Summer Days Out
BEST OF THE BAY!
FAMILY FRIENDLY DAY TRIP FROM BRISBANE TO THE BAY ISLANDS
Recently we took the kids out to snorkel the Tangalooma shipwrecks on a day trip with a company called River to Bay. Right up front I need to let you know that our trip was hosted by the company, but as always, our review is an honest account of our experience. If snorkelling the Tangalooma wrecks has been on your bucket list for ever read on my friend. This article is going to show you just how easy it is and how much fun you will have on this exciting day trip from the Brisbane River. River to Bay is the result of a long-held dream to connect the people of Brisbane and the city’s river to the attractions of Moreton Bay and its islands. River to Bay entered a partnership with the Queensland Government to build a fleet of fast tour boats. Their boats are large enough to provide safety and comfort but small enough to travel the river at high speed with minimal impact to the environment. River to Bay is locally owned and operated.
WHAT DO RIVER TO BAY OFFER? If you jump on the River to Bay website, you will see that they offer a number of tours both on the Brisbane River and into the Bay. Their river cruises include sight-seeing tours and food and drink tours, and the bay tours they offer include the Tangalooma Day Cruise and the Best of Moreton Bay Cruise. We did the Best of Moreton Bay Cruise.
BEST OF MORETON BAY CRUISE Here’s how it went: 8:00am – arrive Northshore Harbour Cafe We arrived on time at the Northshore Harbour Cafe and grabbed a cup of coffee. If you don’t know about this lovely family friendly cafe, it has a playground next door, great food and a lovely atmosphere. It’s a great place for parents to catch up on weekdays too! 8:30am – depart Northshore Harbour We boarded the boat with around 20 other people and listened to the safety briefing before we set off. We also were introduced to our crew – Zac, Ed and Thommo. During the trip over to the Tangalooma shipwrecks, Ed spoke to every person to ask a few questions about our swimming ability, any medical conditions they needed to know about and if there was anything we wanted to tell them. I told them I was a bit nervous about the snorkelling as I am pretty unfit and I worried about my ability to swim the length of the shipwreck. I had a fright on the
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Great Barrier Reef last year where I drifted out further than I expected and had to swim back to the boat… Ed reassured me that he would look after me. During the trip out we were given our wet suits, fins, masks and, if we wanted them, a pool noodle (I took one!). The trip over was smooth in terms of the *motion on the ocean*… indeed much smoother than I thought it would be! However, you still need to maintain 3 points of contact when moving about the boat! Families Tip: It is a good idea to arrive in your swimsuit and put your wet suit on during the boat trip over so that you maximise your time in the water. Once we arrived, we picked up Andrew (another River to Bay staff member who had come over on the boat that leaves from Bribie Island) to help us navigate snorkelling the wrecks. He gave us the lowdown on what the wrecks are and what we will see, as well as how to navigate them. 10:00am–11:00am - Snorkel Tangalooma Wrecks After listening to the talk we got our kit on (wet-suits, fins and masks) and jumped off the back of the boat into the water. We were there in October; the day temperature was 28 degrees, the water temperature was 22 degrees. The wet suits meant that we didn’t feel the cool of the water at all!
Your Local Families Magazine December 2021 / January 2022 www.familiesmagazine.com.au
