Shellharbour's most popular whale watching cruise: 1.5 hours on the water from Shell Cove to see migrating humpback whales.
Days
- 1.5 hours
Age
- Ages 2 and over
Group size
- Small group
Start / finish
- Shell Cove marina / Shell Cove marina
Return
- See itinerary for details
Transport
- Cruise boat from Shell Cove marina
Meals
- No meals are listed as included
Route
Included experiences
- Humpback whales — northern and southern migration
- Kiama — the blowhole from the water
- Bushrangers Bay — turquoise calm water
- Windang Island and Perkins Beach — coastal views
- Five Islands — fur seals on the rocks
Pictures / Videos
Reviews
4.9
Based on 27 reviews
Verified from
Real reviews from travellers who've done this tour, gathered from around the web and paraphrased.
AI summary of 27 reviews
Travellers consistently praise the crew's knowledge, friendliness and attentiveness, noting that staff members actively search for whales whilst maintaining respectful distances and checking regularly on passenger wellbeing. Sightings stand out most often, with many reviewers reporting multiple whales, breaches, mothers with calves, dolphins and seals, and several mentioning return visits or booking season passes. The most common caveat is that rough seas and large swells are frequent, leading to seasickness for some passengers, though reviewers note this is unavoidable depending on weather conditions and acknowledge the crew handles it well by providing sick bags and assistance.
How we collect and publish reviews
Where they come from. Our reviews are gathered from independent review sites and from guests who share feedback with us directly after their trip. They come from people who have actually travelled on the tour. Some longer trips are made up of shorter tours we also sell, run back to back — where a review was written about one of those legs, the review says so.
Why some are edited. Many of our guests travel in their second or third language. Where a review is hard to read, we lightly edit spelling, grammar and punctuation, or paraphrase a sentence for clarity. We never change the rating, the meaning or the sentiment, and we never write a review on a guest's behalf.
Reading the originals. Reviews sourced from public review sites appear there in their original form, and can be read in full at their original source at any time.
We picked a choppy day and many people got seasick before we got back, which no one could help. Still, we saw some great whales, including breaches and mothers with calves, and the staff were friendly and helpful. Summer had a lot of cleaning up to do.
A great day out. We saw several mothers and calves breaching and tail slapping, the calves extra lively in the choppy weather. The captain and our guide Summer, a marine biology student, knew exactly where to look and were very informative.
I booked this whale cruise from Shell Cove for our honeymoon and it was quite an experience. We saw three whales, and our guide Andrew was friendly and knew a lot about them.
We keep coming back on Saturdays and it never gets old, with the ocean a different shade of blue every trip. Henry and the crew keep checking on everyone and are always hunting down the whales for us.
We went out with Summer and Brett, who said we might see whales heading back south, and we did, well spotted by Summer. A mum was slapping her fins to talk to her baby. Brett was a fun skipper and Summer a friendly host.
A great day despite cold weather and a big swell, which our seven-year-old loved like a rollercoaster. We saw one pod of whales really close, and the crew made sure everyone was okay. We'd go again, maybe on a calmer day.
