Travel Review: Amaroo Dolphin and Whale Watching

Yesterday I had one of the most awesome experiences ever as someone who adores the outdoors and nature. I took a 2.5 hour cruise on the Amaroo in Forster that gives a 100% guarantee you will see dolphins on your cruise or your money back! There was no need to extend that guarantee because we ended up having fun with 3 different pods. If you are holidaying in Forster, I highly recommend you hop on the Amaroo because if you read on we had an amazing trip.

Our cruise started on the Forster Wharf on time. I had been looking forward to doing the Amaroo Dolphin cruise for a few weeks, but it took me a while to finally get around to getting on board. Thank goodness I finally did because my cruise was so memorable I'll be booking again soon when it's time for the Whale watching. As we made our way out towards the breakwalls, Julie, our host gave us a rundown of local history and attractions and continued to do so throughout the cruise. We passed by the famous oyster farms, marinas and islands.

As soon as we went under the Foster bridge, Captain Matt (pictured) spotted a pod of Bottle Nose dolphins heading back under the bridge up Wallis Lake. So we didn't miss this opportunity, Captain Matt turned the Amaroo around and we headed back under the bridge to witness a spectacular display by these playful dolphins. Apparently, the dolphins know the Amaroo and often come up to check out the humans on board.

We were delighted to see a couple of mothers with their babies. Oh so cute.

The dolphins hung around for quite a while and everyone on board had plenty of opportunities to watch them and take photos.

Click smaller pics to enlarge

The Amaroo was launched in mid 2014 and is a 24 metre catamaran and was specifically designed for dolphin and whale watching. The Amaroo has an upper and lower deck and passengers are allowed out the front of the lower deck except when entering the breakwalls. Lifejackets are mandatory when crossing through the breakwalls. There is a kiosk on board with souvenirs to purchase and snacks.

As we made our way down the coast we passed a lot of my usual walking tracks and lookouts in Forster such as One Mile Beach pictured above. Despite its name; One Mile Beach isn't actually one mile it is actually 1200 metres. The name comes from the beach being one mile from the local post office.

Isn't that sand hill awesome?

I often walk up Bennetts Head to One Mile Beach however seeing the view from the ocean side was pretty spectacular.

As we journeyed on we found more dolphins out in the ocean. They were the same as the dolphins on Wallis Lake "Bottle Nose" and they, too, played around our boat.

I couldn't believe it when Captain Matt told us he had spotted another pod, a different breed so we headed towards the pod and were delighted with the antics this lot got up to. I stood at the back of the lower deck and had an amazing view of the dolphins racing the Amaroo as this next series of photos shows. It was amazing. These dolphins can swim up to 50km. These beautiful dolphins were also used to the Amaroo.

The Amaroo sails most days at 10.00 a.m. (weather permitting). The vessel can carry up to 150 passengers. The cruise duration is approximately 1.5 hours and operates all year round.

Tickets are reasonable at $49 adult, $45 pensioner and $29 child plus family packages and believe, me for the experience it is absolutely a bargain.

Matt and the team are friendly, helpful and will answer any questions.

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