Ninety minutes on southern Port Phillip Bay from Sorrento Pier, past a fur seal colony, diving gannets and the cliff-top homes of Portsea, with the bay's resident bottlenose dolphins often turning up along the way. You stay dry the whole time, so it suits everyone from toddlers to grandparents.
Days
- 1.5 hours
Age
- All ages
Group size
- Shared cruise
Start / finish
- Sorrento Pier / Sorrento Pier
Return
- See itinerary for details
Transport
- Boat cruise on the Peninsula Pearl
Meals
- A hot drink is included
Route
Included experiences
- Chinaman's Hat — see more than 100 Australian fur seals
- Seabird colony — watch Australasian gannets dive
- Sorrento to Portsea — cruise past cliff-top homes and boat sheds
- The Rip — see cargo ships enter the bay
- Port Phillip Bay — look out for resident bottlenose dolphins
Pictures / Videos
Reviews
4.8
Based on 16 reviews
Verified from
Real reviews from travellers who've done this tour, gathered from around the web and paraphrased.
AI summary of 16 reviews
Travellers consistently praise the crew for being friendly, professional and knowledgeable, and they appreciate the boat itself for being clean, spacious, well-maintained and offering good visibility and freedom of movement around the deck. What stands out most often is the wildlife viewing, particularly sightings of dolphins playing around the boat and seals on rocks, alongside other marine life such as sea birds and occasional feeding events, though sightings are not guaranteed. The most common caveat is that dolphins may not be spotted despite the tour's focus on them, though travellers report that seals and other wildlife observations prove satisfying even when dolphin sightings do not occur.
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.
“Happy customers”
We got close to the seals and watched them for ages from the top deck. Smelly, though!
“Great way to spend a couple of hours.”
On the 90-minute cruise dolphins swam in front of the boat, clearly visible and often leaping, and we saw a huge number of seals. The two crew were friendly and informative, and it gave us a feel for the size of the bay out near the heads.
“Great trip”
There was an issue with our ticket from another seller, and the company sorted it out for us. I worried we wouldn't see much, but they found dolphins and the seals on their platform, and you can move freely around the boat.
“You’ll enjoy it”
A great team on board. Nothing is guaranteed, but they went above and beyond and we had dolphins chasing the boat.
“excellent, highly recommend”
A fantastic 1.5-hour cruise. We didn't see dolphins, but the seals were amazing and we had plenty of time to watch and photograph them. The staff were friendly and the boat clean, safe and not crowded.
“Sorrento Day Trip!”
The crew were friendly, professional and knowledgeable, with plenty of room to move around the boat. I'd happily do another tour.
