Before Your Tour

Time on the water during the standard Albatross Encounter tour is around about two hours.

Our success rate for the albatross is very high at around 99%. But due to weather restrictions such as low fog and hot calm days when flying conditions for the larger birds are not ideal, there are times we might not be able to view the normal array of seabirds. In such situations when tours are affected by fog or sudden weather events, we do have a partial refund policy.

It’s always a good idea to bring some warm clothing, a hat, sunglasses, and of course a camera with full battery and lots of memory space for those fantastic photo opportunities! A variety of lenses for your camera is an advantage, with the wide angle for close ups and zoom for the more distant shots. 

We tend to recommend our morning tours as the sea conditions are generally calmer and the commercial fisherman usually are out on the ocean which helps attract the seabirds. If possible we like to take advantage of this by stopping near fishing boats as they will often have a good selection of birds waiting around their boats.

With regard to time of year, we tend to have more varied sightings in late spring/early summer and autumn - October/November and March through May.  These are the cross-over months when both winter and summer species are either coming or going, so can offer the greatest diversity of species.  We see a wide variety of pelagics year round, and can never guarantee specific sightings of individual birds as they are completely wild and every tour is unique.

Lots! There's a wide variety of seabirds in the area, including many species of albatross, shearwaters and petrels. This link will give you an indication of what you might see on our tours and when you're most likely to see particular species. We also have daily sightings reports for recent tours.

We highly recommend you make a reservation, especially in the summer season when demand is high.

CHECK AVAILABILITY AND BOOK

Absolutely! But as an open-ocean experience, we do require that children be at least 3 years of age to participate. Our Skippers also reserve the right to increase the minimum age requirements on the day of the tour if there are adverse sea or weather conditions.  In this instance a refund is available.  Children under 3 years are not permitted aboard.

Albatross Encounter Child Policy

If you need to change or cancel your reservation if you notify us before 4pm on the day prior to your scheduled tour date there will be no penalty. If you don't let us know, or let us know after that time, full fare penalties will apply.

We try our best to make this experience available for everyone. However, due to our robust health and safety procedures, and the prevailing sea conditions on any given day, we do have a few restrictions.

As a general rule our boats are unable to accommodate wheelchairs, but we can accommodate passengers who are unable to sit unaided.

Before your booking, please drop our Customer Service manager a line about what you would need from us to facilitate your tour experience. We will always do our best to help.