Catamaran Charters
With offices in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, and operating under the new name Catamaran Charters since the merger of Catamaran Charters and Laramon Tours in March 2023, we present 3- to 4-hour sightseeing trips in the calm waters of the Walvis Bay region. The tours include a boat ride to Pelican Point, which is well known for its seal colony and a variety of sea birds. Each of our 7 catamarans has a special platform to allow seals on board. Sparkling wine, fresh oysters, some snacks and cold beverages as well as mineral water are included in your maritime adventure in the Atlantic ocean offshore the Namib desert.
Entertainment on the cruise is left to low flying pelicans, sea gulls, cormorants displaying their amazing ability to spot fish and catch them in mid air while in full flight or swoop down and pick it out of your hand without missing a beat. As we glide along, we will be joined by seals and dolphins alongside or surfing in the slipstream of the catamarans motors. Some old friends might join us onboard for their snacks while the dolphins frolic around the catamarans.
We offer multilingual sailing cruises and tours in English, Afrikaans and German. Please confirm your nationality and preference upon booking.
Activities
We also offer 4-hour pelagic birding excursions as well as 3.5-hour educational dolphin and seal cruises where you can also see Leatherback turtles and Mola (sunfish) or in season whales.
Our 8-hour marine desert adventure is the ultimate combination of viewing our marine life on a leisure sailing cruise on the Atlantic Ocean and exploring our fauna and flora with a ride in the breathtaking Sandwich Harbour Area of the Namib Naukluft Park with its stunning dunes, desert lanscape and animals as well as many photographic opportunities.
If you are looking for more activity join us at our daily expertly guided morning kayaking in the calm waters at Pelican Point where a Cape Fur Seal colony resides. Closely interact with curious seals, chill on the water or get some exercise by actively kayaking taking in the spectacular coastal scenery. This is the ideal kayaking adventure for the whole family. You can also combine this exciting outdoor activity with our dolphin and seal cruise.
Alternatively, enjoy a sundowner sailing cruise with us.
We hoist the sails of our sailing catamarans whenever possible, switch off the engines and let you experience true sailing. You can even help in putting up the sails and rigging the lines.
Private Events
Enjoy the stunning panoramic views with Catamaran Charters and spend time with your favourite people. We can host any type of function on our catamarans. Your logistical specifications will determine how we can tailor the experience to your needs. You decide how long you want to spend on board. Cruising, chilling, dancing, eating, drinking - sounds good doesn't it?
You might also want to explore the diamonds "Sperrgebiet" south of Luderitz and the Tsau //Kaeb National Park with our affiliate company Bogenfels & Diamonds Tours.
Dolphin Encountours Research Center
Since 1995, the founder of Dolphin Encountours, Angie Gullan has been sharing the magical wonder of coming face to face with the wild dolphins of Ponta do Ouro, pioneering the way in ethical, educational and responsible practice for tours with these sentient non-human persons whom she calls the "people of the sea. We, the team of this research center, cater for the discerning dolphin enthusiast and offer an intimate look into the lives of our local dolphins while funding research and conservation efforts in the marine reserve in Mozambique.
Being a culture of carers and creators who prove that ethical and educational marine mammal tourism can be achieved when merging both spirit and science, we feel that a close and moving experience with dolphins and whales in their own environment is the best way to conserve them for future generations.
We specialize in creating a safe space for intimate encounters to take place with wild dolphins while contributing to their well-being, and are happiest when we are out in the field, checking in on our finned friends and are deeply committed to our role in protecting their environment. Through our research and conservation arm DolphinCareAfrica, we have collected and maintained a long-term data set and have historical records by means of images and video archived with over 8000 entries as well as approximately 250 individuals catalogued. Lineage has been tracked on resident females, some as far as 5 generations.
We invite you to take the plunge and experience something truly magical when coming face to face with these intelligent marine mammals. The past two decades have been spent nurturing a friendship and creating opportunities for human dolphin encounters to take place that works within the realms of conscious interaction. We work with a gregarious population of dolphins affectionately called the Dolphins of Ponta who find home in the coastal shallows of the Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve which borders the iSimangaliso World Heritage Site within the Lubumbo Transfrontier Conservation Area of South Africa and Mozambique.
