After starting here on Monday, I have already had a very busy week booking in new trips and playing with the new iMac and today was no exception! This morning I jumped aboard the Coffin Bay Explorer for their 3 hour round trip of Coffin Bay.

Departing the Coffin Bay boat ramp at 9.30am, our guide Darian took us past some of the most pristine parts of the Coffin Bay National Park- some beaches that are only accessible by boat! The running commentary about the earliest visitors to the bay made for easy listening, as we all soaked up a bit of sun.

Our adventure around the bay continued on past two tiny islands known as ‘The Brothers’. The story behind them is truly fascinating, but I won’t spoil the tale before you get a chance to see them yourself.

Living on the Brothers are a wide variety of birds- including Cormorants, Silver Gulls, Crested Terns and Antarctic Skua’s- large, brown birds that journey here to nest on the islands. Also residing on the island are a pair of male Australian Sea Lions, as well as a spattering of smaller New Zealand Fur Seals.

Darian also has an Oyster lease, so part of the tour included a stop at the racks for a brief history about the oyster industry in Coffin Bay- and for those so inclined- a taste test of the freshest oysters you will ever taste! Delicious!!

Now as if the tour couldn’t get any better- a pod of almost 20 Bottlenose Dolphins made an appearance. As we slowly cruised by, they swam all around and under the boat in the crystal clear water- almost as though they were inviting us to come and play with them. Unfortunately Darian is not running swims with the dolphins this year due to the late breeding season of these magnificent animals last year. So instead we admired them from the boat.

We left the dolphins (reluctantly) and began the journey back home. In 3 hours we learnt amazing things about the history of the bay, tasted some of the freshest seafood you can get and saw a huge variety of land based and marine animals! And that’s all in a day’s work for the Coffin Bay Explorer!

This is only one of the many options we offer as part of our amazing tour packages around the Eyre Peninsula. For more information see our website

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The surf rods were unpacked, hooks loaded up, lines fired out & within minutes we were muscling in some big salmon. Check out this video to see Bec’s first fish caught off the beach. I like the way it was released as well!!

Available for the water is a 3 person jet ski, ideal for your own exploring of the bays & inlets & can tow a sea biscuit for amazing fun! We also have tinny for fishing, kayaks, multi purpose ocean boards which can be used for surfing,windsurfing & stand up paddling. Great fun for all ages & more options again for you & your family when you get down here to the Eyre Peninsula! The Great White Shark cage diving off Pt.Lincoln is still very popular with good numbers of sharks still around, so get on down here! Cheers.

Whilst Gustavo was a little jett lagged & tired, the 3 other amigos were ready to go! Shark diving was first on the agenda, but lucked out with the big boys.Smaller Bronze Whaler were prominent though & a good day out was had by all. It was a full deck onbaord the Adventure Lady as we all got into the tuna cage on Day 2. Once again, this is a treat  to do & if you dont feel like swimming with ( mad if you don’t ) the tuna, you can observe them downstairs via the underwater viewing platform. Matt has also added some Snapper & Trevally to the farm to mix in with salmon that entered the pen very small & with all those free lunches, have grown too big to get out !!

With the boys seemingly keen divers, we decided to keep with the theme. Hunting & gathering abolone was the afternoons task & the boys were very good learners. At a secret destination, we had plenty of  big Greenlip Abolone ready for the pan in no time. Prepared properly, this is a delicacy & with fresh oysters,steak & a couple of cold beers around a big hot fire on a beach, it doesn’t get any better!

A few yarns were spent around the fire, some tall, others true & then bedtime, ready for another big day on the water. Whilst Pods, Sheep & Millsy were all seasoned campainers of the famous Aussie swag, it was a first for Gustavo. The swag is like a small canvas horizontal “ tent” if you like, with a nice thick mattress, sleeping bag & pillow inside of it & it just “rolls out” as your bed for the night ! You are covered & protected from wind & rain & any other little crawlies that could stop you from a perfect nights sleep. You know when one is sleeping well by the snoring from that general direction & Gustavo was sleeping very well indeed & good on him, as he had put in another top effort during the day !

After eggs,tomato & bacon on the beach,we packed up & went north/west to greet another crew of ours at the wonderful Baird Bay. The boat was full again & the action a plenty as the dolphins continued to impress & hang around everyone in the water & the sealions were as playful as ever. Along the way, we did the usual stop offs & camera poses at the Cummings Monument & Talia Caves which always go well in the holiday album.

From here, it was departure time for everyone. Sheep ventured back to Ceduna for no doubt another hero’s welcome, Millsy & Pods continued on their own ” Thelma & Louise ” adventures & our favourite Argentinean, Gustavo jumped on a plane to explore other exciting parts of our great country. Great to have you on board boys!

Through some research, Bleechy found us & we put together for the group a trip to remember with a few other extra activities to fill the week & make sure the boys went home happy punters. On day 1, the fellas headed out with a full boat load to go diving with the Great White Sharks. A great day was had but unfortunately no big whites were spotted which is a rarity as there is a 85% success rate of seeing the sharks during this time of the year. The weather was looking rough for later in the week & we had a call from Sceale Bay Bluewater Charters fishing guru, Matt Guidera who suggested that we get up to Sceale Bay to make sure of the next days weather to muscle in some tuna.

