Great experience. Captains Robbie and Jason gave us a great tour and loads of information about dolphins. It's affordable, too. We were fortunate to see 2 babies swimming alongside their mothers. I highly recommend. read more

See all

Mel and Captain Deb were great! It is a great place to learn a ton about Hilton Head and get to see dolphins!

Mel and Deb were fabulous and we learned so much about our ecosystem as well as seeing dolphins

Laura and captain Jaison were amazing guides on this awesome 90 minute cruise! Laura was hilarious and shared so many personal stories and recommendations along the way! We were amazed with what we saw! read more

Dolphin Seafari - Boat Tours Near Me - Hilton Head, South Carolina

If you're looking for a great cruise then look no further. For a fair price, you get a great tour of the marshes with an experienced guide and get to see great wildlife and some dolphins as well through the trip. Our guide was extremely helpful and made great conversation with us and everyone else on the boat. read more

If you're looking for a great dolphin cruise that's reasonably priced, about an hour and a half, and includes donuts and coffee, look no further! My family decided to go on a dolphin cruise during our vacation to Hilton Head to celebrate my parents 60th birthdays and do something fun for my nephews and niece (twin 6 yr olds and 3 yr old). We had been on dolphin cruises in the past over the years but the Dolphin Seafari was by far the best! We opted for the Donuts with Dolphins dolphin cruise and it was great! They also have other options without Donuts and you can bring a cooler with whatever you want as well. Once onboard, it was just another family of 7 and our family of 10 which was perfect! We had a wide variety of donut options from Dunkin Donuts, juice, water bottles, hot coffee and as a special treat they are now officially serving iced coffee also! Captain Tim and Mate Beth were great guides and provided lots of cool facts and an overall great experience. We were lucky to see a lot of dolphins and even a baby dolphin on our journey out. They also do a crab demonstration where they pull some crabs out of the water and you have the opportunity to touch them. I would recommend arriving about 30 minutes early to check in and make sure you can find parking. Their blue booth is located in front of ELAs at Shelter Cove. Our family had a blast and will definitely be using Dolphin Seafari in the future! Highly recommend Dolphin Seafari for your next dolphin adventure! read more

Dolphin Seafari - Boat Tours Near Me - Hilton Head, South Carolina

See all

We took the 5:00pm tour with Captain Deb and First Mate Mel. Because I am handicapped, the crew asked me to board last so the boat would be lower which made it easy for me to step aboard. They reserved a seat for us. What great service and thoughtfulness! I am so grateful. We saw lots of dolphins including calves. All in all, a wonderful trip. read more

What a wonderful experience! We had fun and actually learned new things about the local sea life. There were quite a few dolphin sightings. Of course the dolphins are wild and there's never a guarantee you'll see any at all. We feel fortunate we saw so many. The staff (Captain Tim and Michelle) were kind, polite, and very informative. They never spoke down to us when we asked questions. We would definitely do this again! read more

Amazing! Saw so many dolphins. Boat was clean and safe. Great for adults and kids! Guide was so sweet and very informative. Free water was given as well. read more

Great dolphin cruise with Laura and Captain Jason. Laura was friendly, personable and very knowledgeable. Captain Jason had an eagle eye for spotting dolphins. We even saw pelicans. They created a fun and relaxed atmosphere, and they seemed to really enjoy their jobs. read more

We had such a great tour with Alex and Captain Vern! They were super with the young kids. The dolphins and other sea life were incredible and the team was really knowledgeable. read more

It's impossible to adequately describe our experience with Dolphin Seafari. The four of us were picked up at the Disney Hilton Head Resort, across the water from their office, and after picking up 12 other passengers at the office, our journey of 1.5 hours began. As Capt. Jason expertly maneuvered the pontoon boat, Deb began her expert narration of our dolphin quest. As she described many aspects of dolphin life, we proceeded to the open area of water where their experience tells them the dolphins usually show up. We were not disappointed, as we encountered a female dolphin and her cub which graced us with their swimming prowess, as Deb continued to regale us with scientific and fun facts that helped us to better appreciate this intelligent, caring species. One of a recurring mysteries of life to me is why the dolphins for thousands of years have been fascinated and protective of humans, and I can only respond that it is a true blessing. Any time you can enjoy this special experience is something you need to do, because you will be the better for it. read more

