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Swimming with Wild Dolphins in Akaroa
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Reviewed 21 January 2020

We had an unbelievable trip with black cat cruises to see the hector dolphin, Harry and Hannah were especially brilliant they had top knowledge and were super friendly. We saw a mother and baby dolphin followed by swimming with 12 dolphins, truly amazing both on and off the boat. Would recommend the 6.30am trip, it’s painfully early but well worth it.

Date of experience: January 2020
1  Thank georgiafrost4
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BlackCat_NZ, Manager at Black Cat Cruises, responded to this reviewResponded 8 March 2020

Hi georgiafrost4, thanks for reviewing us on TripAdvisor - we appreciate it so much! Sounds like you had magic day out on the water with Harry and Hannah - I'll make sure to pass on your feedback to them. Awww amazing you got to see a mother and baby, that's so cool and such a treat! We hope you can come out with us again soon!

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Reviewed 18 January 2020 via mobile

We saw dolphins, seals, penguin and other birds. The captain explained very nicely during the whole cruise.

Date of experience: January 2020
1  Thank thomaswZ6674NP
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BlackCat_NZ, Manager at Black Cat Cruises, responded to this reviewResponded 8 March 2020

Hi thomaswZ6674NP, thanks very much for your review on TripAdvisor. We are so thrilled you had such a great trip with us and saw so much wildlife. We hope to see you again soon!

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Reviewed 18 January 2020 via mobile

This is a must do adventure when visiting Akaroa. Emmy & Chris took us out and were both fabulous. We quickly found some Hector dolphins and had the most amazing time swimming with them. We were in the water with them for 40 minutes. It was worth every penny and we’ll definitely do it again when next there. Thank you so much for the most memorable day of our holiday.

Date of experience: January 2020
1  Thank 528ThomasW
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BlackCat_NZ, Manager at Black Cat Cruises, responded to this reviewResponded 8 March 2020

Hi 528ThomasW, thank you very much for taking the time to review us on TripAdvisor. So glad you had such a brilliant time out with Emmy and Chris and had a really successful swim with the Hector's dolphins! We hope you can join us over in Akaroa again soon.

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Reviewed 17 January 2020

From the outset it is made clear that the staff at Black Cat really care for the dolphins and their future. No promises are made that you will see anything and the importance of not touching them is enforced due to the dolphin's sensitive skin that can be torn with even a sharp nail.

The boat ride through and out of the bay was great fun in itself, I highly recommend standing out on the bow to enjoy the waves and views!

It was great fun helping our guides Kate and Harry to spot the dorsal fins of the dolphins popping up to get an idea where they were.

We managed to get a great swim with around 14 of them at one point, also managing to see an albatross, fur seal and a penguin!

Kate and Harry were very informative and were just as excited as us to see the Dolphins even though they get to do it every day which made the experience that much better.

Couldn't recommend this tour enough, brilliant day out!

Date of experience: December 2019
1  Thank Calum M
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BlackCat_NZ, Manager at Black Cat Cruises, responded to this reviewResponded 8 March 2020

Hi Calum M, wow thank you so much for your amazing review of your tour - Swimming with Dolphins! I'll certainly pass your lovely feedback on to Harry and Kate, they will be thrilled! Sounds like you had a brilliant day out, 14 Hector's dolphins would have been just magic! I hope you can come out on another tour with us again soon.

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Reviewed 12 January 2020 via mobile

It was our first day in NZ and we already managed to see few pods of Hector dolphins and NZ fur seals. Swim itself was quite exciting, being dropped off in the Pacific in 3m heigh waves (not breaking so easy) was a little daunting at first but with wetsuit providing warmth an plenty of boyancy we quickly started to look out for little dolphons playing around. Few of them were quite curious and got within couple of meters of us but ultimately it was their choice how much of an interaction with us they will have. In the end we were quite satisfied but to our surprise captain decided that it wasn't enough and gave us generous refund. We very much appreciate the company ethos, they respect dolphins and their choices and nothing is being forced. I recommend them also because part of their fees is used for protection of Hector Dolphins which are unique to New Zealand.

1  Thank MarcinEgiert
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BlackCat_NZ, Manager at Black Cat Cruises, responded to this reviewResponded 8 March 2020

Hi MarcinEgiert, thanks so much for your feedback on TripAdvisor! We are so glad you had such a great day out with us. We are really proud of our team and all the work they do for dolphin conservation - we are thrilled you got to be a part of it! Hope to see you again soon.

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