No guest seems to care if we see dolphins and few are the ones that want to know which dolphins we saw. So we created the page about what everyone seems to care about.
22 tours with no dolphins since 2018 in Lisbon.
- 11 failed tours in 2018 (slow sailing boat)
- 5 failed tours in 2019
- Zero failed tours in 2020 (very few tours)
- 2 failed tours in 2021 (very few tours)
- Zero failed tours in 2022 (very few tours)
- 4 failed tours in 2023
- Zero failed tours in 2024
- Zero failed tours in 2025
Here are the last tours that we didn’t see any dolphins!
Only Birds…
Regular tour
In January 2023 we saw nothing but sea birds on an Ocean tour (this is likely the tour that you will be going). Quite good sea conditions, no reason to have failed.. unfortunately this trip was featured on a youtube channel… quite an impression uh? Prior to this one, was in July 2021 where it was even more dramatic, with very good sea conditions and 3 boats looking for the dolphins… no soul was found and were the guests that asked to stop looking and go back. Prior to that one was January 2020, this time due to a strike on the petrol stations, we had to cut the tour shorter for refuelling mid tour, wasting precious search time.
Coastal tour
There was a coastal tour (extinct) in May 2023 that we only saw seabirds. It’s an extinct shorter tour, that despite extending to the 3h, like the ocean tour, we saw nothing due to very bad sea conditions. We got a 4 star review on for it and we did a partial refund for direct bookings.
River tour
Also in May 2023 we missed the dolphins on a river tour (rarely done), a short tour focused in the city sightseeing and despite going all the way to the river mouth, no dolphins were seen. This happened in one other river tour in 2023, however we did found the dolphins in all other river tours, even with dolphins not being the main goal of this tour.
Large boat
On November 2023, we missed the dolphins on a custom tour on a large boat in Setubal, a port 1h away from Lisbon.. and we failed to see them. This is the reason for doing our regular tours on a speedboat, as speed means more area covered. Prior to this one, we missed on the same large boat in December 2021.
Cancelled tours
On April 2025 we went out on an afternoon tour. The sea conditions turned out to be much more severe than the forecast and we couldn’t get out of the river due to large waves. We’re forced to return before reaching the Sea. The tour was cancelled and everyone refunded.
The previous time weather made us cancel and turn around was on March 2024 when a severe rain and hail from a Cumulus nimbus cloud soaked every guest way before reaching the Sea.
On November 2025, we didn’t had enough guests to do a tour so we transferred them to our fellow colleagues.. and they didn’t saw any dolphins… since this was a last minute change, we refunded 50% (refunds are only illegible on our tours). The previous time that our guests didn’t saw dolphins on our colleague’s boats was in May 2024.
No dolphins BUT
On August 2024, was the last time with didn’t saw dolphins, but we did find orcas. Technically orcas are dolphins, but the experience is more similar to a whale watching experience than a dolphin watching experience, so we included this one.
On November 2025, we did find 2 harbour porpoises, but for a second each of the 5 times we managed to spot them, 100m away… quite a disastrous tour… this was the last tour with a rating of 1 star. The previous time was in December 2024, 2 dolphins seen twice for 5 seconds.
On August 2023, was our last tour that we only found one whale, no dolphins. Prior to this one, was back in 2018 were we ‘only’ found 2 minke whales and got a 2 star review.. yay! (close enough to be sprayed by the blow)