Deborah and captain tim were great! My husband didn't bring a jacket and it was a bit cold-captain Tim gave him one to borrow. Deborah is so knowledgeable about the area and animals that live there, we learned so much- On top of the dolphins we saw swimming. Our 9 year old loved learning about more animals like all the birds that call the island home and how the ecosystem with the marsh and the ocean work together. There was not one thing she taught us that we already knew. We learned some island history and real estate too that was intriguing. Highly recommend this tour and it's reasonably priced. You can tell they love their jobs and truly love and admire where they live. Thanks guys! read more

First mate, Debra, was wonderful, sharing things about the area, the wildlife we saw and yes, we saw dolphins - multiple times while out on our 1.5 hour cruise! Captain Vern was a compliment to Debra. They made a great team. It was beautiful out on our 11am tour. Just very enjoyable and relaxing trip. Would do it again next time I am here. read more

Had a great time. The boat was accessible with my daughter's wheelchair. We saw dolphins within the first 10 minutes of the tour.

A delightful experience from beginning to end. Frances, our guide, was so entertaining and knowledgeable. We saw many dolphins at close range. No better place to be at sunset on the island! read more

Price was reasonable especially for 2 people on a jet ski. The time allotted let you really tire yourself out. Lots of boating time even when sharing a single jet ski between 2 people. Safe and helpful staff got you out to the "playground" and back. Large area to open up the late model and well maintained wave-runners. You can do anything out there. As long as the staff can see that you are knowledgeable, you can throw your passenger off and do pretty much anything that doesn't get the coast guard involved. Make sure to look for dolphins! We saw one while out boating. read more

Great and friendly staff! We saw a lot of dolphins up close and learned about the island along the way. My kids LOVED it (ages 4 and 6) and were entertained the entire trip! The boat allows for great viewing the entire trip. We highly recommend Dolphin Seafari! read more

Recently did the dolphin cruise with my wife. Had a wonderful time. Our captain was very nice and courteous. Saw tons of dolphins and got some good history on the island. I would definitely recommend!!! read more

Took the whole family on a dolphin cruise this morning and had a terrific time. Saw lots of wildlife, Dafuskie, and Bull islands. Captain Tim was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about the island and the price was reasonable. This is the fourth one of these we have done and the best. I highly recommend this to anyone with young kids who is looking for something different to do. read more

Buyer beware! I spent 1 hour out for a 2 hour rental and no credit given, I tried to go on another day and all they did was overcharge for a lost anchor. This place give Hilton Head a bad name. My kids were very disappointed on their first boating experience. Deck guys were nice but their hands were tied by management. This place needs a refresher course in customer service. read more

Micromanaged the fun- lead you out to the main channel then kept you to a small area to ride their waverunners. Then wanted a tip for the micromanagement! I won't go back here. read more

Dolphin Seafari: Great tour of a side of the island we have never seen. The staff was very knowledgeable about the area and it's wildlife. We saw lots of dolphins, and the captain threw a cast net and showed us what the dolphins were eating. We will be back next year. read more

Awesome experience - the owners Tim and Beth are great! They were punctual the service was impeccable and we highly recommend Palmetto Bay Water Sports! read more

