25 fish up to 30kg were caught yesterday, 22 the day before in perfect conditions from Coffin Bay aboard GT Fishing Charters as well as a few prized Kingfish as an added bonus to the day. As the boat limit is set to 6 tuna, of course the remainder were released back to the waters of the Southern Ocean to see another day!

Whilst many think that fishing is a mans ideas of a great day out ( and correct on the subject), but there are plenty of women who also love the challenge to get out and also muscle a few of these blue rockets on board. One of these keen fisher- women, Calalou, starred yesterday after jumping on at late notice and showed the boat what she can do & did it very well indeed! Calalou is shown in the images below with a sample of her catch.

It seems most speacies are on song in the local waters with large snapper, nannagai and strangely enough we got onto a few nice gummy sharks to get the day going just last week.

So fishing action a plenty here in Coffins Bay and there’s no time like the present to get on down here to sample some of the best sports-fishing going around. For $310 per person gets you a great day on the tuna, $250pp will have you bottom bouncing for Snapper, Nannagai, Blue Morwong, big Trevally and KG Whiting, Salmon and hopefully a few more of those sharks with in shore fishing for your popular table fish priced at $220 or $160pp for half a day.

For more details, fishing options and availabilities whilst on the Eyre Peninsula, contact us at Goin’ Off Safaris.

Tight lines guys and girls!

The water was glassy calm as we steamed out to Greenly Anchorage. It was just short of a 2 hour journey, but the trip flew by as we sat back and watched the sun come up- a view many of us are rarely awake early enough to witness!

As soon as the lines hit the water the tuna were biting, and we’d caught our quota of these gigantic fish within about 20 minutes. But the catch itself is the challenge, so we continued on with a bit of catch and release for another few hours, often struggling to haul these massive fish onto the deck.

Settling for a catch of 23 tuna- most weighing over 20kgs- we decided to move on and try our luck with some other fish commonly caught in the area.

Throwing the lines in again in shallower water, we found a nice little patch of Nannygai, Sweep and a few Leatherjackets just for luck.

All in all a successful trip, with the boys taking home a 150L esky FULL of fish! And this is only the beginning of the season. If this sounds like your cup of tea, see our website for more information

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

And I thought it would rank higher with our unique adventure activities such as Great White shark cage diving, swimming with sealions and tuna, sensational sports fishing either on a charter or off a secluded beach. Speaking of beaches, these are to die for wether it would be for surfing, swimming, snorkeling, body surfing or just lazing about watching the kids build sandcastles and having fun.

You dont get seafood any fresher or plentiful and there are award winning wineries, picturesque National Parks full of wild life and birdlife, 4WD tracks, the Great Australian Bight Treks, resteraunts, pubs and standout accommodation.

A few people reckon the distance is too far or it costs too much. Rubbish! Check out Regional Express (REX) or Qantas Link for cheap flights that only take 40 minutes to get here from Adelaide. Goin’ Off Safaris will pick you up if required and give you 2-6 days of a action packed itinerary like no other or we can organise your agenda and drive yourself! What are you waiting for…..??

Everyone has heard of Africa’s ” Big Five” attractions on wilderness safaris where you are superbly guided through villages and grasslands of game parks and private reserves to catch a glimpse of Africa’s greatest wild animals – lions, leopard, elephant, buffalo & rhino.
Here in South Australia and to be more precise Pt.Lincoln, on the southern tip of beautiful Eyre Peninsula, is another experience like no other where you have the chance to get up close, personal & interact with our famous five of the ocean – Southern Bluefin Tuna, Australian sea-lions, Great White Sharks, Dolphins, Humpback and Southern Right Whales ( in season).

We kicked this world class adventure off on the weekend & armed with underwater camera man Mark Thomas, photographer Kingsley Griffin, freelance journalist Raffael Veldhuyzen, operator Matt Waller of Adventure Bay Charters, our chef Cookie and some local talent, we boarded the superb 78ft Strictly Business for our 2 days of adrenaline pumping action! Oh and,we did have one of UK’s hottest celebrity couples, Charlie Brooker from the Guardian and his TV presenter wife, Konnie Huq jump on for the ride.

