Maria Island Cruises

03/06/2026

The best fresh fish right here on our doorstep! If you are travelling the East Coast, call into Triabunna and get dinner tonight 👌🤤❤️

Fresh survey Scallops in this morning off the boat yesterday morning $59.95kg, nice and big with good roe

02/06/2026

The Fossil Cliffs at Maria Island National Park are a significant attraction to visitors on the island. The short walk from Darlington to the limestone bay offers incredible views of the cliffs overlooking the deep blue water. The most common view of the cliffs is from above, there is no access of them along the shore to view them from underneath. Unless you have a boat! Our cruise takes guests into the bay to sit beside the Green Waterfall, a spring-fed waterfall and hanging garden with the cliffs towering above the boat. The Fossil Cliffs are recognised amongst geologist around the world. They were formed as shell, corals and organic sands on the ocean floor accumulated and compressed to form the limestone of today, known as biological limestone. The Fossil Cliffs of Maria Island represent the ocean floor from over 280 million years ago, a period in the earth’s history called the Permian Era. Geologist recognise the fossils found in the cliffs represent some of the best preserved Permian shell fossil deposits in the world. Another reason why Maria Island National Park is a geological wonder to behold. Thanks to tour guide and photographer Bella for these wonderful photos taken from the cruise, showing the sweeping views of the cliffs from the water ❤️

01/06/2026

Haunted Bay, captured from yesterday’s cruise is the southern most bay on Maria Island. The last of the granite coastline before the dark dolerite cliffs of Maria’s southern most point Cape Peron. We were lucky again to see a pair of Humpback Whales yesterday en route to Haunted Bay, but not quick enough to get a photo! Another magical day for this time of year, smooth sailing, blue skies, amazing wildlife encounters and wonderful company onboard. Haunted Bay is frequented by a hand full of visitors walking into the bay from the isthmus, but a feature of each circumnavigation cruise after morning tea at Riedle Bay. Exploring the outside of Maria Island offers a unique perspective of just how big it is and how much can only be seen from the water by boat ❤️

30/05/2026

The geology at Maria Island is world class and world renowned. A relatively small island containing most of Tasmania’s major rock groups, all remarkably exposed around the coast. Each example is a text book view, from dolerite organ pipes, 280m yo limestone fossils, metamorphic folds, unconformaties and nonconformities, pink and peach coloured granites, sedimentary mudstones, calcite stalactites, laterites and these … incredible Painted Cliffs. These colourful sandstone rocks are the most photographed rocks on Maria Island. But seeing them from the ocean looking back, gives a totally different and breathtaking view. The colours and patterns are contrast against the turquoise water, white sand and green foliage. It is the best way to see them, safe in the comfort of the boat, without crowds and without the effect of damage or erosion. These stunning photos from our tour guide and photographer Bella, show the detail of the iron rich banding in the white sandstone. One of the worlds best and easiest viewed examples of how sandstone can be coloured by the oxidation of intrusive minerals, in this case iron. Thank you Bella for such incredibly detailed photos. If you would love to share this, both our cruises will take you to view the painted cliffs to capture images just like these! Our cruises will be operating tomorrow and throughout June the see this geological wonder of the world ❤️

29/05/2026

Stunning!! What a blessing to see Maria Island finally get the rain we have been so desperate for. The creeks are full and the ground is soaked. The effect was immediate, grass is green and recovering. We have been talking for years about the decline in the Green Waterfall at Fossil Cliffs. This waterfall is a unique spring-fed waterfall with a one of a kind vegetation community living underneath the spring, attached for hundreds of years on the cliff. The change of weather and lack of rainfall has been severe for Maria Island and the effect could be seen each time visiting Green Waterfall as the vegetation and sediments began to die back and disappear. When visiting Green Waterfall today, the water was flowing steadily for the first time in a long time. See our story for the video!! Today we cruised to Maria Island with the adventurous Outdoor Ed class at Triabunna District High School. We started the day cruising to the Southern tip of Maria Island and were blown away by a humpback whale breaching in the passage. We stopped the boat, engines off and waited. Everyone looking out and the whale surfaced right behind the boat, flaring its nostrils at the students! After that, we continued cruising down the passage, a chance sighting of dolphins and then a raft of young, excited fur seals that had everyone’s hearts melting over their playful expressions. They swam beside the boat for nearly 20min, making direct eye contact with each student. When we arrived at Darlington to explore the island on foot, we could not believe the colour on the hill and the amount of wildlife on show. Wombat after wombat were out in full view again, enjoying the sunshine after the rain. The absolute perfect day to be cruising. We can’t wait to do it again this weekend. The weather will be sunny, warm and calm! Thank you to the TDHS for sharing today with us. What a day ❤️