READ THEIR TRIP ADVISOR REVIEW ABOUT THE KID WITH TOURETTE SYNDROME. BETH DISCRIMINATES AGAINST PEOPLE.....i dont EVER leave bad reviews!!!!!!! I dont even know where to begin... Well we paid our reservation two weeks before July 4th for two boats and we got a call the day before saying that one of our boats was broken. No big deal. We called the day of at 9 in the morning to double check the address to find out that our complete reservation was cancelled... My girlfriend spoke to Beth. I called back and share my frustration with her and she finally told me that she would cancel another person reservation to honor mine because I placed the reservation 2 weeks ago. We were supposed to get the boat at noon but she pushed our reservation back to 2 p.m. After mustering all of our friends that came from Atlanta, New Jersey, and Macon Georgia to the establishment, we were informed by the owner Beth that because we had "jet skis" she could not rent the boat to us...... WHAT?!! after we driver hours to come here she tells us this. We finally convinced her to let us rent the boat and we promise not to ride are jet ski. Which should not have been a problem in the first place. Fast forward five minutes later she changes her mind again refuses to read to us the boat and I quote "I am allowed to RENEG".. I promptly tell her that this is bad business and she, BETH, tells me that she is sorry but her business is closing in the next week because of insurance premiums going off and giving me the runaround.... While she is still answering the phone taking reservations for Tuesday July 7th...SHE COMPLETELY LIED TO US..... I wish I could leave 0 stars because of all of the trouble that BETH put us through and what I feel is RACISM and DISCRIMINATION against myself and my group of friends. PLEASE LOOK AT THE OTHER ONE STAR REVIEWS. THEY WILL CANEL YOUR RESERVATION WITH NO VALID REASON OTHER THAN TO GIVE IT TO OTHER PEOPLE. COMPLETELY RUINED OUT JULY 4TH TRIP. SCREW YOU BETH. I HOPE THE ONLY THING TRUTHFUL THAT YOU TOLD ME WAS THAT YOUR DOORS ARE CLOSING NEXT WEEK. read more

Cancelled on us 20 minutes before our outing for no reason. They were extremely unprofessional during the couple times we spoke on the phone. My girlfriend and I were only here for 2 days and the kayaking tour we booked was one of the highlights of our trip, but unfortunately we could not experience it. We should have been notified much earlier in advance that our reservation was going to be cancelled so that we could at least book with another company. read more

I never write negative reviews but was very difficult not to let the woman who claimed to be the owner of Palmetto Bay Water Sports ruin the last day of my family's vacation. I cannot imagine anything that would make this woman, who was in her 50s and running the wave runner rentals at the time, so bitter and hateful. We were scheduled to leave at 2 pm but told to be there 30 minutes early and thus arrived at 1:15. She had us sign the release form, ran our credit card, and said we were welcome to check out the shops while we waited. It was about 1:30 when we left to browse the shops and two of the three of us decided to get virgin piña coladas. We walked back up at 1:55, and the woman greeted me outside of the rental place saying we had lost our reservation because we were supposed to be there at 1:30. As I started to remind her that we were there at that time but she told us we could walk around the shops since we had already checked in and paid, she interrupted me and asked what I was drinking. She proceeded to accuse me of drinking alcohol even after I told her I would get the receipt from my purse in the car or even the employee who made us the virgin piña coladas (the cafe was only about 50 ft away) if she'd like. My dad even sincerely offered her a drink as proof because he was so baffled and upset. Then she went back to saying that the reason she was refusing us service was because we weren't there on time. Finally, I pointed out that we should not be giving business to someone who so obviously didn't want it. She said she'd make sure the money was refunded, but my dad intelligently insisted she give us a printed a receipt of the refund before we left. Whether or not she would've actually kept our $250 had he not done this is debatable. We walked out to see a family of five on the wave runners and immediately knew what had happened -- the woman saw the opportunity to make more money rather than practice integrity. If you want to have a pleasant experience, I'd highly suggest either H2O or Shelter Cove. read more

Booked a party for 6 and 1 minute before we were supposed to be there they called to cancel no reason other than they could not discuss it. I think they either overbooked or there wasn't enough people for the trip. Who cancels like that on a nice sunny day. Kind of screwed our plans up. read more