That was a  much appreciated call from Matt, so we had a change in itineries & much to Zac’s dissapointment, we had a very early start to the 2nd days play ! It was worth the 5am wakeup, as we arrived at Sceales & boarded Matts 7m Markham Dominator right on 8am. The boys had rubbed the sleep out of the eyes & after a brief scenic viewings of the massive limestone cliff faces of the peninsula with ospery nests & beautiful tranquil waters, we headed out for the mighty blue rockets or better known as Southern bluefin tuna.

Sea birds were active on the surface, which meant they were chasing live bait & something else was chasing them.It did’nt take long as we trolled through the area when we had 2 hookups.Snowy & Haydos both hooked up first & the sweat had yet to dry off Snows brow before Bleechy & cannon arm Zaccontinued the frenzy. With high fives all round, back slaps & some side splitting laughter from the Bleechmore commentry team, it was a great start to the day. Yours truly got in the action as well & after another hook up soon after, Matt announced that we had caught the legal boat limit of 6 perfect tuna! We did manage a few more & got to the boat, but luck was with them & they soon sped to the depths below. With that mission completed, we headed into shore & cleaned the tuna up ready for the nights meal.  There is nothing better than fresh sushimi followed by hearty tuna steaks & a fresh salad washed down with a few coldies after a days work.Welcome aboard!

After a well deserved rest the boys were pretty keen to tackle some big sand dunes & go sandboarding. Haydos & Zac put in some quality performances & were taking the sport to higher levels & were proving to be naturals in the field. A couple of busters here & there made an interesting spectacle for all.Snowy & Bleechy wer’nt going to be outclassed as they to put in some good displays as well, though I’m tipping that they were enjoying things better on top of the dune, rather than climbing back up these monsters!

The best way to get some unwanted sand off oneself is to go swimming & just not anywhere. Just around the corner was Bairds Bay & once again the dolphins & sealions put on a show for everyone. The dolphins in particular have been in good numbers & are as happy as the humans as they glide in between the group, chattering to each other & seemingly smiling as they interact. It really is amazing & this continues with the sealions. They actually appear clumsy on land but once these play full creatures get into the water, its all go for them & they put on a real performance . With the sand now washed out, we got cleaned up & headed into the Streaky Bay pub for dinner & showed off the full scaled 5m , 1.5 tonne model of a Great White Shark caught off local waters by 15 yr old Dion Gilmore. Its more than impressive !

Day 4 saw us back on deck Sceale Bay Blue Water charters. With the winds howling, it wasn’t possible to go too far & protection was sought against the magnificent limestone cliffs of Cape Blanche. We got some huge King George Whiting,( some others that were a bit short one end), tommy ruff, plenty of silver whiting & also some unwanted reef fish of rock cod. The sheltered waters were very calm & clear so we jumped in for a bit of snorkelling & found ourselves some very nice sized greenlip abolone, just a perfect addition  for tonights dinner, which capped off another good mornings fishing. With the unwanted wind around, an afternoons drive was in order so we headed to Talia Caves. The ocean was near at its best, pounding in with some huge waves crashing against the rocks & loudly bellowing through the empty tunnels & the caves itself , showing us all how these caves were originally formed through many years of erosion. With Snowy being a self acclaimed lover of rocks, we couldn’t go past the opportunity to show him the ancient windworn granite inselbergs called Murphys Haystacks. They are a very impressive  outcrop of granite boulders purported to be more than 1500 million years old ! After a few days of hunting & gathering, we had our last supper at Sceales; more oysters & sashimi, freshly caught crumbed whiting & vindaloo abolone .

We deaprted Sceales & we made our way back to Pt.Lincoln for our last days play. We had to have 2 stops on the way with the first at the worlds smallest bakery at Colton. ( Colton is inbetween Ellsiton & Venus Bay). An honesty system is used to pay for your purchases & the wood oven bread rolls & fruit buns that we got were something else. And very cheap as well ! We had a quick bite at the Cummings Monument, which gave the boys a vantage point to see miles & miles of uninterrupted clifftops & with the water being so clear, you could nearly see the crayfish crawling around the reefs below.

Our last activity saw us onboard Matt Waller’s Adventure Lady, as we went swimming & feeding the 60 tuna in Matts tuna cage. This is a great experience, especially as we had all caught tuna earlier, so it now gives us a spectacular insight on how the fish attack the bait, how they move & the fight to get to the pilchard before the other tuna. All this without crashing into another companion! It’s amazing. As was Zac & Haydos throwing out handfulls of pilchards virtually on top of their Dads & to see the frenzy of tuna going for the bait & so skillfully manouvering away with the catch was another great highlight. Wouldve looked great from underwater as well ! It was a great way to finish a great trip with some great people. Thanks again for coming on board & we’ll talk during the footy season ! Cheers.