Whale Watching Season 2023 in the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana/Bavaro/Samana)

In order to ensure that you always have access to the most recent and up-to-date information, we update this comprehensive article about whale watching in the Dominican Republic on an annual basis. Fortunately, not much has to change for the 2023 whale-watching season as the trips are operating identically to 2022. (and the humpback whales are supposed to arrive as usual). You may choose from the top whale-watching excursions in the Dominican Republic for 2023 according to our updated tour recommendations that take into account visitor feedback and experiences from 2022.

If you book your whale watching excursion* between the 15th of January and 25th of March, you get the best time for whale watching in the Dominican Republic. During these days your tour definitely takes place and won’t get canceled (as long as the weather permits), it doesn’t matter if you start from Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Bayahibe or Samaná.

Since humpback whales in the Dominican Republic don’t have a calendar, anything before mid-January or after the end of March, is subject to the whale watching conditions in the year of your vacation. They may arrive as early as late December or only after a few days in January.

Your chances of seeing many whales increase if you keep to the 15th of January through the 25th of March, which is the optimum period to go whale watching in Punta Cana and Samaná. You have far better odds of seeing humpback whales during the peak whale-watching season, when there are hundreds to thousands of whales in Samaná Bay, even if there are just a dozen whales at the end of December or the beginning of January (which will be difficult to see).

This being said, your chances of seeing whales on an excursion are nearly at 100% when sticking to those dates, as the Samaná whales are usually easy to spot.

The vast majority of whales in the Dominican Republic are humpback whales, one of the largest mammals in the world. The adults can get as big as 52 feet and weigh as much as 30 tons. You can imagine that it is a true spectacle to watch these giants playing in the open ocean, especially when their large fins – which make up to a third of their body lengths – are splashing into the water. The other particular characteristic of the humpback whale is that it comes to the surface to breathe, which makes it particularly interesting to watch the whales in their daily life during a whale watching excursion in the Dominican Republic.

The humpback whales are coming to the warm waters of the Samaná Bay each year, as the conditions of the Caribbean are much more favorable for breeding and the birth of their babies. Here in Samaná, the babies – which get born with a bodyweight of just 1 ton – have sufficient time to eat enough and get strong to follow the mother on the return trip to the colder waters. 

During their annual migration, humpback whales in the Dominican Republic can cover up to 16.000 miles (! ), which is more than ten times the distance between New York and Punta Cana.

Because of the special relationship between the mother and their baby, you often can see them together when going on a whale watching tour from Punta Cana in the Samaná Bay. Observing them swimming together in the ocean is a particularly heartwarming moment.

Whales Watching & Cayo Levantado Adventure price starts from $85 with Go Dominican Travel

Whales Watching & Bacardi Island price starts from $85

Whales Watching & Bacardi Island price starts from $100

Whales Watching & Bacardi Island price starts from $100