Swim and Paddle Board with Wild Dolphin Pods in Puerto Vallarta

We were on the trip to see the dolphins. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of pods of dolphins we saw. Then we saw several whales all different ages. The crew was very knowledgeable about the dolphins and whales. The captain and the guide were very knowledgeable and professional. They verified the trip the day before and asked what you wanted for lunch, where to meet and answered all of our questions.

What an amazing experience from start to finish. Eduardo was so kind in answering all of our questions before we met for the tour. The location spot was easy to find. Eduardo and Kimi met us there. They're both so happy and knowledgeable about the local marine life. Kimi even took the time to share about the land mammals in Mexico as we waited for the rest of our party. We all got on the boat to find the Dolphins in their natural habitat. We found quite a few different pods of Dolphins and jumped in to get some close-up views as well. There were baby dolphins playing and jumping all around us. As we left, kimi asked us if we wanted to see whales as well. Yeah! So we had the treat of finding SIX humpback whales on our way back to the dock. Holy moly, was this an experience of a lifetime! I highly recommend this tour for anyone wanting to learn about the local marine life as well as experience them in their natural habitat. I love animals and nature. This was perfect.

Eduardo was our tour guide but he felt more like a friend. He took very good care of us, and our experience was full of fun and adventure. He definitely revised more than expected. This wasn’t someone just trying to impress you. He genuinely wanted to make sure you got a fruitful experience and was taken care of. My daughter(5 years old) and I, we seen dolphins and traveled to the islands for snorkeling, was included a nutritious lunch, went paddle boarding after our boat ride, then ended our time in Peurto Vallarta on the board walk. We learned plenty about Puerto Vallarta and the local area which helped make it feel familiar and comfortable. I highly recommend this experience.

Maybe we caught them on an off day, I’m not sure. There was not much here worth writing about for our family of 6. We chose an 8am tour, and their own description says the earlier the better for seeing dolphins. When we were contacted the day before the tour, they told us to meet at 8:30 instead of 8. So that’s fine. So we meet at 8:30 at the pier, but they say they need to get the boat ready and for us to wait. So we sit on a bench for 30 minutes waiting for them, and finally depart shortly after 9am. There is a guide who was very nice and relatively knowledgeable. He seemed enthused about the tour. There was also a helper and a guy driving the boat (operating the 90cc tiller). We were not expecting a 90-minute boat ride in an underpowered vessel to get to the dolphin area. Hard bench seats with no cushions made for a long ride. We did spot a whale along the way, we we detoured to see it. But the boat was frustratingly slow, and it took forever to get to the whale area. We saw 2 whales for about 10 minutes, then began transiting back toward the dolphin area. On the way my daughter was thirsty and asked our guide for a bottle of water. We didn’t bring water because the description said bottled water and Gatorade were provided on the tour. The guide opened the cooler and realized no water or Gatorade had been packed for us. So we were on a 4.5 hour tour with no water. Thankfully he did find a single 2-liter bottle of sparkling water, but no cups. So we all had to pass around a 2-liter bottle of gassy water and share it if we wanted hydration. The topper to the day was there were no dolphins. We didn’t even see one from a distance. It took so dang long to get to the dolphin area, it was almost 11am at this point. I don’t blame them for us not seeing any dolphins, but maybe if we’d left on time and had a reasonably fast boat we could have got there earlier and seen some, who knows. Our guide tried to salvage some fun by letting us snorkel close to shore, but it quickly became obvious it was a dangerous area to be in with the size of waves breaking around us and before we could even begin we had to get back to the boat. The snorkeling equipment smelled like gasoline and some of the masks and snorkels were all twisted and it just wasn’t good at all anyway. The helper and boat pilot were of very little help with anything, and getting in and out of the boat in the wavy conditions was challenging. And for some reason they didn’t like to leave the ladder extended so they kept bringing it back into the boat while some of us were still in the water and wanted to get out. We then headed back to PV on our 90-minute return trip. Again, no dolphins seen on the return. We did see a baby whale playing in the water, but the guide said we can’t stop to see it because the boat pilot and helper have to get back to the pier for another tour. We paid for an exciting private tour, but instead paid to be thirsty for a 3-hour uncomfortable boat ride across the bay and back. Two stars instead of one for a nice guide, a decent ham and cheese sandwich, and the fact we all made the round trip safely. That’s it. I’m glad other reviewers had better trips than us, it just didn’t meet our expectations for a private tour.

Eduardo was very accommodating as our group was small with only three people. Diego, our guide and biologist was very funny and friendly and knowledgeable. I’ve done swimming with wild dolphin tour before with another company, and it was good, but the Dolphins weren’t very interested in staying with us. This may be because we chased them in our boat and tried to head them off and jump in the water in their path. However, Eduardo has two paddle boards so we were able to stop get on the boards and the dolphins were much more interested in coming near us and swimming around us and it really was the experience of a lifetime! I will say paddle boarding in the ocean with the waves isn’t easy for the average person, you need to have good balance to stay on those boards! They also have another tow-behind the boat tool you can hang onto that we did not try out as we were having so much success with the dolphins around the paddle boards! But it would be a good option if you can’t stay on the board. Having these options, I believe are in advantage as the dolphins are more curious about seeing these things in the water as opposed to just having swimmers.