Birding Lisbon & Dolphin Watching Tours in Portugal

SeaEO Tours is a family business that grew up with the need to provide the possibility of nature lovers getting closer and connecting with species. We adopted the concept of Nature Tourism for boat trips & birding in Lisbon. In addition to being a tourist entertainment company, we have a strong environmental awareness component for the protection and preservation of natural resources.

It is locally known that the Tagus river, the wide Estuary, river mouth and the Lisbon Atlantic front are extremely biodiverse realms. Birdwatching in Lisbon and sightseeing tours needed a differentiated outdoor activity that could offer diversified boat tours. Therefore, Birdwatching in the Tagus Estuary, Dolphin Watching and Seabird Watching was developed to fulfil the demands. SeaEO also intends to collect sighting data for scientific research during the activities and with the help of the guests.

Departing from Doca de Santo Amaro, our daily boat tours, including the “Best-seller” dolphin watching tour allows you to see these magnificent marine mammals between Cabo Espichel and Cabo da Roca. For those who like to watch birds, there are two proposals: “Bird Watching in the Tagus Estuary” and “SeaBird watching in the Tagus Estuary Nature Reserve”. All boat trips are done responsibly and include experienced crew, insurance, fees, fuel and life jacket.

Sidónio Paes, Skipper, Co-Founder & CEO – He is a Marine Biologist and Ornithologist, born and raised in Lisbon, graduated in a master’s degree in Biodiversity and Marine Conservation. Since 2008, he has been working in nautical tourism in nature with a wide sea experience. He wanted to join the concept of nature tourism, in which the quality of services with various touristic programs with Nature as the core business and giving priority to biodiversity in aquatic environments. For him, it is essential to spread out the importance of marine ecosystems awareness and at the same time providing customer satisfaction. In addition to being a sailor for more than 20 years, he has the course of STCW Basic Safety on Board and speaks fluently five languages. Passionate Ornithologist and nature lover, as a Manager, he will make sure the customers have a great time, giving excellent primacy for the well-being of animals and guaranteeing the safeness and fun on board. He devoted to his family and pride himself for being very sociable.

Carolina Bilbao Serrano, Co-Founder & Marketing Manager – Graduated in Business Communication, I am dedicated to all the company’s communication making sure that the customer has the best experience as possible since the first moment. With more than 15 years of experience, I started my career in a bank while graduating. Nowadays, I am specialised in Digital Marketing, with a Post-graduation in Business Management, I give the team an orientation adapted to the digital world and its benefits. As a mother of two boys, passionate about photography and nature. Carolina has been a volunteer in the “Project aware beach clean-up”, in Sagres, and a finalist in a photography contest in Spain in two categories related to nature conservation.

Our Guides:

Sebastião Brandão de Mello, skipper & tour guide – He graduated in Public Administration, but his passion for the sea and sailing comes from an early age since he was running his local sailing club within the hobby cat environment. The passion for sustainability, the care for nature protection of what is for his the most significant resource at a global level, came shortly after. Today he is happy to be able to work on what he likes, by transmitting these passions to future generations and to clients.

Bartolomeu Paes, skipper & tour guide – He Graduated in Acting in Lisbon, Portugal and London, UK. When you start working at sea, you automatically become a seafarer. Lisbon’s metropolitan area is interestingly wedged between 3 protected areas – the Tagus estuary, Sintra’s Natural Park and the Caparica protected fossil cliff – absolute wildlife magnets! As a tour guide and seafarer, he got the opportunity to work on dolphin and birdwatching as a first mate and tour guide. Now, he has seen dolphins, whales and seabirds before – mostly far away or inside some sort of enclosure – but to leave the dock daily and within 5 minutes having wild common dolphins playing around the zodiac? And to approach a fishing frenzy and sea birds feeding next to you? That’s next level! I love to share these emotional wild encounters with our customers whilst learning about biodiversity, respecting natural habitats and being at sea.

During these pandemic strange and defiance years we are living, we all understood one important fact – Nature regained some of its rightful space and got closer to the shore, to the cities and to people. In turn, we noticed people wanted to get closer to nature in small-group activities to enjoy outdoor activities, sun and ocean-related tourism. That one great reason to choose you to tour with us.

Covid-19 compliance

Clean & Safe is the latest certification that approves our Touristic activities, following the Health and Safe measures in Portugal. The measures adopted are according to the National Directorate-General for Health in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. Before During and After our boat tours, we made a commitment to assure the prevention of Covid-19 contamination.

SeaEO – Sea & Estuary Odyssey© is part of ECONAUTURISMO, LDA. company, and approved by the Portuguese Tourism Bureau with the Licence RNAAT: 589/2018. Because we are committed to taking care of wildlife during our boat tours, we obey to a Code of Conduct with the National Cetacean Observation Licence ICNF, I.P. nº 12/2019 and are part of the Nature Tourism network in Portugal promoting local communities within Protected Areas.