WHALE TOUR - Watching and Swimming with Whales
Badge of Excellence
Moorea, French Polynesia
- 4 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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OverviewAuto-translated
What's Included
- Use of Snorkeling equipmentUse of Snorkelling equipment
- Bottled water
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
What To Expect
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
I highly recommend this company! The crew was incredibly dedicated, professional, and truly caring — both towards the guests and the animals. You could really feel their passion and deep respect for nature. Thanks to them, we saw whales up close in a safe and respectful way — an unforgettable experience!
Reviews
4.6
based on 94 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
We had an amazing time getting into the water with the whales. Our guides were great, I would recommend this to anyone.
The captain and guide were excellent. Please listen to their instructions. They know what they are doing. Instructions were clear and concise. Made sure you found whales or dolphins. Made sure you were ok in the water and was respectful to all issues. Remember you are in the open ocean and need to take the dive seriously and be cognizant of your surroundings. They went out of their way to ensure our safety and truly wonderful experience. I would recommend this group to all. Thank you so much for the experience. Merci
For us this was a once in a lifetime experience. Nothing will prepare you for seeing a whale so close and in it’s own environment! We were lucky enough to see a turtle too as a bonus. If you’re not a strong swimmer you may struggle to keep up, I had to tie my wife along, other groups fell behind.
Must be a good swimmer. Possibly a better explanation of what to expect would be in order. We had a very unique and unforgettable experience that would have been excellent with a bit more preparation by the guide. He was very knowledgeable but does it everyday and we will do it once in our lifetimes!
For example, the guide kept saying to stay behind him but when you don’t know where he is going you have to stare at him and you can miss the whales!!
I don’t know how to put into words how highly i would recommend this experience, this is an absolute must do. The crew is amazing this is my 2nd year in a row with this same company and they make you feel safe and they make a real effort to make sure you get to swim with whales. Just not one negative thing to say about this company and crew.
Worst tour ever! Weather was horrible. We should never have gone out. 40 mile an hour winds and 10 foot swales. We went out and sat in a group of 2 other boats waiting with no plan or time frame to get close to one whale. No music, nothing g just sat there getting g tossed around for two hours. Kid went upon the room of the boat and talked on his phone. We made them bring us back after 2 hours. This was not a whale WATCH. It was a park and wait up to
Four hours to MAYBE get close to a whale. Save your money. Book with another company and don’t go out in bad weather.
Our guide Johan and captain Pappy were amazing! We saw a big beautiful
Whale and they were safe and respectful
Of the whales, and took great care of us. I highly recommend. The best experience!!
I took this tour with my boyfriend along with two other, nice snorkeling guests who unfortunately did not match us at all. They were young, very athletic, and had professional equipment with them. We are in our sixties and normal, good swimmers.
Our problem: The group must always stay together. The guide bluntly demanded that we keep up with the young, experienced diving couple – which was impossible from the very beginning! Among other things, the young couple had wetsuits and huge swim fins, while we only received small fins from the boat and had to wear life jackets. During the briefing, it was seriously demanded of us that we must keep up with the two of them, otherwise we would have to stay on the boat!
After only a single snorkeling session, during which a whale could only be seen very briefly and shadow-like, we were high-fived by the guide and banished to the boat for the rest of the tour. That was an insolence! As a guide, he is paid to ensure that everyone who can swim normally and has a moderate level of fitness can participate in the snorkeling sessions! The homepage literally states: "Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level." He, on the other hand, decided that he did not want to bother with us and preferred to have fun himself with the outstandingly athletic young couple!
For hours we had to watch the others having fun while we had to remain behind on the hot boat! And for that, we had to pay 650 USD together!!! For this rip-off, a refund would be the bare minimum of decency!
