Dolphin watching in Gran Canaria: what we can and can't promise

Why nothing is guaranteed

They are wild animals in open water. They follow food and weather, not a timetable, and no skipper can steer them alongside a hull. Sightings on this coast are frequent enough that we mention them at all, but frequent is not the same word as certain. An operator who guarantees them is either refunding a great many people every week or counting on you not to ask.

How to give yourself the best odds

• Take the longest departure. The Catamaran boat trip runs four hours and spends more of them on the stretch where they usually turn up.
• Go in the morning. The 10:30 sailing tends to find flatter water, and flat water makes a fin far easier to pick out.
• Stay on deck. Most sightings get called by somebody who was looking, not by somebody who was at the bar.
• Keep the phone down until there is something to film. People miss the whole thing while framing a shot.

What you will actually see

Usually bottlenose dolphins in a group, moving quickly, occasionally riding the bow wave for a minute before they peel away. Whales pass this coast too, less often. It is not a show and there is no feeding: the boat holds its course, and they either come across or they do not.

The other three departures

The Glass bottom boat trip covers the same coastline for the same four hours, so your chance is broadly similar, with the advantage that you can watch from inside. The boat party is louder and busier, which does not help anybody spot anything. A private catamaran charter of two or three hours simply covers less water.

If the sea says no

Sightings are not the only thing we refuse to promise. When conditions stop a boat leaving, the trip moves to another date or the money comes back in full, and that refund is the one written guarantee attached to any of this.