Residents of Hong Kong - Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins and Finless Porpoises

Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins (locally known as the Chinese White Dolphin or the pink dolphin, Sousa chinensis) are categorized as Class One in the List of Wildlife under Special State Protection of China.

While Indo-Pacific Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) are categorized as Class Two.

These two species are residents of Hong Kong and can be found in Hong Kong waters all year round.

Dolphin watching by boats
With a number of infrastructure being developed in the area, dolphin watching boats mainly restrict their search from Shum Wat to South-east Lantau in recent years, subject to the current and tidal changes. Like other coastal species, the pod size of the humpback dolphins are small, ranging from 1 to 10 individuals. Occasionally, over 10 dolphins can be observed at the same time if you get lucky.

To find the Finless Porpoises, there is only one operator available. The trip is led by a dolphin researcher and they will look for these shy creatures off eastern Lantau near Chi Ma Wan Peninsula, Shek Kwu Chau and the Sokos. As Finless Porpoises are finless and they are shy of boats, you'll need good sea state and good eyes to spot them.

Dolphin watching tours in Hong Kong:

Eco Institute: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064628056444
Full day pink dolphin ecotour (stopover at Tai O around lunch time). Please check their Facebook for tour updates.
Full day pink dolphin and finless porpoise ecotour (stopover at Tai O around lunch time). Please check their Facebook for tour updates in March or April.

Ocean Stamps：https://www.facebook.com/oceanstampsfwte
Half day tour operated in form of private group. Please check their Facebook for tour updates.

Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society: https://hkdcs.org
Half day tour operated by conservation group. Please check their Facebook for tour updates.

Hong Kong Dolphin Watch：http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com
Commercially operated half day tour mainly conducted in English. Departures on Wed, Fri and Sun, with minimum number of participants joining.

Landbased observation at Tai O

You can take the bus route number 11 from Tung Chung to Tai O, which takes roughly an hour. From Tai O bus station, it takes roughly 20 minutes to get to the pavilion, depending on how congested the street is. Walking along Shek Tsai Po Street, you will get to the Shaolin Wushu Centre. Follow the footpath by the side of the centre and you will see the direction plates.

The footpath to Fushan pavilion is paved with dark brown stones.


Walking up the stairs, you will see a statue with three dolphins. As the Chinese white dolphins feed mainly in shallow coastal waters, you may find them if you look down from where the statues are. You can keep looking out for dolphins when you continue walking along the footpath. Yet, as you are on the hill and are quite far away from the sea level, don’t forget your binoculars!
New Lantau Bus:11   Tung Chung Station Bus Terminus > Tai O