Where and when to see dolphins

Spinner, bottlenose and common dolphins are often met on boat transfers and occasionally underwater. Resident pods make some regions reliable year-round.

This guide documents sightings in 12 Good Dives regions. The most regions are in peak season in June–July.

Colored-pencil illustration: one common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Dolphins sighting calendar

Calendar months, every year

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Aliwal ShoalSouth Africa	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
AlorIndonesia	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
AzoresPortugal	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Banda SeaIndonesia	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Fernando de NoronhaBrazil	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
French Polynesia (Tuamotus)French Polynesia	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Kona (Big Island)United States	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Northern Red SeaEgypt	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Socorro (Revillagigedo)Mexico	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Southern Red SeaEgypt	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Tonga (Vava'u)Tonga	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sardine Run (Wild Coast)South Africa					●	Peak	Peak	●

Peak = best odds · ● = regularly seen · blank = unlikely.

Calendars describe animal presence, not weather or site access; check each region’s dive season. For grouped animals, a marked month may apply to only one member of the group. Sightings vary by site and dive.

Where and when to see dolphins

Dolphins sighting calendar

Explore all 12 documented regions