The Purple Penguin

Early start as we had to pack up and check out of the hotel before we did our boat trip. We also had a drive up to Emu Bay to get on the boat! We arrived in Emu Bay where there was very little – at least at the jetty where we thought we would get the boat. There was a boat out on a buoy, so we got out the binoculars and had a look and it was the boat, Kangaroo Island Marine Adventures. And of course we were way too early.

We hung around until people showed up to get the boat ready to leave and then walked down the jetty/pier to get on the boat. We were supposed to be a full boat, but some people very nicely didn’t bother to show up so we had a bit more space.

We went up the coast rather slowly and the guide pointed out several things, including the holiday home of a politician. Nice house. He also pointed out the geology of the coast, two sea eagles, abalone farm, and some cormorants, gulls, and other birds. The rest of the trip was spent watching dolphins. They specialise in swimming with dolphins and most of the people on the boat went into the water. Unfortunately we can’t see without our glasses so we stayed on board but had great views anyway due to the clarity of the water.

We had a quick journey back to the jetty, just stopping to see a salmon and having a bit of play at speed.

Both tours were really good and it was nice to see different areas of the island. The guides for both were really knowledgable and happy to share what they knew – we got stories and information about everything we saw, as well as things pointed out that we would have missed on our own. So both are recommended!

After the boat trip we headed back to the ferry port, which was about an hour away, to see if we could get an earlier ferry. We managed to get onto the 14:30 ferry (yay! no nighttime driving!), so we had time for a quick sandwich before heading for the loading area. Again Kathleen drove on while Joe went as a passenger, but when we got off at Cape Jervis, one couple either didn’t understand or ignored the ‘drivers only’ announcements! The reason was that the cars are so tightly packed on the ferry you can’t really get in, not without others moving. And certainly a passenger can’t get in as the passenger door is usually right up against something (another car or a wall). So this woman was just wandering aimlessly around the cars trying to get off the ferry waiting for her companion to pull forward so she could get in! Please don’t do this!

Once at Cape Jervis we headed for Victor Harbour, first stopping at the overlook over the lighthouse and ferry port. Victor Harbour has modeled itself on a British seaside resort, with a small funfair and fresh doughnuts (K: to be honest I think that’s there because there is a festival happening. Joe thinks it’s year round, but there’s a festival on Granite Island and lots of special parking signs for an event.) Tried to do the evening penguin tour, but it isn’t happening because of the music festival. They don’t let people over after dusk so the penguins aren’t disturbed, but they have a music festival there?