.
Dolphin watching from Fuengirola is a boat trip with a skipper, lasting between one and two hours, that leaves Fuengirola marina and is spent entirely looking for them. Bottlenose dolphins live off this coast all year round; what nobody can guarantee is that they will show up that day, and we say so before you book.
The best trips are the early ones, with a flat sea and little boat traffic. When a group is spotted, the boat slows down or cuts the engine and waits: dolphins come closer to a still boat than to one chasing them, and that is when you see them best.
The usual one off this coast is the bottlenose dolphin, the big one, and the one that comes over to boats. It tends to appear in groups and, when there are calves, the group moves more slowly and lets itself be seen better.
Other species cross your path too and, with luck, the odd loggerhead turtle. What is never promised is a list: they are wild animals, not an aquarium, and anyone guaranteeing what you will see on a given day is selling something they do not control.
First thing in the morning, for two reasons that go together. The sea is usually flatter, and on flat water a fin is visible hundreds of metres away; on a chop, that same fin disappears between the waves.
The second reason is noise. Early on there are far fewer boats in the water, and dolphins come closer when the area is quiet. At midday in August, with everyone out on the water, it is a good deal harder.
A seat in the middle of the boat, which is where it moves least, and your eyes on the horizon or on the coast. What makes you sick is not the movement, it is the contradiction between what your inner ear feels and what your eyes see, and looking at a fixed point in the distance undoes it.
What not to do: look at your phone, read, go below, or set off on an empty stomach. Eating something light beforehand helps, and if somebody is genuinely prone to it, the tablet is taken ashore and in advance, not once they have already started to feel rough.
There are dolphins off this coast all year round, so there is no closed season. What changes is how easy they are to spot: on a flat sea you pick them up a long way off, and on a chop you have to be almost on top of them.
That is why the calm months and the early hours of the day give the best results, more than any particular season. A day in October with the water like a plate produces more sightings than a midday in August with wind.
No, and that is not a recommendation but a rule. Cetaceans are protected and there are minimum approach distances, speed limits and an express ban on swimming with them, touching them or feeding them. The boats that run this activity work within that.
It also works better that way. When the boat throttles back and waits instead of chasing, the dolphins usually come over of their own accord, which is when you really see them. Motoring after a group achieves exactly the opposite: they split up and leave.
Yes, and in fact it is the water activity that works best with children: no swimming needed, no effort and nobody has to get wet. Babies from zero to four go free. What to bring is a cap, sun cream and water, because the sun on deck is on you for the whole trip.
The only thing to bear in mind is the length. One to two hours of searching can feel long for a very small child if the day is choppy, so the early trips, with a flat sea, are also the most comfortable for them.
It can happen, and it is the first thing we say before you book. They are wild animals and there is no way to guarantee a sighting; anyone who promises one is selling something they do not control.
What we do is look properly: the skipper knows the areas where they tend to be according to the season and the time of day, and the trip is spent doing that. And even if the dolphins do not show, the trip is still a run along the coast with the boat stopped in places nobody reaches from land.
In Spain it is governed by Royal Decree 1727/2007 on the protection of cetaceans. Around each dolphin or group of dolphins it sets a protection area with a 500-metre radius and, within it, a 60-metre exclusion zone that no vessel may enter. Between 60 and 300 metres, staying is restricted.
The same rule forbids touching them, feeding them or swimming with them. It is not red tape: a group of dolphins that feels harassed changes course and does not come back, while a group that feels at ease is the one that stays playing around the bow. Whoever goes out with a boat that respects those distances sees more dolphins, and for longer.
| AGES | FEE |
|---|---|
| Adults (+12 years) | ask us |
| Kids (5-11 years) | ask us |
| Babies (0-4 years) | Free |
The price is confirmed when you book. Call us and we will tell you on the spot.
If it is not here, call us: two minutes on the phone and it is sorted.
It cannot be promised. There are bottlenose dolphins off this coast all year and in summer it is common to see them in groups, but they are wild animals and there are days they do not turn up.
One to two hours, whatever it takes to find them. The skipper knows where they tend to be according to the season and the time of day.
No. Boats have to keep the legal distance and must not chase them: you throttle back and wait for them to come to you, which is also when you see them best.
Children have a reduced fare and babies go free.
No. If the forecast does not allow a proper trip, the date is moved at no charge. With a choppy sea, dolphins are hard to see anyway: what you want is flat water.
Yes, and they come out better with a flat sea and the sun behind you. A phone is enough, and it is worth having it ready in your hand: when they appear, sometimes it is only for a moment.
Leave us your number and we will call you. In July and August it is worth booking ahead.
Puerto Deportivo de Fuengirola, local 367. You can drop in and see the boats before you book.
At no charge. Going out to see what happens is never worth it.
Life jackets for everyone on board, included in the price.
