DOMINICA SPERM WHALE SWIMMING
New dates for November 2021 coming soon. Email us to join the mailing list.
NOVEMBER 2021
6 days on the water
07-15 Nov Jungle Bay Resort, Soufriere
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6000 pp
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5000 pp
2 spots left at Jungle Bay Resort
14-22 Nov Soufriere Guest House
Single occupancy self-catering $4300 pp
Double/twin occupancy self-catering $4100 pp
0 spots left at Soufriere Guesthouse
21-29 Nov Fort Young Hotel
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6200 pp
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5100 pp
0 spots left at Fort Young Hotel
MAY 2022
6 days on the water
14 to 22 May Soufriere Guest House
Single occupancy self-catering $4500 USD pp
Double/twin occupancy self-catering $4300 USD pp
0 spots left
21 to 29 May Jungle Bay Resort
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6300 USD
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5230 pp
0 spots left
6 days on the water
07-15 Nov Jungle Bay Resort, Soufriere
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6000 pp
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5000 pp
2 spots left at Jungle Bay Resort
14-22 Nov Soufriere Guest House
Single occupancy self-catering $4300 pp
Double/twin occupancy self-catering $4100 pp
0 spots left at Soufriere Guesthouse
21-29 Nov Fort Young Hotel
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6200 pp
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5100 pp
0 spots left at Fort Young Hotel
MAY 2022
6 days on the water
14 to 22 May Soufriere Guest House
Single occupancy self-catering $4500 USD pp
Double/twin occupancy self-catering $4300 USD pp
0 spots left
21 to 29 May Jungle Bay Resort
Single occupancy with full breakfast $6300 USD
Double/twin occupancy with full breakfast $5230 pp
0 spots left
For November 2021 we have secured three permits, six people each permit, to get up close and personal with the resident Sperm whales of Dominica, and take photographs and videos. Only one permit is issued at a time, so we will be the only ones in the water. Three people at a time are allowed in the water during an encounter, so we rotate. Occasionally we have multiple encounters at the same time.
The first week we will be based at the beautiful Jungle Bay Resort, in the south, overlooking Soufriere and Scotts' Head. The second week is in the budget-friendly but comfortable Soufriere Guesthouse, within walking distance of natural hot waterfalls. Soufriere Guest House doesn't have air-conditioning, but because of its location and the fans in the room, it is not necessary. There is a well-equipped communal kitchen, dining room, and outside areas to relax. It is a 10-minute walk from the seafront and Bubble Beach natural spa. We will provide a transfer down and back up each day for those who want it. The third week is in Roseau the capital, at the Four-Star Fort Young Hotel.
Each week has six days on the ocean with a local expert whale guide. You will be on the water from 8 AM to around 3 PM. , within walking distance of natural hot waterfalls.
Permits are getting harder and harder to to secure, this is an extremely rare opportunity to photograph these giants, at an unbeatable price. The 8-night trip includes fees, permits, breakfasts, group airport transfers, and transport for one day’s land touring.
November is an excellent time to go as the weather is pleasantly warm at around 29C, the sea is 28C, and rainfall is low. Adult male whales start to appear at this time of year, and group socialising is often observed, and cruise ship season has yet to start.
May is also an excellent month, both for whales and weather. The absence of males means the family units are often closer to shore, cruise ship season is over so the ocean is ours. It's also the flattest and driest time of year.
The first week we will be based at the beautiful Jungle Bay Resort, in the south, overlooking Soufriere and Scotts' Head. The second week is in the budget-friendly but comfortable Soufriere Guesthouse, within walking distance of natural hot waterfalls. Soufriere Guest House doesn't have air-conditioning, but because of its location and the fans in the room, it is not necessary. There is a well-equipped communal kitchen, dining room, and outside areas to relax. It is a 10-minute walk from the seafront and Bubble Beach natural spa. We will provide a transfer down and back up each day for those who want it. The third week is in Roseau the capital, at the Four-Star Fort Young Hotel.
Each week has six days on the ocean with a local expert whale guide. You will be on the water from 8 AM to around 3 PM. , within walking distance of natural hot waterfalls.
Permits are getting harder and harder to to secure, this is an extremely rare opportunity to photograph these giants, at an unbeatable price. The 8-night trip includes fees, permits, breakfasts, group airport transfers, and transport for one day’s land touring.
