Tenerife Whale Watching

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We will be in Tenerife for the second and third times in November of next year (2024) while we are on 2 different cruises that stop at the island each time.  I see that whale watching is in season at that time.  Can anyone recommend a tour operator that operates out of the cruise ship area for whale watching?  I doubt if we would want to travel to the other side of the island to do this.  It is still early, but I don't see a ship excursion doing this. We have done a regular island tour on our first visit a few years ago.

[Kmkub]

I am bumping this up as hopefully some new eyes will catch it.  We are on the TA home bound for FLL as well, and aren’t sure what to do here. The Princess excursions do not interest at all, but whale watching looks like a do-it-yourself nightmare that is bound to fail.

 

 

 

 

[BlueSkiesTX]

On 8/21/2023 at 7:21 PM, Sunny AZ Girl said:

We will be in Tenerife for the second and third times in November of next year (2024) while we are on 2 different cruises that stop at the island each time.  I see that whale watching is in season at that time.  Can anyone recommend a tour operator that operates out of the cruise ship area for whale watching?  I doubt if we would want to travel to the other side of the island to do this.  It is still early, but I don't see a ship excursion doing this. We have done a regular island tour on our first visit a few years ago.

We just returned from a Celebrity Infinity cruise to the Canary Islands. We went to the south part of the island in Tenerife for whale watching. It was Christmas Day, so excursions through the cruise line were limited. I also wanted to do something fun for my water-loving teen daughters. Keep in mind this is Christmas Day, so we knew transport would be limited. We ended up taking two taxis for the 5 of us. The bigger taxis were not available at the time. Though pricey, our taxi drivers stayed while we took our 3 hour sail with Monte Cristo Catamaran and drove us back to the cruise port in plenty of time. Honestly, I think we made their Christmas. They collected a nice fare with minimal effort on Christmas Day. Monte Cristo Catamaran is top-notch. You can check out their reviews on TripAdvisor. We did see plenty of pilot whales surfacing as well as a few turtles. Pilot whales look like long, black dolphins. The catamaran served drinks and food throughout the voyage and there was time for a 45 minute swim. Although the water was frigid at first, I found it to be pretty relaxing after the first minute. And, I say this as someone who HATES cold water/cold weather.

 

Sunny AZ Girl, to answer your question, we could not find a whale watching tour that left near the cruise ship port. From what I could find, all of the whale watching occurs at the south of the island.

 

Kmkub, if you can get cheap transport to the south of the island, a sail and swim is lot of fun in Tenerife. As someone who has snorkeled extensively in Bonaire, Mexico and Caribbean, I did not see amazing sea life here. The pilot whales and few sea turtles were delightful to watch, but I am sure it is much better in other places around the world. Was it a great way to spend a Christmas morning in Tenerife? Absolutely. 

 

I am happy to answer any other questions you may have.