05 May 2025
We were looking for the company we had gone with previously but was too late as they had already departed. A sales person persuaded us to go with VMT. As we were in Madeira for the day, there seem little choice but to go on their catamaran. I wish we were told before boarding that the upper deck was for smokers - we would definitely stayed downstairs. After a while, we saw a pod and stayed with them for a short while. But that was it for the dolphin watch!! The pilot then made a beeline for the cliffs for a handful of people to go swimming. The sales person didn’t inform us of that. We thought we were on a dolphin & whale watching trip. I asked the pilot if we are seeing / searching for any more dolphins and was told no, then said they could be anywhere….could be in the north of the island. Not friendly, not helpful. That was that and we headed back. Announcements were not clear. We just about heard “spotted dolphins” but goodness knows what else was said / read out.
Maybe to those who wanted a boat trip and see dolphins, they succeeded. However, we would recommend Rota dos Cetáceos if they would like to go on a dolphin and whale watching trip. This company has great knowledge and seem to really care about the dolphins. They use rib boats which adds to the excitement but the down side is they do charge more. Still, worth it as they did bother to look for different pods of dolphins rather than settling for one. We feel quite robbed with VMT. We won’t make that same mistake next year….