Join Carino Wildlife Cruises for the ultimate day exploring the beautiful Bay of Islands.
Experience the Bay of Islands with Carino Wildlife Cruises in helping to protect our wild dolphins!
A special home base for bottlenose dolphins, the best way to discover the Bay of Islands is onboard the Carino Wildlife Cruises luxury 50ft catamaran. You'll just love exploring deep blue waters, vivid green islands and diverse wildlife.
This 6-hour expedition caters for those who know the journey is more important than the destination - we take a leisurely relaxed approach to enjoy the many activities on offer during the day.
Tour Includes:
Dolphins - Observe and learn about wild dolphins. Carino Wildlife Cruises is the only sailing yacht licensed by the Department of Conservation to interact with dolphins in the Bay of Islands. Every ticket directly contributes to marine mammal research and conservation – Protect the future.
Sailing - Experience sailing among the beautiful Bay of Islands; help the crew set and trim the sails or just sit back relax and enjoy the view and wildlife from the spacious decks of this purpose-built vessel
Exploring - Your skipper will find the best suited island cove on the day where a wide range of activities are on hand, from Snorkelling (equipment provided) to scenic walking tracks, beachcombing or just relaxing in the sun on the golden sands.
All prices are shown in NZD ($)
We went out on holiday in Paihia and knew we wanted to cruise the bay. The fact that Carino is allowed to get up close and personal with the dolphins made for an easy choice! We were fortunate to have the dolphins play all around the boat. We even saw penguins out at sea! Michi & Veronica were not only friendly and fun, but extremely knowledgeable and catamaran was so smooth on the water (no seasickness). They also provided binoculars, snorkeling gear and reading material to help identify the animals we saw. What a fantastic experience!
Wonderful experience! Friendly crew, beautiful boat, small group (10 people, perfect if you don’t want lot of tourists). The company is respectful toward to marine life. We saw dolphins at less than 1 meters of the boat, beautiful day!!!
Vanessa and Wayne were truly wonderful. Very knowledgeable about the wildlife and the Bay. Thank you for a wonderful experience for my entire family.
We had the most awesome day trip on the catamaran. Everything about the day was special, we were looked after by Vanessa and Wayne who were experienced, kind, and such a friendly crew. There isn't anything these people don't know about the area and the sea, they dropped us off by boat to an island so we could snorkel (supplied by them) after a walk and some relaxation they picked us up from the island, and back at the boat had lunch waiting onboard. The smell of onions (we love) greeted us as we tucked into our sausages (veggie for me) and salad. We were the only people on the trip that day, very unexpected and we were totally spoilt, the catamaran is beautiful and you can get so close to the marine life. My dream has always been to get up close and personal with the dolphins...we didn't swim with them but Vanessa "found them" and we had the most wonderful display from them as they spent a lot of time playing with us. One of the babies was showing off, rolling on its back and then mum and baby cuddled...you could feel the love! They stayed with us for a long time, one of them giving the most spectacular display by leaping 15 foot into the air before diving back down to play with the pod. If you want a more personalised service, I would go with Carina, unlike larger companies, they offer the personal touch. You won't be disappointed!
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Nicky Bowden from New Zealand wrote on 22 October 2024
Wonderful day out
We had a lovely day with Vanessa and her crew. Very professional and knowledgeable. We saw penguins, got to swim and walk on the island but unfortunately no dolphins. We will have to come back again.