Sailing with dolphins

What a marvellous day! Before packing up the tent we took a walk on the beach, then, on the road, we headed for Port Stephens where a wonderful man called Tars had organised a few activities for us. He called us en route and arranged to meet and take us to Imagine which is a catamaran conducting dolphin and snorkel tours.


Nearly at Nelson Bay, we noticed an unusual attractionwhich advertised shark and ray feeding so we diverted off. What a wonderful kid-friendly attraction this is! Kids and adults alike were in pools where woebegone sharks and rays of various types lived. They feed them with shimp on a pole (attached by a clothes peg) and they can snorkel with the creatures if they wish. Maybe we will come back here on the way out of town...

We met Tars and Frank who was the owner of the boat (and Rodger his mate). Other passengers filed on and before too long we were off searching for dolphins and Amber was tentatively climbing in the net under the bowsprit. It didn’t take her long before she was bouncing around like a monkey with the other kids onboard. Then we spotted a pod of female dolphins with a few young ones and followed them for a while, as we headed for Fingal Island and Lighthouse Cove.

Frank used to be the lighthouse keeper here, so he had plenty of stories as we dropped anchor. The water was chilly, but we slid over the side with a mask. Amber was really tentative and didn’t make it past the stern, but she gave it a go. I got a little further and saw a pretty big woebegone (toothless) sharks which was a treat.

Back on board and we weighed anchor and motored out in near calm conditions. We did raise the sails for a short while, which was lovely (especially from the bowsprit where Amber and I perched). What a delightful trip for kids...

After saying our goodbyes we trundled off to Fingal Bay where we were camping, put the tent up in the heat and cooled off in the pool before dinner. Tired and happy!