Bruny island

December 23, 2022

23/12/22. Today we had a full day tour to Bruny Island (“an island of an island of an island”). It was amazing, we didn’t expect such a great experience. We saw seals and dolphins really close!

We arrived to the island by ferry. The guide explained us the itinerary. Starting with the north end of the island, we would go down as far as the south end of it (basically, from his left hand to his right one).

Between the two parts of there is a thin “Neck” with a fantastic 360 degree lookout at the seashore of Adventure Bay and the still waters of Simpsons Bay.

*Adventure Bay (the side of Tasman sea)*

*Adventure Bay on the left and Simpsons Bay on the right*

Then we had a morning tea in a cafe near our departure spot for the water journey. Anton even met a girl from his school – going for the same tour!

Our tour guide was an excellent speedboat skipper and storyteller – exactly what is needed for a nice ride around an island.

We have passed by a few caves (which are many there) and watched how the ocean water swells through them. Most of them are see-through but not safe for passage, so we only observed them from a safe distance. There is a story though of a swimmer (I missed his name 🤔) who promised to swim once through a cave to entertain his guests. Eventually, he did it several times 🫣.

There is also one cave that is not see-through and due to the pressure applied on the incoming swell inside the cave because of the relatively small size of the chamber, the water gets spit out as a geyser. You can be sure that on the count 1-2-3, the “blow hole” (as it’s called) will do its thing. By the way, some people used to think that they saw a whale from a distance, but this was this cave.

Unfortunately I can’t upload videos for some reason (need to check that once I’m back home)

Then we visited a spot loved by seals. There’ve been plenty of them! They played onshore, they swam, floated on their backs and even pushed each other from the rocks to the water. Shame that I can’t post a video of such an encounter!!!

A screenshot from a video of that moment when one seal pushed a friend to the water 🦭 🦭

At the end of our trajectory, the guide said that this is the most Northern tipping point of the Southern Ocean and there is nothing else to be found before Antarctica. That’s exciting!!!

On the way back we also met a pod of mother dolphins with their calves that wanted to play with the speedboat. They dived next to it, under it and across. That was fun. Anton was super delighted!