November is an excellent time to go as the weather is pleasantly warm at around 29C, the sea is 28C, and rainfall is low. Adult male whales start to appear at this time of year, and group socialising is often observed, and cruise ship season has yet to start.
May is also an excellent month, both for whales and weather. The absence of males means the family units are often closer to shore, cruise ship season is over so the ocean is ours. It's also the flattest and driest time of year.
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Jungle Bay Resort
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Soufriere Guesthouse
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Fort Young Hotel
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Current Covid requirements
A negative PCR test, not older than 72 hours, is required to enter the country. A rapid antibody test is carried out on arrival. Once this is passed, you proceed to the accommodation. You are only allowed out the accommodation premises on Safe In Nature experiences, of which the in-water whale encounters are one. On the fifth day after your arrival, a nurse will come to the accommodation to take a PCR test swab. This costs $40 and is at your expense. The result comes back by the end of the following day. If the tests are done before midday, we go out on a Safe in Nature approved land tour.
Once you have your negative result, you are free to roam the island. The test can also be used to board your homebound flight at the end of the week. If you test positive, you are taken to a government facility for monitoring and are tested 10 days after the first positive test sample was taken. There is a cost of $90 per night. As with any trip, It is strongly recommended that you have adequate insurance in place. These regulations may be relaxed before November.
A negative PCR test, not older than 72 hours, is required to enter the country. A rapid antibody test is carried out on arrival. Once this is passed, you proceed to the accommodation. You are only allowed out the accommodation premises on Safe In Nature experiences, of which the in-water whale encounters are one. On the fifth day after your arrival, a nurse will come to the accommodation to take a PCR test swab. This costs $40 and is at your expense. The result comes back by the end of the following day. If the tests are done before midday, we go out on a Safe in Nature approved land tour.
Once you have your negative result, you are free to roam the island. The test can also be used to board your homebound flight at the end of the week. If you test positive, you are taken to a government facility for monitoring and are tested 10 days after the first positive test sample was taken. There is a cost of $90 per night. As with any trip, It is strongly recommended that you have adequate insurance in place. These regulations may be relaxed before November.
Booking
As permits require the participants' names to be submitted, and changes are very difficult to get through, a 50% non-refundable deposit is required to secure a spot. The balance is due 90 days before the trip starts. Payment is via bank transfer. If you bank in Euros or GBP, we can convert and take payment into our local account in these currencies. If the island closes its borders, the trip will be rescheduled.
As permits require the participants' names to be submitted, and changes are very difficult to get through, a 50% non-refundable deposit is required to secure a spot. The balance is due 90 days before the trip starts. Payment is via bank transfer. If you bank in Euros or GBP, we can convert and take payment into our local account in these currencies. If the island closes its borders, the trip will be rescheduled.
Each morning we will go out and use underwater listening devices to locate whale families. Once we have successfully approached a unit, three people will slip into the water, and move slowly towards the whales. Interaction time with one unit could last 30 seconds or 15 minutes, the whales decide. If the interaction lasts more than a few minutes, the three people in the water will swap places with the three on the boat, rotating every few minutes so everyone gets a chance to share the encounter. If the interaction is too brief to allow a switch over, the next encounter will start with the other group of three going in first.
We have had interactions that range from 30 seconds to one that lasted 90 minutes. Out of six days we generally have one without a Sperm Whale sighting. We hear them on the hydrophone, but they don’t pop up. But we also see a number of other cetacean species from the boat, and the view of the island is pretty cool. We get cat-and-mouse days when they are busy feeding too. On these days, they are on the surface for around 10 minutes between dives and the dives last around 45 minutes. We often get short one-minute or so encounters with feeding whales, but can have a dozen in a day. The other days, we have an average of at least 20 minutes in the water each with the whales. On jackpot days, we have spent several hours in the water with socialising units, sometimes several units.
The interactions can take place up to ten miles out to sea, which could be calm or could have some swell. You should be prepared to spend plenty of time on the boat waiting for encounters and looking out, and should also be prepared to do some swimming to approach and follow the whales.
We will take packed lunches with us that you can order from either the hotel restaurant or a local restaurant, or make yourself, and there will be cold water and cooler box on board. Water temperatures will be in the high 20s, and in the water you will be moving quite a lot, so no wetsuit is required.
