WE DID IT. WE SWAM WITH DOLPHINS.
After enduring a moment of panic, almost swallowing a gulp of seawater and letting out several painful but quiet screams muffled by my snorkel, I finally found my bearings and started treading water like crazy in the fear that I would get paralysed by the freezing 10-degree-Celsius ocean. I kept swimming, kept swimming, and kept swimming…
And there they were.
A school of dolphins elegantly appeared just centimetres in front of my eyes. It was magical.
Day 2 Itinerary
Kingscote (home) -> Dolphin Swim -> Marron Cafe -> Seal Bay -> Kingscote (home)
We started our day from Kingscote because that’s the meeting point for our dolphin swim tour. If you have more days in Kangaroo Island, I would recommend staying at least one night near the Flinders Chase National Park instead to save you some driving time since most of the “must visit” sites are concentrated on the south-west coast of the Island.
Dolphin Swim (Kangaroo Island Marine Adventure Tour)
The dolphin swim tour was my most anticipated event on Kangaroo Island. I recently started penning my bucket list, and swimming with dolphins was on the top of my list.
The tour started in Kingscote at 9am. The meeting point was the Bay of Shores boat ramp on Seaview Road. After initially went to the wrong place (we went to Bay of Shores Winery a short distance away at my misdirection, oops), we finally made our way to the boat ramp.
Andrew, our skipper. He is very knowledgeable with the sea and wildlife on Kangaroo Island.
As you can see, the size of the boat is not very big. If you get seasick easily, remember to take some seasick pills before you board. Even though the ocean was not particularly rough that day, there were patches of bumpy waves that made our dear friend, Alan, sick about 40 minutes into the 3-hour tour…
We were lucky that there was no one else on the tour but us! It’s like a private charter. Andrew allowed us to move freely on the boat and basically do whatever we liked. Mike was very happy sitting in his captain’s seat up high!
Andrew first took us to the “Dolphin’s Lounge room” to look for a big pod of dolphins that’s almost always there. According to Andrew, that area is very shallow and the dolphin moms would take their baby dolphins there to teach them how to…be a dolphin.
Unfortunately, they were not there. No school today, maybe?
Andrew then took us on a ride further out of the ocean to look for some other friendly wildlife…Look!
New Zealand Fur Seals, we meet again!
As our boat approached, one by one, curious pups started jumping into the water! It was so amazing, I could almost hear them chattering “What’s that! (jump) What’s that! (jump) Wooo what’s that! (jump)” as they excitedly leaped from the rocks.
The way they floated in the water was adorable.
After we said bye to the fur seals (I swear that they waved at us, too), we went back to the Dolphin’s Lounge Room for a final attempt to spot some dolphins. Without luck, Andrew took us to the area where a smaller pod of dolphins usually gather.
Finally, we saw our first dolphin!
Andrew told us to sit at the back of the boat because the dolphins love to follow the tail of our jet boat as it ejects streams of bubbles behind us. “It’s like doing a spa”, Andrew explained. How comical!
The fact that it’s a jet boat means that there are no propellers. This makes it much safer to swim in the ocean and not have to worry about getting hit in the head by a propeller.
So, are you ready to see some magic?
:)
I am so glad Mike was there to encourage me to go for it when I almost wanted to back out. When we said we would jump on 3, knowing that he would really jump with me gave me extra comfort and courage and ultimately lead me to the most magical moment of my life.
Truth be told, the water temperature really was near intolerable. We couldn’t stop shivering after we got out from the water, and our body temperature didn’t quite get back to normal until after we took a hot shower and downed a cup of boiling ginger tea at our cozy Airbnb. Thinking back, I probably wouldn’t have made the leap if Mike and Jen weren’t crazy enough to do it with me :)
A tourist’s notes:
- Is it worth doing: Absolutely.
- Is it worth doing in winter: Only if it’s on your bucket list and you believe you would never do it if you don’t do it here. The wet-suits helped a lot, but still, it took tremendous courage and willpower to jump into the water and you can’t stay in the water for too long.
- What to wear in winter: Swimmer on the inside, warm clothes on the outside (need to get changed on the boat, no change room). The wind was extremely strong and chilly during the boat ride.
- What to bring: Camera, Towel.
- What’s provided on board: Wet-suits and life jackets on request. Andrew also offered us some hot tea and homemade cookies.
{Kangaroo Island Marine Adventure} Website: http://kimarineadventures.com.au/ Dolphin swim: $190/person. Meet 9am at Bay of Shores.
Marron Cafe
The Marron Cafe was highly recommended by our friends who went there last April. I have to say, I was quite disappointed with the marrons we had here. I’m not sure if it was because of the season or it just happened to be a bad day for them? The meat of the marrons had no texture and almost melt in our mouths (in a bad way).
