{"id":654,"date":"2026-08-17T12:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/whale-and-dolphin-watching\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:30","slug":"whale-and-dolphin-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/whale-and-dolphin-watching\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale and dolphin watching on Madeira"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are <strong>38 tours<\/strong> on offer, plus three that let you get in the water. Starting price around <strong>\u20ac35<\/strong>, typically <strong>2 to 3 hours<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>What you will realistically see<\/h2>\n<p>Bottlenose dolphins, spotted dolphins and short-finned pilot whales are around all year; depending on the season, migrating baleen whales pass through, sperm whales turn up occasionally, and loggerhead turtles almost always. Two dozen cetacean species have been recorded in Madeiran waters \u2014 you will not, of course, see two dozen in one morning.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why serious operators promise a sighting, not a species. Several work with spotters on land who scan from the hillside and direct the boat by radio; that is what the high hit rates are built on. Some offer a guarantee: no whales or dolphins, second trip free. It is a fair promise \u2014 it only costs them if you are still on the island.<\/p>\n<h2>Which boat<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>from<\/th>\n<th>Suits<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Catamaran<\/strong>, 2.5\u20133 h<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac35<\/td>\n<td>families, shade, bar on board, often a swim stop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>RIB<\/strong>, 2\u20132.5 h<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac54<\/td>\n<td>fast, close to the water, small group, no shade<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Traditional wooden boat<\/strong>, 3 h<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac35<\/td>\n<td>slow, unhurried, no thrills<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Speedboat<\/strong>, 2 h<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac54<\/td>\n<td>covers more sea in less time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The two most-booked catamarans in Funchal carry over 10,000 and around 7,000 reviews at 4.6 stars \u2014 for Madeira that is the most reliable sample size you will find. One runs a hybrid-electric catamaran and switches to electric near the animals: quieter, and you can hear the difference on deck.<\/p>\n<h2>Where they leave from<\/h2>\n<p>Most sail from the <strong>Funchal marina<\/strong>. Alternatives: <strong>Calheta<\/strong> in the west, <strong>Machico<\/strong> and <strong>Cani\u00e7al<\/strong> in the east, <strong>Porto Santo<\/strong> in summer. If you are staying west, Calheta saves you an hour in the car.<\/p>\n<h2>What to watch for<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mornings<\/strong> are almost always calmer than afternoons.<\/li>\n<li>Be at the office <strong>30 minutes before<\/strong> \u2014 ticket exchanged for a boarding card. Miss the boat and there is no refund.<\/li>\n<li>Prone to seasickness? Catamaran over RIB, and take the tablet <strong>an hour before<\/strong>, not on board.<\/li>\n<li>Swimming with dolphins is sold by three operators. It depends entirely on how the animals behave and is often cancelled \u2014 book it as a bonus, not the reason.<\/li>\n<li>In July and August some early departures skip the swim stop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Book it or drive it yourself?<\/h2>\n<p>Book. There is no self-drive version. The one thing you can do alone is watch the water from <strong>Ponta do Sol<\/strong> or <strong>Cabo Gir\u00e3o<\/strong> \u2014 pilot whales genuinely are visible from the cliffs sometimes, as dots.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <a class=\"wom-aff wom-aff--getyourguide\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getyourguide.com\/en-gb\/madeira-l67\/dolphin-whale-watching-tc49\/\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See all whale and dolphin tours on GetYourGuide<\/a> <small class=\"wom-aff__flag\">(Affiliate link)<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"\/en\/catamaran-boat-trips\/\">Catamaran and boat trips<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/snorkelling-and-kayaking\/\">Snorkelling and kayaking<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/desertas-islands\/\">Desertas Islands<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the one activity where booking never needs justifying: no boat, no whale. The seabed drops away steeply just off Madeira&#8217;s coast \u2014 deep water starts a few kilometres out of Funchal. Animals that take half a day to reach elsewhere are a 20-minute run from the marina here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coast-ocean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}