Unreal experience swimming with the whales, highly recommend if you get the chance! We got to swim with 3 whales for an hour or so that were pretty close to us. Our captain Nicola and guide Henua were awesome. Very mindful of respecting the whales space while making sure we had a great experience. They had a little floatation ring to help anyone who isn’t a super strong swimmer or was getting tired while swimming. Got us a taxi on the way back that way we didn’t have to ride back on the boat in the wind or rain which was much appreciated! Will definitely never forget this experience :)
Yoann was our guide and Papi Niko was our driver and a second scout. Great guys but Papi does not speak English. Yoann is very knowledgeable about the whales and their behaviors, which was helpful in predicting when they would dive and when they would come back up for air. We located a mother and her baby pretty quickly but there were already 3 other boats there so we had to wait our turn. Be patient, there could be a lot of waiting during this excursion. When we entered the water, you have to swim quickly and it can be tiring but we had wetsuits and were very buoyant so no issues. The water was flat and very calm the day we went.
Other tours that were there were not following the guidelines and that did not help with the whales behavior. They were chasing the whale and not remaining in a tight group as you are supposed to do. Yoann spoke to them to no avail.
We did swim near the whale and it was awesome. The other groups behavior kept her further away than she probably would have been but it was still amazing to be in the water with her. She was stunning to watch and it made you realize just how small we really are! We only went in the water once, due to regulations set by the authorities, but t hat was all we needed, we swam with the humpback! I would recommend this excursion, it is worth the cost and Yoann is excellent at what he does.
Yoann was an incredible guide, taking time to tell us about the whales while we waited for our opportunity to swim with them. We were finally able to swim with them at the end of the tour, and we had many beautiful views of them swimming around as we waited for the right time to get in the water. I highly recommend this tour - be honest about your swimming ability because it can be challenging and recognize that while your guide will do their best, whales can be unpredictable and you may not actually swim with them! Overall, it’s a once in a lifetime chance and completely worth it.
My husband took the tour and loved it. He said it was a life changing experience for him. The people were professional and were great! They provided a video of our excursion that day with the whales. I was able to see and hear a mom and baby whale, and again it was incredible! Would definitely recommend!
Yohan and Nico were both nice and talented! It is such an art to find whales. Especially for us it was a rough sea and we could have waited for several hours in line to watch a whale but Yohan decided to move so we dont have to wait like that and lucky us we found 3 whales together including a giangantic one, we went in water 3 times ! Incredible and unforgettable moments.
Went into this expecting we might not see whales in the water since that’s just nature, and we were fine with that risk. What we weren’t prepared for was the organizational side of things. At our spot, 4-5 other boats had already arrived, and regulations only allow 3 boats in the water at once — so we had to wait our turn. By the time it came, the whales had moved on.
What was frustrating is that our guide didn’t try pivoting to another location, even though we asked about that possibility early on. Maybe every spot would’ve had the same crowding, but for an expensive tour on a boat that wasn’t particularly high quality, it would’ve been nice to at least attempt somewhere else. Because we were stuck waiting further out, we also barely got to see the whales from the boat itself.
If you go in expecting basically a 4-hour boat ride with a small chance of a whale encounter, you’ll be fine. If you’re hoping to actually see something, know that the outcome may come down to boat traffic and timing more than the whales themselves. I wouldn’t recommend committing half a day to this if your time in Moorea is limited, unless you’re comfortable with the real possibility of seeing nothing at all.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Ia ora na,
Thank you for your feedback; we are sorry that your experience with us did not meet expectations.
It was indeed the start of the season with few whales around; my team did their
best! You did manage one successful in-water sighting, though it wasn't possible to try again at the end of the trip due to the high number of boats on the water relative to the number of whales present during your early-August outing. In fact, we extended the tour by 45 minutes, which shows that our team really tried everything. One successful in-water encounter is still better than none; and consider we go out for 6 people and you were only 3 that day.. as you said, we are dealing with nature...
Mauruuru roa
This tour is pure magic. Seeing whales in their natural habitat is so special. It’s something I’ll never forget.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Ia ora na,
Thank you to choose us and so glad you had an unforgettable moment!
Mauruuru roa!
Hinicko was the best guy ever
The captain was amazing too
We have the best time ever
The crew really knew what to do
I highly recommend this company! The crew was incredibly dedicated, professional, and truly caring — both towards the guests and the animals. You could really feel their passion and deep respect for nature. Thanks to them, we saw whales up close in a safe and respectful way — an unforgettable experience!
