Whale Watching Worldwide

St. Kitts and Nevis
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR: Number of
operators
Direct
expenditures
Indirect
Expenditures
Total
Expenditure
1991 None N/A None None None None
1994 None N/A None None None None
1998 50+ N/A 1 Minimal Minimal Minimal
2008 Minimal N/A 1 Minimal Minimal Minimal
Capital City: Basseterre
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Nevis
Small‐scale dedicated whale and dolphin watching trips have been
offered from the island of Nevis, for more than ten years. These
trips take advantage of humpback migration from January to April
near Nevis as well as resident populations of dolphins and other
whales. Whilst these trips are still offered, 2008 through into early
2009 was a very poor time for tourism on the island and so no
dedicated whale watching trips were run. The one operator instead
concentrated on its core business of scuba‐driving.
In a good year, such as 2006, a couple hundred tourists book onto specialised half‐day whale watching trips.
These are a 3 ½ hour educational tour, including the use of a hydrophone, on small boats (capacity of either
14 or 25) and are aimed at the humpback migration season.
There is also a telescope especially made for whale watching on Saddle Hill, but this is not part of organised
tours or formal monitoring. None of the dive or charter companies based at St. Kitts offer dedicated trips,
although whales and dolphins are often spotted during their other trips.
Both St. Kitts and Nevis have potential for whale watching but this will depend on the development of
tourism more generally. Nevis is not a cruise destination, although St. Kitts is (150,000 arrivals in 2004) and
stop‐over arrivals for the nation are low in comparison to other destinations (91,700 in 2004). However this
comparative isolation could provide its own opportunities if whale watching was marketed as part of an eco‐
tourism trip to those willing to pay more for an exclusive visit.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
humpback whale, fin whale
Small cetaceans:
spinner dolphin, bottlenose dolphin
Tourists:
International 100%
Domestic 0%
Types of tours: Boat‐based day trips
Average ticket price: $50
Estimated employment
1
numbers
Main whale watch season: January to April
262