The menu. Mike and I ordered a Poachers Platter to share.
The starter, Smoked Barramundi and Wasabi dip with crackers.
Poachers Platter (a selection of oven baked Andermel Marron, scallops, szechuan spiced prawns, salt and pepper squid, warm herb and garlic ciabata bread, seasonal salad dressed with our Aniseed Myrtle Salad Dressing, a taste of our Two Wheeler Creek Creamy Seafood Dressing, Lemon Myrtle Tartare and Savoury Honey & Chilli Sauce. Finished with our house made lemon myrtle truffles), $92. A very long description for…this. The sauce and dessert took up 1/3 of the plate. The two marrons were small and did not have a lot of meat.
Even though the restaurant was quite empty (we only arrived at around 2pm), the food took half an hour to come.
A tourist’s notes:
- Is it worth going: Not a “must go” based on my experience.
- How much time should we spend here: At least one hour.
- Driving time: Kingscote to Marron Cafe = 50 minutes.
Seal Bay Conservation Park
We hurried through lunch because we were on a schedule to join the 4pm guided tour (the last one), luckily we made it!
The self-guided tour ($15/adult) is limited to the boardwalk, whereas the guided tour ($32/adult) would allow you access onto the beach itself. We decided to do the guided tour because we thought getting our feet on the beach would feel closer to the seals (and it did).
Seal Bay Conservation Park is the world’s third largest colony of Australian Sea Lions.The seals at Seal Bay Conservation Park are Australian Sea Lions, different than the New Zealand Fur Seals we saw earlier.
The first seal we ran into!
He was sun baking on the side of the path of the guided tours. It looked like he was just pretending to be asleep because he kept half opening his eyes and half gazing at us as we walked past. It almost felt like he deliberately chose to “rest” here because he wanted the spotlight!
If you are lucky, you could get a really close look at the seals from the boardwalk – like these two lazy cows.
Whereas on the beach, you would not allowed to get too close to the seals (the rule is to keep a 10m distance).
They have tiny ears and huge pupils!
Awwww look at this little one!
A lone pup emerged out from the water. The way the sun shined on his wet body and his posture somehow made this scene very heroic, like he’s the James Bond of seals.
A tourist’s notes:
- Is it worth doing: Yes.
- How much time should we spend here: The tours are approximately 45 minutes. Allow at least an hour.
- Guided or self-guided: Our guide didn’t really tell us much about seals, it’s more like having someone supervising you on the beach rather than an educational tour. Even so, I felt that beach access was still much better than just the boardwalk.
- How much does it cost: http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/sealbay/Visiting_the_park/Fees
- Driving time: Marron Cafe to Seal Bay = 25 minutes.
{Seal Bay Conservation Park} Website: http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/sealbay/Home Tour times: http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/sealbay/Tours/Tour_times
Kingscote (Ozone restaurant)
Ozone is one of the other popular restaurant choices in Kingscote. We didn’t make a reservation but got a table when we rocked up at around 5:45pm. The restaurant has full length windows overlooking the ocean.
The menu. I would recommend putting in your order as soon as you sit down because our food took an hour to arrive (and we overheard another group that complained that their food took 1.5hr).
I wasn’t hungry so I ordered the soup of the day. Cauliflower and Fennel Soup, $7.5. I was very happy with it.
Rib Eye Steak (400g of rib eye steak served with beer battered fries, KI house salad and a creamy mushroom sauce), $38.50. The steak was rather chewy.
A Pie of Sorts (chunky beef in tomato and basil with crispy sesame seed crust filo wafers, served with creamy potato mash, steamed greens and a side of homemade tomato relish), $26.50. Alan said it was very salty.
Crispy Skin Snapper Cutlet (caught from the waters of KI, pan-fried on a bed of creamed KI potato, steamed greens and topped with garlic lemon butter, with Roma cherry tomato compote drizzled with roasted garlic), $30.
Oh Baby!!! Wait, don’t get too excited just yet – this dessert was actually named “Oh Baby!!!” (with three exclamation marks). The menu reads: “Oh Baby!!! Kangaroo Island honey ice-cream filled profiteroles covered in warm chocolate fudge sauce. Welcome to Heaven!”, $12. The profiteroles were crusty and nice. But I’m pretty sure the ice cream was vanilla flavoured, not honey….how disappointing!
{OZone} Website: http://www.ozonehotelki.com.au/our-hotel/dining-bars/
More on Kangaroo Island:
- Click for [Day 1] – Prospect Hill, Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch, Cape du Couedic, Vivonne Bay, Oyster Shop.
- Click for [Day 3] – Murray Lagoon, Clifford’s Honey Farm, Penneshaw, Cape Willoughby, Lashmar Conservation Park.
- Click for [Kangaroo Island accommodation & planning tips].