What an incredible experience, with an incredible guide! We were travelling to Moorea on a cruise so I was very worried about communication without having wifi. At first I was very upset, I tried reaching out on several occasions looking for answers on where to meet, how do we know who they are, what if the ship can’t dock but we have no wifi; those sort of questions. It took days to get a response and every time I asked something in return to their response… days. The night before we left, we were ready to cancel because of the lack of communication and not knowing for certain what was happening. Thankfully everything worked out for the better, and our guide Henua, was absolutely incredible. He is a huge reason this trip is getting 5 stars. His people skills, knowledge, and leadership through this whole experience was amazing. Apart from the whales, he is the reason for the 5 stars, I give him as a guide 5+ stars for this experience. Thank you for this amazing opportunity!
Wow! This is truly an incredible experience. We saw a mother and baby; they got so close to us! You definitely need to be a decent swimmer.
Our guide, Nicolas, and boat driver, Henua, were knowledgable, skilled, and accommodating. They had cold beverages available on the ride back and dropped people off right at their resort if it was along the water. This is a must-do while in Mo’orea.
Suggestions- wear a wetsuit if you have one and bring your own fins. They give you a life jacket which creates a lot of drag. Snorkel gear is provided, but we would have been more comfortable in our own fins.
Nicolas and Henua made our experience a 10/10 experience. Our time out at sea with the humpbacks was a one of a kind, up close and breath taking experience. I would recommend to anyone wanting a one of a kind experience.
Henua and our capitan were so friendly and got us right on the whales! Remarkable experience for our honeymoon HIGHLY recommend. The beers after were a nice touch!
Wonderful experience! It is a lot of waiting but absolutely worth it and one of the most amazing experiences we have had. The guide and captain were wonderful and very knowledgeable. We look forward to going again
I would highly recommend this trip, Nicolas and Henua were fantastic, we had some pretty large swells but at no time did we feel worried, Nicolas handled it very well! Henua was extremely informative about the whales and the island. He was a great guide, we watched each of us and made sure we were all ok. We were able to see a mom and calf!
This was an absolute incredible experience. We had an amazing time out with our guide Johan and Niko. The boat was fairly small and the waves were quite large so would recommend taking gravol before hand if you are sensitive to sea sickness. We saw many whales from the boat and swam with a momm and her calf for approximately 30 min. Worth the money and would do this again in a heart beat!!! They provide snorkel gear and life jackets that you must wear out once swimming with the whales. Johan gave had a Go Pro and took video of our Whale encounters and then provided us the footage afterwards. Must Do if you can swim and are okay with big waves once way out in the ocean.
Great tour with knowledgeable guide! Great communication before and during the tour. Provided us with several opportunities to be in the water swimming with the whales. Highlight was putting us in the path of a family pod with a calf where all three whales passed within 20-30 feet of our group in the water. Some in our group got great pictures to share. This tour was worth every penny and then some! Highly recommend!
Truly amazing experience! Our guide Henua was really helpful and made sure we had a great experience while totally respecting the nature and the whales. He contacted other boats to ask for any sightings and even extended the tour so that we were able to see the whales. Our captain Nicolas was very sweet and helpful as well. All in all: 100% recommend!
The experience was indescribable, I was left speechless after seeing the whales that close up. Henau and the captain were extremely friendly and helpful getting us around the water and in and out of the boat. If I could leave 100 stars I would. Best experience of my life.
Great experience! We mixed up our days and would have missed our adventure but the company text, emailed, called our hotel and called our personal cells. My wife and I both got sick and they still made it a great experience. Still getting us out to see a whale for a few minutes (others with us got about 20 minutes with a baby showing off). The only reason we don’t was because we were sick. We watched from the boat which was still great to see. The guide was very tentative to us being sick and seeing if we needed anything. Then they took us for a trip around the calm waters of the lagoon. All around I would still recommend 10/10!
This tour operates with an open air boat with no protection from the elements. It was rainy on the day i went and we nearly froze to death before getting back. But we did see and get to swim with whales! Captain and guide were both great.
Amazing experience seeing mother and calf whales interact in the water. Company emphasized safety and respect towards the whales. Definitely a lifetime bucket list activity.
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$291.18
per personWas $306.50(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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WHALE TOUR - Watching and Swimming with Whales
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