The Best Places In America Where You Can See Dolphins (Other Than Florida), According To Research

If you're out on a boat on the ocean and you catch a glimpse of dolphins surfing the bow waves or playing in the wake, you're probably left with a sense of wonder and excitement. Dolphins are smart and sociable animals that travel in groups, and sailors have even seen dolphins as signs of good luck. It's truly a delight to be able to see them living their best lives, and Florida has some incredible places to spot dolphins right from the beach. Bu the Sunshine State doesn't have a monopoly on wild dolphins. You can find a number of different species of dolphins in the U.S., and these smart, social animals live off of both coasts, through the Gulf of Mexico, and in Hawaii. But despite their impressive range, you can't just go to any beach and expect to see dolphins. To help take the guesswork out of it for you, we found the best places in the country beyond Florida where you can see dolphins.

Note: While there are dolphins that can be seen in captivity, all of these spots are places to spot dolphins in the wild. And the movements of wildlife inherently can't be predicted, so there's a chance that even in a place that's known to have dolphins, you might not see them. But after researching wild dolphin populations around the U.S., these five places give you some of the best chances to spot these intelligent, charismatic marine mammals.

Southern California has one of the densest populations of dolphins on the planet, according to the Dolphin Project. Nearly half a million common dolphins can be found in the waters off of Dana Point in Orange County. You can also see Risso's dolphins, bottlenose dolphins (made most famous in the TV show "Flipper"), and Pacific white-sided dolphins. 

Dana Point is one of the best places on the West Coast to get a chance to see a "dolphin stampede," aka a superpod where thousands of dolphins come together. Dolphins often travel in pods that number in the dozens, so to see a group of them can stretch for a mile is truly incredible. Spring and summer are the best times of year for a chance to see this phenomenon as the ocean conditions help boost fish numbers.

Santa Barbara, known as the "American Riviera," is another good Southern California destination for dolphin spotting with the Santa Barbara Channel attracting all kinds of marine wildlife. And if you're out on the water in San Diego in winter and early spring, you're likely to see dolphins by the hundreds or even thousands. At each of these California spots, there aren't really tours that go out specifically to look for dolphins, but you can expect to see them when you go out on a whale watching boat.

Northern California also has fantastic dolphin sighting opportunities. Monterey, California may be one of the best destinations for whale watching in the world, and while you're out on a whale watching boat, you may see pods of dolphins year round, including Pacific white-sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins, and long-beaked common dolphins. Late summer and early fall can be a particularly good time to see them.

Dolphins love this area thanks in large part to the Monterey Submarine Canyon, an incredibly deep canyon that comes close to the coast, providing is an ideal habitat for all kinds of marine life, including what these dolphins like to eat. It's another good place for a chance to see a massive congregation of dolphins; super pods with over 2,000 dolphins all swimming and jumping together have been seen off the coast of Monterey.

And despite their name, orca aka killer whales are actually dolphins. Spring and then late summer into fall are some of the best times of year to see these apex predators off the coast of Monterey.

The Hawaiian word for dolphin is "nai'a," and they play an important part in Hawaiian culture, featuring in many traditional stories as guardians and spiritual messengers . While there are a number of different dolphin species that can be seen in Hawaii, the three most common are spinner dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and spotted dolphins. Hawaii even has its own subspecies of dolphins with the Hawaiian spinner dolphin. Like all spinner dolphins, these are known for their acrobatic leaps and spins out of the water. Spinner dolphins are nocturnal, feeding at night in deep water in large pods, and during the day, you can see them resting in smaller groups, often near shore.

They can be found off the coast of all the Hawaiian islands, though they are most abundant near Kona, on the west side of the Big Island. Notably, Honaunau Bay, Makako Bay, and Kealakekua Bay are known for attracting spinner dolphins, so if you take a dolphin or whale boat out near any of these spots, there's a good chance you'll see these amazing marine acrobats. You might also be able to see them from your hotel room if you're at an oceanfront resort.

Keep in mind that in 2021, Hawaii banned swimming with spinner dolphins; you have to stay at least 50 yards away from them. So while Hawaii can be a good place to swim with dolphins, you want to be particularly mindful to keep your distance from spinner dolphins.

South Carolina has dolphins year-round, with both resident and migratory populations of bottlenose dolphins. And people here love their resident dolphins so much that they have names for some of the frequently spotted individuals. South Carolina and the eastern U.S. even have their own species of dolphin. The Tamanend's bottlenose dolphin is smaller than common bottlenose dolphins, and spends more time near the coast. It was accepted as its own species in 2023 after years of research. 

The barrier islands near Charleston are an ideal place to see South Carolina's bottlenose dolphins. One such spot is at Kiawah Island, one of South Carolina's unspoiled barrier islands, specifically Captain Sam's Inlet. The dolphins here can often be seen strand feeding; this is where dolphins work together to move fish towards the shore and then briefly beach themselves to eat. Near the Georgia border, Hilton Head Island, one of South Carolina's top resort destinations, is another good spot to see dolphins. There are a number of South Carolina tour operators who will take you out on a dolphin tour, some of which will give you a refund if you don't spot a dolphin.

While you might associate Texas with animals like longhorns and armadillos, it's also a fantastic place for dolphins if you know where to go. Common bottlenose dolphins are frequently seen in the waters near Galveston, Texas. You can go out on a dolphin watching tour, or you can see them from the shore, like at Seawolf Park on Pelican Island. There's also a free ferry between Pelican Island and the Bolivar Peninsula, and the dolphins like to play in the waves made by the boat.

And the stunning wildlife that you can see at South Padre Island include dolphins. While bottlenose dolphins can be seen here at the southern tip of Texas year round, the high season is from March to October. You're likely to see them from land at Robert Points Park in Port Aransas; there's a watch tower that you can climb to give you a better vantage point of the water. You can also go out on a boat with a guide where spotting them is basically guaranteed.

Since I was a child, I've been fascinated with dolphins, so you could say I've been researching this topic nearly my entire life. Narrowing down the best places to see wild dolphins involved determining the locations where the population numbers of dolphins were the highest, as well as in the area close to year-round. I also looked at Google reviews for those destinations to confirm that they were consistently spotted there and that they were easily accessible, meaning easy to spot from the beach or on a commercial tour. Information from government websites like NOAA and local tourism boards was also incorporated.