Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary: Discover Rare Wildlife on a Picton Harbour Cruise

29 Ratings

Picton

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Embark on a 4.5-hour boat excursion from Picton Harbour to Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary. Discover rare native birds, seals, and dolphins while learning about wildlife and cultural history.

Duration: 4 hours, 30 minutes

Cancellation: 24 hours

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Highlights

Queen Charlotte Sound - Cruise through the tranquil waterways of the Queen Charlotte Sound, see wildlife and native flora and fauna along the way

What's Included

Commentary on board
On-board restrooms

What's Not Included

Food
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Beachcomber Cruises keep cups for $6 in the office before you depart

Additional Information

Embark on a 4.5-hour boat journey from Picton Harbour to Motuara Island and beyond, relishing the rare sight of native birds and diverse wildlife. Explore the majestic Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary and Ship Cove while gaining insights into wildlife and historical culture from your knowledgeable captain. Revel in the stunning Queen Charlotte Sound…

Location

1 London Quay

London Quay

Please meet us at the Beachcomber Cruises Office on the waterfront - the Corner of Wellington Street and London Quay, we are a black building with Blue Signage.

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings

4.1

(29 Ratings)

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1 star

Cecilia_d

Feb 16, 2024

Lovely Island, great boat trip - Amazing views from the top of the island. The Marlborough sounds are really beautiful. By doing the boat trip you get to see things you can’t get to by road.

Review provided by Viator

Carol

Feb 10, 2024

Highly recommended - We loved the mail boat trip. The commentary from the driver was fascinating and heartfelt. Highly recommended to adults. Children may not find it occupied then enough.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Yotee69

Dec 7, 2022

Beachcomber crew curteous, helpfull and knowlegeable. - Great day out . Nice stable safe boats . Bird Iland , James Cook monument a must see if you are even slightly interested in the sea Lunch and serice at Furneaux Lodge exceptional . All highly recommended . Thanks to all

Review provided by Tripadvisor

A321bird

Mar 11, 2024

A Magic Island - An amazing island with just the right amount of time to ascend to the summit and the incredible panoramic views. Excellent views of the unique bird species found on the island. I was disappointed with the very short time we had by the Cook Memorial - the excuse that “we’re running late” by the boat skipper isn’t, I feel, good enough! Consequently it was a very rushed visit for everyone on that particular sailing.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Julie_from_mi

Feb 16, 2024

Great day on Marlborough Sound. - The boat ride was beautiful. On the island, I felt rushed to climb to the viewpoint and get back down on time. We enjoy seeing birds but are not experienced birders. We could hear more than we could see.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Crystal_f

Jan 13, 2024

Beautiful way to see the Picton area and beyond - The boat ride and scenery was beautiful. And the hike was nice. We only saw a couple of birds and we didn’t get any commentary or info from our skipper in the way. Nor did we have a guide like it appeared some did on the group after us. But the ride was great.

Review provided by Viator

Hanlie_v

Feb 20, 2023

A must do - The native vegetation and birdsong was so peaceful and the cruise back to Picton was spectacular, visiting all resorts and ships cove on the way, loved it

Review provided by Viator

X9864novirginiab

Feb 10, 2023

Not long enough on the island - A beautiful trip and a guide who had useful info. The blurb didn't say that we only had one hour on the island which wasn't really enough. It's not a big island but there is so much to see.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

Dianne_h

Mar 5, 2023

Potential great trip became average - On trip out to Island there was no information given over the loud speaker to point ut things to the passengers. Found this a bit weird as the expectation was that you would expect something like that. Once we got to the island very little info given and we were left to it with all the other passengers. Not all the passengers were able to work up the hill which was challenging to a few people. Will admit bit surprised our boat changed, but the guy on the second boat at least kept us informed of what was going on

Review provided by Viator

Cdawd

Dec 2, 2024

Disappointing trip - We did the Motoura Island stop before going onto the Ships Cove to Furneaux Lodge walk. We'd thought it would be one of the highlights of our trip but it was disappointing. Complimentary coffee on board is advertised but there was none during the 1 hr trip to Motoura Island on the motorboat. We couldn't hear the explanation too well because of the noise of the boat. We had thought there would be more commentary - the people on the mailboat cruise (they picked us up) seemed to have had better commentary. The return boat had issues so we had to wait for a replacement to come, which is fine, but instead of keeping us waiting at the Lodge, where we had warmth and drinks, we were told to get to the boat around 3:45. It was a miserable day but we had to wait on the boat for close to 45 minutes. Poor service. I'd say this is more like a water taxi and less of a cruise.

Review provided by Tripadvisor

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up to 9 guests

1 Adult