The first box ticked was out to Matt’s Tuna Farm, for some immediate action and this is the fastest growing adrenaline attraction on Eyre Peninsula as you have guaranteed interaction by feeding the fish & then donning a wetsuit on to swim with, under & around this amazing pelagic species. On the way to our next stop was in Seal Cove on Hopkins Island, Cookie gave us a small insight of his master chef talents whilst checking out some of the countries best coastal landscapes of the Pt.Lincoln National Park and the beautiful white sandy beach of Memory Cove.
The sea lions were in a very playful mood as these ” ocean puppies” right on cue, put on a show for all! This is incredible entertainment in a pristine environment with beautiful clear shallow water and this interaction from these wild mammals would be hard to beat anywhere in the world.

With 2 boxes all ready ticked, it was off for the short steam to the anchorage at Neptune Island, home of Australia’s largest Great White Shark population. Excitement was amongst all on onboard as again, we donned wetsuits as the cage was lowered into the deep blue,but crystal clear water. Being eco friendly, there is no blood or burley here but the sharks are very successfully attracted to the cage by using audio sound vibrations of loud music,underwater! Unfortunately, the sharks decided that they wernt going to play the game on this occasion and we were left to play some serious air guitar in the cage to the tunes of ACDC’s Back In Black album!
Not all was lost though as the sun was setting which meant beers and wine started flowing and Coffin Bay oysters were opened and attacked. This was a warm up for Cookie and as you could expect by being at the seafood capital of Australia, dinner consisted of the local product- prawns, tuna, kingfish, more oysters, more wine, more talk, more laughs and so it went on!

Day 2 saw a bit of chop around in the sea and still no sharks but a momentous moment occurred when our UK personalities Charlie and Konnie, both caught their first ever fish from the ocean! We island hopped after this magnificent fishing performance around the beautiful Sir Joseph Banks Group of islands watching the dozens of dolphins surfing on the bow before anchoring again at Blythe Island to again swim with more sea lions, have a walk on the island and snorkel around the rock pools as it does offer top shelf snorkeling.
With a very successful debut trip, disembarkment was made easy as we had a team brief back on land at the Marina Hotel with a couple of cold refreshments.

Bookings have now started for this amazing opportunity to interact with the “Big 5″ of our Southern Ocean and more information, departure dates and itinerary can be found on our website.

Hooroo!

We are now offering you the chance to interact with and get up close and personal with Great White sharks, the powerful Southern Bluefin Tuna, Australian Sealions, Bottlenose Dolphins and when in season, the Southern Right Whales. Over 2 sensational days packed full of adrenalin pumping adventure aboard the spectacular & fully kitted out 78ft Strictly Business, for $1300.00 per person this includes the following;

• Multiple Great White shark cage dives including night diving at Shark Bay, Neptune Islands
• Swim with and feed the mighty Southern Bluefin Tuna off Boston Bay Island
• Swim with the puppies of the ocean, the Australian Sealions at Seal Cove
• Close up viewing of Bottlenose dolphins and Southern Right Whales (when is season)
• Deep sea fishing targeting Tuna, Snapper, Trevally, Nannagai, Shark, Blue Morwong, King George Whiting and what ever takes the bait!
• Fully catered meals and after dinner drinks
• All of your fishing and diving equipment
• Your own bunk for overnight stay and a
• Bloody fantastic experience!

The boat is aptly named Strictly Business and she has been superbly renovated to cater for charters like this one, with the passenger in mind. Limited to 9 lucky guests, the boat is fully equipped with air conditioning,  heaps of room on the rear deck and fly bridge, a large and comfortable saloon with flat screen TV, a superb sound system and the latest in ocean software and technology. There is even a camera hooked up to the shark cage so that you can see the underwater vision from the large flat-screen on the deck! Did I mention the cold beer on tap…? Well that’s included as well.

As this is limited to 9 passengers, this adventure is perfect for a group of friends, corporate  or team bonding retreat, special occassions or we can also make sure the sole traveller is looked after as well. We can also organize group charter flights ex Adelaide for your group.

With only limited dates to fill over the summer months, seats on this pearler of a trip will go quick. For a detailed itinerary, availabilities, dates and contact details, please visit our Shark Cage Diving page.