28/05/2026

After this dark gloomy weather, who doesn’t feel like this! We can’t get enough of hanging with these guys. Our absolute favs. Thinking about finishing the season after such a perfect month in May, we have decided to continue cruising in June 🙌. We have set a schedule for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday cruising to Ile Des Phoques and Maria Island on our full day Cruise & Walk day tour. This will coincide with our Maria Shuttle Bus service from Hobart, connecting to the Maria Island Ferry throughout June. If you would love to cruise around Maria, sit and watch playful young seals or take the Ferry and spend the day on the island, we are still open and excited to share it with you!

21/05/2026

How amazing is the weather right now!! An epic day forecast tomorrow to explore the incredible cave system at Ile Des Phoques. This time of year is perfect for cruising to our favourite place in the world. The young seals are old enough to be confident in the water and we see lots of fun and excitement in them playing beside the boat. There are still a few last minute seats available for tomorrow, so we don’t want you to miss out! Winter is right around the corner and we don’t know how many more good days like this there could be. If you would love to come along, please visit our website (link in the comments) and book the Ile Des Phoques Cruise & Walk Day Tour. Or you can call our wonderful office staff on 0362571300 to book over the phone. Can’t wait to share it with you all tomorrow 🫶☀️

17/05/2026

The best way (and the safest way) to view the majestic Painted Cliffs on Maria Island National Park is from the water! Such beautiful weather over this weekend to be cruising under the cliffs. Today we cruised 100km from Triabunna around the entire coastline of Maria Island on our Circumnavigation Cruise & Walk Day Tour without much more than a breath of wind. Tomorrow we repeat with similar conditions. Can’t wait to explore again in this stunning Autumn weather 🫶

13/05/2026

Melts your heart ❤️❤️❤️. We just keep getting the best autumn weather for cruising! To make the most of it, we have opened up extra sailing days on the weekends through to the end of May. Don’t forget our May special 20% discounted rates. This weekend is looking amazing and we would love to share it with you. Our details in the comments 🫶☀️

12/05/2026

A very rare sighting! Recently on our circumnavigation cruise of Maria Island, we ventured into a sheltered bay and found something I didn’t expect. Macrocystis pyrifera, aka Giant Kelp, is the largest of all brown algae that grows from the sea floor to the surface by producing gas filled bladders at the base of the blades, allowing it to float to the surface. It is also the fastest growing brown algae, that can grow up to 50cm or more per day. This amazing seaweed creates the famous kelp forests, once common around the coastline of Tasmania, but have been decimated by the effect of prolonged warm water from the strengthening East Australian current. Most of Tasmania’s kelp forests are now confined to the very southern coastlines. When I first started cruising and diving around Maria Island in 2006, Giant kelp was present here, albeit not prolific, a very large kelp forest existed just south of Maria Island. Locals remember large numbers of kelp forests around the area only 10-20years before that. For the last 10 years, Macrocystis has been largely absent on the east coast. Recently, there have been examples of small isolated patches of kelp that have grown in tolerance to the warmer conditions. While not as healthy as normally seen in cold waters, it is amazing to see that some will bounce back! Researchers have identified these individual kelp communities and have propagated new kelp gardens from them. So this little individual made it to see direct sunlight for the first time (that I have seen) on our cruise in decades. This can be due to colder, clear water, and still conditions in this little bay than previous years. Ironic as we have just been through the most wind and swell during our cruise season to date, but lucky this spot must have been protected from it! I also speculate that this might not be a sign things are getting better. I’m not sure, it’s just a theory. I speculate the stronger the East Australian current gets, making its way along the top of the continental shelf, the more it traps cold water against the East Coast, instead of gently warming the inshore waters. Either way, it was amazing to see and to share with our guests!