Peppermint Bay Cruise

Wednesday Feb.11 - Today Ellie arranged for us to go on a cruise out of Hobart.  We left the dock at 11:00 and arrived back at 4:30.  Again, we had a lovely, comfortable boat, this time we had the center area, horseshoe shape, seating for 8 with 2 table in a raised area.  It pays to go with someone who has an in, however, Ellie's last day is today so we were lucky to get the chance to go.  The crew were very knowledgeable regarding the area, so they filled our heads with all sorts of information which I promptly forgot most of.

Ellie showing us how to put on the life jacket.

They stopped in the middle of a lovely bay and put down an underwater camera.  This is where we got the biggest surprise...we didn't know that under the dark waters of the Derwent River, lies Neptune's tropical garden.  What a beautiful sight, we would expect to see this in Queensland or New South Wales but not in Tasmania.  We saw beautiful, brightly colored fish along with an octopus and a very large skate.  We must have watched for 30 minutes or so, it was absolutely incredible.  The waters here are very cold so snorkeling for us is out of the question, but it would be a great place to see interesting things.

The coastline is really nice, sandy beaches everywhere.  I don't think you could have a home here without a view, everything is so lovely to look at.  The water views are especially nice and everything here is built around the water.  I am bringing some Real Estate information home with me, just for drooling purposes.

Dalton tried to make a deal for a couple of the crayfish but no such luck. 

We passed one of the oldest home in Tasmania, has been totally restored, looked like a beautiful long rancher, the backdrop was a cherry orchard, two of my favorite things.  The cherry orchard had sold their crop to Japan for $A40.00 a kg.  Unbelievable. 

We stopped at Peppermint Bay, where the lunches were loaded onto the boat for our consumption.  We continued around to a lovely peaceful bay where we could watch the white bellied eagles dive for fish, they are not as big as out bald eagles, but just as spectacular to watch when they are on the hunt.  The lunches that were provided were (1) seafood of various types, which Dalton enjoyed very much and (2) chicken, for those of us that prefer the non swimming variety.  The food was very delicious.  After we ate, we went back to Peppermint Bay and got off the boat for an hour to walk around and explore the area.  Jenny and I wandered around the shops while Dalton tried out the various beers in the pub overlooking the water.  

This is the best shot we could get of an Eagle catching the fish that was thrown to him

 On our way home, we went under the Hobart bridge that had been destroyed by a ship, in 1975, when it hit two of the pylons holding up the bridge. 

A pretty long bridge, the large space in the middle is where the ship lost its way.

 

 Anyway, our skipper was a much better sailor, or at least he could see better, and we arrived at the dock safe and sound.  It was a great experience.