Our Tours
Choose between our signature full Encountour and the mini or the casual dolphin Encountours or the 3 hour whale Encountour which is dedicated to boat based, seasonal whale viewing, including listening in with our special microphone to hear the migrating whales communicating down below and to gather data.
The full tour has been specially created to accommodate the myriad of different wild dolphin behaviours, each offering a unique insight into the way of the unterwater wilds. If you seek to spend a bit more time in the company of our dolphins, this is THE tour for you. Humpback whale viewing is incorporated from July to November.
The mini tour is a no frills option of two launches to visit our local dolphins and whales in season. Depending on group dynamics and sea state two launches can be combined to make a longer launch on this tour and on the full tour.
The casual tour is a once off ocean surfari to look for dolphins and whales in season, and depending on time, snorkel over some shallow reef.
Encountours include a pre-launch presentation with an introduction to our local dolphins, our long-term monitoring efforts, the DolphinCareAfrica code of conduct, boat and ocean safety, as well as the gear use on the day (mask, snorkel, fins), snorkel tax and video of your Encountour on-line.
Hermanus Whale Cruises
A warm welcome to Hermanus Whale Cruises who offer you a "tail" you can tell others, and an incredible, up close experience of 2 hours boat-based whale watching in Hermanus on South Africa’s whale coast.
We have been operating in the Walker Bay area since the first permits for boat based whale watching were granted in 1998. All our skippers and guides are registered tour guides and come from the local community of Hawston just outside of Hermanus. Their combined experience enables us to provide you with a vast amount of local information, especially within the boat based whale watching area.
Our Tours
Our boat based whale watching company is based in the new harbour of Hermanus on the Cape south coast, a 90-minute drive from Cape Town. We can take up to 87 passengers including 5 crew members on board. There is an open top viewing deck that seats 28 passengers, while the front viewing deck seats 7. Our "Whale Cruiser" is wheelchair-friendly! We serve snacks, mineral water and soft drinks during the trip. Our seasonal operating period is from June to December.
Southern Right Whales are migratory mammals. They spend one season in one place and the rest of the year in another, and travel long distances in between these seasons. In summer (December through May), they are in the cold polar regions of the Southern Hemisphere where food (mainly krill) is present and plentiful. Winters (June through November) are spent around the shallow coastal waters of Southern Africa, South America and Australia. The shallow, sandy-bottomed and sheltered bays of our coastline are perfect for mating, calving, nursing their young and resting.
From January to May and four time s a day (weather permitting), we also offer one to two hours long eco-tours, a sight-seeing experience where you can interact with dolphins, seals, clawless otters and a variety of sea birds.
If you would like to explore South Africa’s diverse culture on land, join us for a cultural tours where you meet the local people and learn more of their history, culture and environment. We will also visit several historic fishing villages and Moravian mission stations, and gladly arrange a township tour.
Ocean Blue Adventures
Situated on South Africa's renowned Garden Route coastline, our Ocean Blue Adventures team provides visitors to Plettenberg Bay with the opportunity to sample the finest the bay has to offer, whether you are interested in the abundant marine life, magnificent scenery or the lifestyle of the locals. Our qualified and experienced staff of skippers and guides are ready to assist you to make the most of your visit to this very special area of the country, courtesy of their enthusiasm for and understanding of their subjects, which demonstrates our commitment for the community.
Our Activities
Join our permitted marine excursions with a specialist permit, and have an extraordinary intimate and up-close experience with several whale species (seasonal), dolphins, seals and a variety of birds or sharks as well as pelagic fish on one of our boat-based ocean safaris which take 1.5 to 2 hours and depart four times daily.
Also, join us for a guided hike in the coastal Robberg Nature Reserve and afterwards stretch your legs on the beach of this stunning peninsula, where the rich fauna, flora and beautiful scenery will take your breath away in more ways than one.
At a more leisurely pace, take a cultural tour with one of our resident guides, stop by our creche, at a local church service or watch the youngsters practice their musical skills.
Conservation Based Tourism
Ocean Blue Adventures is a pioneering organisation in South Africa conducting professional conservation orientated whale and dolphin marine eco-tours. In cooperation with the Qolweni Community Development Trust the emphasis of all our operations is placed on conservation through community development, education and research. We aim to give a holistic real marine experience to all our guests aimed at raising awareness of marine mammal conservation and the direct need to realistically conserve our oceans.
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