🐬 Dolphins off the coast of Dorset🐬 Take a boat trip from Poole Harbour with City Cruises this year and you may be lucky enough to see Dolphins! 😍 Check out our website for our top tips for the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area 🙌
Dolphins were spotted off the coast between Boscombe and Southbourne in Bournemouth on Sunday! It's such a beautiful sight to see and reminds us what a wonderful and precious environment we have down here in Bournemouth! 📸: Thanks to @gary_knights for sharing the footage with us and the community! 🙌🏼
Because dolphins live off the coast year-round, there's no “wrong” time to book. That said, they tend to be most active in the morning and late afternoon, when water conditions are calm and the lighting is ideal for spotting movement at the surface.
May, June and July are the best months to watch dolphins off the coastlines of the Azores, Ireland, Egypt, Madeira, Fiji, Newfoundland and Jersey with several of these locations still providing ideal conditions into August and September.
Dolphins, being diurnal animals, are often more active and easier to spot in the early morning. The period right after sunrise is particularly favorable for dolphin watching. At this time, they are more active, engaged in food-seeking and social interactions.
The Maldives. A paradise-like destination nestled in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is often lauded as one of the best places in the world to observe dolphins in the wild, with the majestic mammals seen swimming the waters throughout the year.
Dolphins travel in groups called pods and are always on the move, so look for clusters of splashes that appear to be traveling in one direction. Dolphins also jump out of the water and once in close visual range it is easy to see the whole body of the animal as they swim by.
The firth is home to the largest population of bottlenose dolphins in the UK. Chanonry Point, near Inverness, is especially renowned for its dolphin sightings. This narrow peninsula provides an excellent vantage point, and during high tide, dolphins can be observed hunting for fish close to the shore.
Dolphins are visible throughout the year, but these warmer months offer higher chances of sightings. For the best experience, consider watching during early mornings or late afternoons, when dolphins tend to be more active.
Dolphins are most active in the morning and evening. They tend to be less active at night, especially if it's cloudy or rainy out. Dolphins prefer to hunt and play when the tide is low (when there's less water). They'll be less active if there's more water around them.
There are many good vantage points and benches along the coast path of Durlston Country Park from which to admire the view and watch for seabirds and dolphins – a pair of binoculars is recommended for experiencing these relatively rarely-sighted, friendly mammals.
If you want to try and see a dolphin during a trip to Weymouth your best chance will be to get out on a boat. That being said, dolphin sightings are not uncommon from the shore. We have personally enjoyed dolphin sightings whilst sat at Newtons Cove, Chesil Beach and Portland Bill.
Aquariums and marine parks might dress it up as educational or 'spiritual', but swimming with captive dolphins is never ethical. There is only one way to swim with dolphins ethically, and that is in their natural environment, with the dolphins free to behave entirely naturally.
Both humans and dolphins are mammals. Although sea water acts as an effective disinfectant, interaction with wild dolphins may result in disease transfer. These may present serious health threats to dolphins and humans alike. Finally, swimming with dolphins represents harassment – you do not want to get a fine.
Short-beaked common dolphins can also be found in Europe, particularly the Scotian Shelf, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In the Southern Hemisphere, they are abundant in the southwestern Pacific, around New Zealand and southern Australia.
The Amazon river dolphin, also known as the pink river dolphin or boto, lives only in freshwater. It is found throughout much of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela.
Dolphins spend on average 33% of their day sleeping. They typically sleep at night for 2-4 hours at a time. Some species of dolphins go into a deeper kind of sleep where they rest either vertically or horizontally at the surface of the water.
These intelligent creatures are known for their playful nature. They can be seen leaping, flipping, and riding the waves at various times. While dolphins can be active at any hour, they tend to be most energetic during two specific periods: early morning and late afternoon.
Births may occur in all seasons, but typically peaks occur during spring, early summer and fall. Seasonal calving peaks vary by area. Dolphin births off the coast of Sarasota, Florida occur in late spring to early summer. A secondary peak occurs in early autumn.
Laguna Beach, the Common Dolphin's Playground. Common dolphins are so much fun, they should be called extraordinary dolphins! They are the most abundant flippered friends that we encounter off Laguna Beach with over 400,000 dolphins found off the Southern California coastline.
In the UK, Risso's dolphins are often spotted around the Hebrides, Ramsey Island in Wales, and Cornwall. In Ireland, they favour inshore waters and offshore islands and can be found off the Saltee Islands in Wexford, the Cork coast and the Blasket Islands in Kerry during the summer.
Dolphins have a reputation for being friendly, but they are actually wild animals who should be treated with caution and respect. Interactions with people change dolphin behavior for the worse. They lose their natural wariness, which makes them easy targets for vandalism and shark attack.