Good evening David,

Apologies for not having written sooner – we had the best of intentions.  Firstly, a big thank you to “Goin’ Off Saffaris”.  You certainly have a first class crew – all three, Tony, Chris and Fish –  for whom we have nothing but admiration.  We can honestly say that the whole experience was beyond expectation for both of us. The pilots not only worked so well together in the cockpit that any fears were soon overcome, but also with Fish in the general organisation as well as entertaining us at mealtimes!  We are actually still taking it all in, having covered so much territory in such a short time. We were quite an eclectic group in a way but Fish, the epitome of  ’a people person’ brought out the best in everyone and we couldn’t help noticing the way he quietly but constantly checked that everyone was catered for at all times.   The choice of accommodation, meals etc. could not have been better and it is obvious that a great deal of thought and planning has gone into these details.  We’ve been telling everyone about our experience, starting with our taxi driver from the airport on Sunday night who was extremely interested, and will continue to do so although words and photos can’t really do it justice.   It is incredible to think that this time last week we were looking forward to and preparing for the trip and now it is a priceless memory.   We are sorry but we’ve both been racking our brains to be able to provide some constructive criticism but neither of us can come up with anything.

Once again, a big ‘thank you’ to Fish, P1 and P2 and yourself!

sincere and warmest wishes,

Warwick and Maureen Barber

Hi David, We have just arrived back from our 3 days tour and wanted to email
you immediately to THANKYOU for such a wonderful experience.We are both
still on a high. The 3 days of wonderment was something we shall never
forget.  Pilots Chris & Tony were fantastic, always having our comfort and
most importantly giving us all incredible opportunities to witness and
experience the Lake Eyre Basin and surrounding areas and what it has to
offer. Your Host ‘Fish’ is an absolute gem and kept us all informed of all
the history, areas we were approaching and making sure we were all ‘fed and
watered’ and comfortable.  The accommodation and eateries were second to
none. We will certainly be singing the tours’ praises in all aspects of
hospitality and diversity enabling us to experience more areas of our
wonderful country Australia.  Once again thank you for putting the tour
together and a wonderful team who made the whole experience unforgettable. We
shall be very grateful for any information on any other tours to the outback
next year so we can pass on our experience to others who are interested
Cheers and all the best for the future for Goin’ off Safaris,
Roger & Coral Reichelt
PORT MACQUARIE

I am pleased to say that our “safari” trip was a lot smoother; even after allowing for the acrobatics and a 90 knot head winds! Everything was laid back, casual with no bother as should be the case in any “Outback” experiences. The scenery was spectacular from the air & the crew welcoming, obliging & funny. The outback characters lived up to expectations & our fellow passengers on the journey were a great bunch of people.Overall, it was a great way to see this part of the country & when time is limited, Mother Nature may not provide another opportunity in my lifetime! I hope to get back to check out the Eyre Peninsula at some time in the future & have passed your details onto another co-worker who was excited to hear about our travels.

Keep up the great work & hope to have another opportunity to travel with Goin’ Off Safaris. Thanks heaps, Brenda- Melbourne.

The Glitz & Hammer Ball is an annual gala ball organised by an external committee, supporting Cancer Council SA’s work within the community, with all funds raised going directly to Cancer Council SA to support cancer treatment, research, prevention, early detection, education and information.

We are all affected somehow by this disease, so we put together a 4 day/ 4 night package on the magnificent Eyre Peninsula, to be auctioned off on the evening, in the hope of raising several thousand’s of dollars to go to this cause. With the Port Lincoln Hotel, Adventure Bay Charters, Flinders Keepers Accommodation, Coffin Bay Explorer, Rex Airlines, GT Fishing Charters, Port Lincoln Limos, Cafe DelGiornio and us at Goin’ Off Safaris all donating their services, the package came out at just under a $11,000 auction item!

For 4 persons, this is now the major auction item which consists of;

• 2 nights accommodation at the Port Lincoln Hotel
• Great White shark cage diving
• swim with Australian sealions and Southern Bluefin Tuna
• 3 hours cruising  the tranquil waterways of Coffin Bay & eating fresh Coffin Bay oysters
• Full day off shore fishing charter
• Full day of sight seeing, beach fishing,sand boarding, snorkeling and swimming
• 2 nights waterfront in beautiful Coffin Bay
• Seafood dinner platter for 4
• 4 course dinner prepared by our  in house chef
• Airport pickup & return in style by limousine

I’m sure you would agree that this sounds like a lot of fun! The ball is on this Saturday, the 4th of June at the Adelaide Convention Centre and hosted by Troy Gray, with entertainment by stars such as Lisa Edwards and the Motown Connection! Its going to be a great show and there are still  plenty of tickets available and for more information, click here.