Yachts and boat tours to Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
Waters in Banderas Bay off Banderas Bay
Wild dolphins share Banderas Bay with the boats that cross it, and a morning spent looking for them is one of the quieter ways to see the bay. It is a search on open water, so a sighting is never certain.
- Bottlenose dolphins, year round
Marinas
- Marina Nuevo Vallarta
- Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta
When to see Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottlenose dolphin | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen | Seen |
The darker mark is the months the source names as best. Months from vallartanatours.com.
Near Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
A fishing village on the northern shore of Banderas Bay, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, about 25 km from Puerto Vallarta.
- Whale watching
Banderas Bay Whale Grounds
The open water of Banderas Bay, where humpback whales spend the winter, a short run from Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta and La Cruz. It is an area, not a spot: the whales move every day, and a sighting is never certain.
Bucerías
A beach town of about 16,000 people on the north shore of Banderas Bay, in Nayarit. Yacht days along its shore start from Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz, about 2.3 nautical miles away.
Banderas Bay
The Pacific bay itself, closed by Punta Mita to the north and Cabo Corrientes to the south, with Puerto Vallarta on its shore. Its islands, rocks and dive sites sit in this water.
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
- Fishing
Nuevo Vallarta
A planned resort town on the north shore of Banderas Bay, built around canals, golf and a long white-sand beach.
- Fishing
Puerto Vallarta
A resort city on the Jalisco shore of Banderas Bay, and a base for boat days to Los Arcos, Yelapa and the Marietas Islands.
- Swimming
Litibú Beach
A Pacific-facing beach on the north shore of the Punta de Mita peninsula, reached by boat around the point from the Banderas Bay marinas.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
- Paddleboarding
- Scuba diving
Los Arcos de Mismaloya
Five granite islets just off Mismaloya, about 12 km south of Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay, with arches cut through the larger rocks and reef walls below.
Maps © OpenStreetMap
About Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
Dolphins in open water
Bottlenose dolphins live in Banderas Bay all year, and going out by boat to look for them is an outing offered from more than one harbour on its shore. These are free animals in the open sea, not a show and not an enclosure. Where a group turns up changes from one day to the next, so a dolphin outing is a search: the captain and crew watch the surface for fins and splashes, and steer toward any group they find.
Where on the bay
The shaded area on our map is an approximation, not a boundary: the north-east of the bay, off the shore between Nuevo Vallarta and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, where outings from Nuevo Vallarta go looking before stopping at the beach of La Manzanilla. Dolphins range over the whole bay, and they are also seen around the Marietas Islands, so the captain goes wherever they are showing that day.
When to look
Dolphin outings run on the bay across more than one season rather than in a single short window, so there is no one month to aim for. Because the dolphins are wild, no outing can promise a sighting, and some mornings pass without one.
Getting out by boat
Boats head out looking for dolphins from Marina Vallarta, on the Puerto Vallarta shore, and from Nuevo Vallarta, at the head of the bay; both are among our boarding points. A shared outing of this kind lasts about three to four hours, dock to dock. On a yacht of your own choosing, the time given to the search is yours to set, and it can be one part of a longer day on the bay. We'll confirm the plan and the boarding point when you book.
How to watch
The best encounters are the ones the dolphins choose. Near a group, a good captain slows right down, holds a steady line beside it and never runs at the animals or offers them food. If they come in to ride the bow wave, that is their decision. Keep voices low, stay seated while the boat turns, and keep hands out of the water.
What to bring
A hat, sun cover, drinking water and a camera with a fast shutter, since fins break the surface for only a moment.