Tasman Island Cruise

We had already planned our trip to Hobart for Noah's anniversary, and were lucky enough to score some travel vouchers from the Tasmanian government, in the second round of vouchers offered.  Because we got the vouchers I ended up booking an extra night of accommodation and decided to lash out and use the vouchers towards a Pennicott Tasman Island Cruise. 

We did the Bruny Island cruise years ago and I didn't think we'd do another one as they are pretty expensive, so I was so excited that the company was offering a great discount to get people booking as well as a voucher from the government to go towards it.  It definitely got me in! I kept my eye on the weather forecast and booked for a day that said it would be fine (a LOT of rain was coming later in the week). 

Mum came down to Hobart with us to stay with my brother Jared and sister in law Becky and their family for a couple of nights. so she also came on the cruise with us (she was also lucky to be able get a travel voucher as well!).   I asked Jay if he wanted to come, but he had too much to do for Uni. 

While we were waiting to get onto the boat, the skipper told us that you would feel everything a lot more if you sat at the front.  I looked at the boys and they both straight away said they wanted to sit in the front. Everyone was given huge waterproof coats to wear. 

There were three boats which went out and they said there were two more going in the afternoon, and they don't usually do afternoon cruises until December. It was good to hear that they're so busy.  They offered everyone ginger tablets before we left (which we all took) and gave us some tips about how to avoid getting seasick (including not getting over heated and standing up whenever the boat stopped). The first stop was at the Tasman Arch which we had seen the day before, from the top. (I’ve posted videos on this post, but you can only see them if you ‘view web version’ which is an option at the bottom of the main page when you open up my blog on your phone). 

  

We then sailed up to a cave and were so excited that the boat sailed right up inside. 

On each of the cruises is a tour guide who gave us information as we went to different spots. 

The coastline from the water was just as incredible as from above.  It was incredible to see a huge waterfall rushing down one of the huge cliffs, into the sea. 

The skipper thought he'd have some fun at the waterfall and took the boat right under it. Because we were up the front the boys copped lots of splashes, but they loved it. 

The scenery got even more spectacular as we travelled further south. 

 As we headed behind these cliffs we finally saw some seals sunning themselves on the rocks. It was hard to spot them as they were very camouflaged at first (it's still hard to see them in the photo below).

We could see people at the lookout on top of these cliffs at Cape Huay. 

As we got closer to Tasman Island there were thousands of shearwater birds everywhere.  The guide came up the front and told us that it's a sign that whales are around because they feed on krill, just like the whales. 

We ended up seeing three whales but they weren't very close, so I wasn't able to get any good photos or videos of them. The shearwaters were incredible. 

Right near Tasman Island we came across a huge pod of dolphins. They were so beautiful and loved playing around near the boats.  

The skipped told us that we were very lucky that day, as we could do a one way trip from Eaglehawk Neck to Port Arthur, as the weather was so good. Often they will travel to Tasman Island and then have to turn around and go back to Eaglehawk Neck and catch the buses back to Port Arthur.  They did warn us that it can get a little rough as we sail in the Southern Ocean.

Kobe was busting to go to the loo just before we got to Tasman Island and the guide told him to hurry up and use the toilet,  because it was about to get rough.  He cracked us up when he came back to his seat and he told us how bumpy it was on the toilet.  Luckily he went before we hit the Southern Ocean as it definitely got rough. They kept telling us to make sure we had our seatbelts on and to make sure they were tight! 

We were laughing so much that I was crying.  With every huge wave we went over, there was a huge scream from everyone on the boat including us. I wasn't really scared because I knew they wouldn't have taken us there if it wasn't safe, but I kept saying my anxiety was going through the roof! 

At one stage Kobe started freaking out and kept yelling 'it's tipping, it's tipping!' which made us laugh even more. We had so much fun and I haven't laughed that much in a long time. 

As we came into the bay near Port Arthur the swell subsided and Kobe stopped freaking out. 

It was nice to just be able to walk back to our car instead of catching the buses back.  We had such an amazing time and is definitely one of my favourite things I've ever done.  We were so lucky to have amazing weather as it poured the next day.  I'm sure Noah was looking over us and making sure we had an amazing time, on a hard week.