See our 2018 trip short report and photos here
The program
Day 1 Arrive Melville Hall airport, transfer to Roseau
Day 2 Sperm whales
Day 3 Sperm whales
Day 4 Sperm whales
Day 5 Sperm whales
Day 6 Sperm whales
Day 7 Sperm whales
Day 8 Island tour
Day 9 Return to the airport
Pre- and post-trip extensions
We know the island very well, and can arrange extensions for you for SCUBA diving or hiking.
Some Dominican sperm whale info
Sperm whales form strong lifelong relationships. They babysit for each other, have family traditions passed on by grandmothers, learn a communal dialect, and have different ways of life that resemble our various cultures. They live rich, complex and interesting lives.
The sperm whales off Dominica are predominantly groups of females and their dependent calves living together in 'units'. In the Caribbean, these units are small, about 7 animals, and appear to be matrilineal, (a female line of grandmothers, mothers, and their calves; referred to as families). Young males leave their families in their early teens to roam the open ocean, mostly alone, and may never see their families again. Units of females and their young regularly travel across ranges spanning several islands in the Antilles, but they appear to remain in the Caribbean as these families have never be identified in the neighbouring waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Sargasso Sea, where there is also sperm whale research.
Over 20 different whale families have been identified in the waters off Dominica, and there are about 10 that are seen regularly. Based on researchers’ images, It is known that they have been using these waters since at least 1984, but likely much longer based on their life history. Sperm whales can live to be older than 70 years. Meaning they meet a lot of other whales over their lifetime. It would appear that families have preferences with each other, and these social preferences endure across decades, suggesting that individuals can remember each other despite long separations.
We have had interactions that range from 30 seconds to one that lasted 90 minutes. Out of six days we generally have one without a Sperm Whale sighting. We hear them on the hydrophone, but they don’t pop up. But we also see a number of other cetacean species from the boat, and the view of the island is pretty cool. We get cat-and-mouse days when they are busy feeding too. On these days, they are on the surface for around 10 minutes between dives and the dives last around 45 minutes. We often get short one-minute or so encounters with feeding whales, but can have a dozen in a day. The other days, we have an average of at least 20 minutes in the water each with the whales. On jackpot days, we have spent several hours in the water with socialising units, sometimes several units.
The interactions can take place up to ten miles out to sea, which could be calm or could have some swell. You should be prepared to spend plenty of time on the boat waiting for encounters and looking out, and should also be prepared to do some swimming to approach and follow the whales.
We will take packed lunches with us that you can order from either the hotel restaurant or a local restaurant, or make yourself, and there will be cold water and cooler box on board. Water temperatures will be in the high 20s, and in the water you will be moving quite a lot, so no wetsuit is required.
See our 2018 trip short report and photos here
The program
Day 1 Arrive Melville Hall airport, transfer to Roseau
Day 2 Sperm whales
Day 3 Sperm whales
Day 4 Sperm whales
Day 5 Sperm whales
Day 6 Sperm whales
Day 7 Sperm whales
Day 8 Island tour
Day 9 Return to the airport
Pre- and post-trip extensions
We know the island very well, and can arrange extensions for you for SCUBA diving or hiking.
Some Dominican sperm whale info
Sperm whales form strong lifelong relationships. They babysit for each other, have family traditions passed on by grandmothers, learn a communal dialect, and have different ways of life that resemble our various cultures. They live rich, complex and interesting lives.
The sperm whales off Dominica are predominantly groups of females and their dependent calves living together in 'units'. In the Caribbean, these units are small, about 7 animals, and appear to be matrilineal, (a female line of grandmothers, mothers, and their calves; referred to as families). Young males leave their families in their early teens to roam the open ocean, mostly alone, and may never see their families again. Units of females and their young regularly travel across ranges spanning several islands in the Antilles, but they appear to remain in the Caribbean as these families have never be identified in the neighbouring waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Sargasso Sea, where there is also sperm whale research.
Over 20 different whale families have been identified in the waters off Dominica, and there are about 10 that are seen regularly. Based on researchers’ images, It is known that they have been using these waters since at least 1984, but likely much longer based on their life history. Sperm whales can live to be older than 70 years. Meaning they meet a lot of other whales over their lifetime. It would appear that families have preferences with each other, and these social preferences endure across decades, suggesting that individuals can remember each other despite long separations.