Small Boat Whale Watching in Gold Coast: A Personalised Adventure Tour

Embark on a personalised adventure with our Small Boat Whale Watching tour in Gold Coast. Get up close and personal with humpback whales on a smaller vessel for longer encounters and incredible underwater shots.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • 3F8F+RF South Stradbroke - We utilise a small vessel in small groups of upto 12 guests, providing an unparalleled, personal, and boutique whale watching experience. We closely work with researchers and encourage all our guests to become inspired by what we do.

Why a small vessel?

You can literally touch the ocean and feel the spray of whales blows in your face! That is how close you are to the water surface on our boat. When we say to get at eye level with our humpback whales, we really mean it. You can look forward to closer and longer encounters as humpback whales do not feel intimated by a smaller vessel! Due to its small size and quiet engine, whales love to check out our boat up close.

For your convenience, we provide courtesy spray jackets and inflatable life vests to keep you safe and dry.

We look forward to welcoming you on our small boat.

What's Included
  • Spray Jacket
  • Life Jacket
Additional Information

Our Small Boat Whale Watching tour is an absolutely personalised experience. This 2-3h Gold Coast Whale Watching adventure tour is on a smaller vessel with a maximum of 8 participants. Spectators can look forward to closer and longer encounters as humpback whales do not feel intimated by a smaller vessel. The outer tubes of our semi-inflatable vessel are only 50cm above the water surface. This even allows you to submerge your waterproof camera on passing whales for some great underwater shots for those lucky enough.

Whilst no vessel is allowed to approach whales closer than 100m, our experience shows that the whales are usually approaching us whilst our engines are turned off and the vessel drifts through the water. For this very reason, our vessel is frequently chartered by research groups to conduct field surveys and sampling.

  • Children MUST be minimum of 5years and require a booking/reservation
  • Children MUST be a minimum of 5years to join this experience and will require their own seat
Location
95 Marine Parade
Marine Parade
Please arrive at least 30mins prior to departure. Note - Our small boat does not have bathroom/toilet facilities so it will be important to ensure you are prepared before we leave.
Cancellation Policy

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

Customer Ratings
4.8
(53 Ratings)
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131nelishak
Sep 26, 2024
Fun on wave break island! - So much fun, saw lots of fish, lobsters! What an amazing experience! Experienced hosts, show us around a lot and we’re there all the time with us.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
W7555whpaulinem
Sep 13, 2024
Loved this Experience - Small Boat Whale Watching - Was actually quite nervous going on the small boat, but from other reviews felt this would be the best. It did not disappoint ….Adam and Mike were so good from the get go and we were soon spotting whales really quickly into the ride. We had a couple on the boat who wanted to swim so we stopped as often as needed to let them try and see the whales under the water. To be honest I thought us left on board saw so much more with the mothers and the babies ….we also travelled when needed to catch up with them and we actually took a bit longer than arranged to go further out to see even more of the whales jumping and turning for us. It was the best experience and both Mike and Adam were really great at answering our questions. It was a trip definitely to be recommended and great value for money. LOVED every minute of it. Thanks guys xx Pauline
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Fearless779839
Sep 3, 2024
Small boat tours are the best way to get up close to the whales. Highly recommend! - I was originally booked for whale watching, as I was hesitant about getting in the water. But Adam talked me into being brave and I ended up actually swimming with whales, and it was amazing! I was very disorganised for swimming, as I was not expecting to. But the team quickly had everything sorted to make it happen (wetsuit, towel for afterwards, mask and snorkel). The weather was a bit rough to start with, but I always felt safe holding into the rope attached to the boat. After a bit of searching we ended up being surrounded by whales, and some dolphins even joined in for a play! I highly recommend this small boat tour, swimming or not. Small number if people means everyone has a great view, a d small boat means you are closer to the water and the whales. However, this also means that you should prepare to get wet, even if not swimming. Spray jackets are provided and are definitely very helpful, but they don't cover everything. Working with wild animals can be so unpredictable, we were so lucky to have such an amazing and up close encounter.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Melissa_s
Sep 1, 2024
Excellent trip - I had a wonderful time. The whales were really close. We had calm weather and sun was out. Perfect day!
Review provided by Viator
Roadwayr
Aug 26, 2024
Best Whale Watchers in GC - Had a great time. These guys are really passionate about there job and very patient as well. Had great time with Adam and Mike. Will definitely come back for swimming with whales
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alicerd1333qh
Aug 20, 2024
Magical experience - I had a wonderful experience with Aqua Adventures - we saw 10+ whales including a young calf. We saw whales breaching, fin slapping, spy hopping and coming right up to the boat. Adam and Mike were brilliant guides and made it an amazing tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
694kerrs
Aug 19, 2024
Amazing whale (and dolphin!) experience - Excellent experience. Managed to see too many whales to count, and even had an extra interaction with a large pod of dolphins that decided to come play with the wake from the boat. I think the dolphins might have stolen the show! Got to see a wide variety of behaviour from the whales (breaching, spouting, popping their head out, slapping fins on the water, and bringing their tails out the water). The crew (Alan and Monica) were friendly, and very knowledgable - demonstrated by being alert, predicting interception routes to get close to the whales on the move etc. We were admittedly lucky with perfect weather conditions, but they seem well prepared for every eventuality. Boat has proper roof (shaded essentially entirely), and splash/spray curtains (weren't required on our trip at all). Boat took approx 11/12 people plus the 2 crew. Perfect numbers in my opinion; didn't feel crowded or overbearing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Yoshikatsu_h
Aug 14, 2024
It’s a great experience... - It’s a great experience .We could not see any whales because of the weather. It was too windy.I hope I can see them next time.
Review provided by Viator
Kelly
Aug 10, 2024
A Magical Experience with experienced Guides - Fantastic experience. Adam and Mike were great guides and we got to see lots of whales up close. Adam was an excellent skipper and navigated the boat through slightly choppy sea. Mikes knowledge of the humpback whale was impressive. There were only 5 of us on board and they kindly extended our trip as we didn’t see much in the first hour but once we were on the Humpback Highway it was magical.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sarah700801
Aug 5, 2024
August holiday 2024 - Even though the conditions were not perfect, the experience was incredible. We were fortunate enough to have 2 very inquisitive humpbacks hanging around and popping up for almost 2 hours. They came super close to the boat and were swimming underneath it as well. Adam and Mike were very knowledgeable and were happy to answer questions and share information both during and after the tour. We were so happy we chose a small boat and small company to have this experience with and would recommend highly! If we are ever back on the GC we will definitely choose these guys again! Thank you for an incredible experience guys 🫶
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Select Date and Tickets
up to 8 guests
1 Adult
September 2024
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