seals by sea tours

We (me and the wife) haven't experienced anything like this before. It's a one of a kind experience. The experience starts with an easy stroll from the car park to the boat. The skipper then takes you to the seal colony and the seal cave. We also briefly experienced the wild Pacific Ocean - merciless! The boat gets really close to the seals...highly recommended! And safe too!

Seals by Sea must be the best value wildlife encounter along the Victorian coastline. $40/adult gets you a 45 minute to an hour boat trip on the protected waters of spectacular Bridgewater Bay to see the breeding colonies of both New Zealand and Australian fur seals. The boat is launched from the beach BUT picks up passengers from a small jetty about 15 minutes walk from the car park. The track is wide and well marked but it is not flat. It is part of the Great South West Walk Track and has some spectacular views of the bay as you make your way to the jetty. It is here that you pay Jo (cash or card), don a life vest and get into the inflatable with decent seating for the very short trip to the first group of seals. The seals swim around the boat, leap from the water, loll on the rocks and pose for the photographers. There were many pups present which were very cute. The boat travels along the amazing volcanic cliff faces and penetrates a sea cave that also contains seals. If the sea conditions are suitable the boat heads around the headland and the 'horizontal waterfall' is viewed, along with various seabirds. You need to contact Jo on 03 55267247 or via the website www.sealsbyseatours.com.au to check daily trip times and weather suitability. By summer of 2015 a platform with protective cage will have been installed in a very protected area which will allow visitors to view the seals and other marine life from the water, safely, if desired. We did this trip twice 15 years ago with three small children and were very happy with our recent experience. The seal population has increased and begun breeding in the area over the intervening years. Food is available at the kiosk at Bridgewater Bay (vegetarian options, free WiFi and decent coffee) and toilets are close by on the foreshore. Our camera gear was not sprayed at all by salt water. It was a pleasant spot to watch the waves and the local surf class after such a fantastic experience. This trip is suited to all ages - you just need to be able to walk out to the jetty and be prepared to enjoy watching wildlife from a slightly moving boat......

A great little trip on calm, protected waters. Comfortable and safe. Highly recommended. And another thing - even if the seals were not there - it is a great view of a volcanic feature.

Family of four (two teenage boys) this was definately the best value for money activity we found along the GOR. Only negative is lack of signage at start of walk to indicate this is it. We found it easy leisurely walk to shed. Checked out both Aust and NZ seals and then had extra time so headed out to sea to search for dolphins/seals. Thanks for great trip - will definately be recommending and did for the remainder of our holiday.

Great wildlife, nature and tour guides. A spectacular place.Needs signage about the long walk to get to the pickup point.

Having driven the Great Ocean Road for 2 days, we discovered this tour, Seals by Sea. The skipper Jo kindly fitted us in without a booking. What a thrill. There is a bit of a walk on a track to get to the jetty where the boat picks you up, but once you arrive it is wonderful. The boat takes you around the cliff faces where there are hundreds of seals frolicking in the water. You can almost touch them they are so close to the boat. The skipper takes the boat into a cave where the seals congregate, it is awesome. You will never have a better view of seals and great commentary from the skipper.I am so glad we were able to do this tour.

Booked the tour the previous afternoon ... we arrived early as I knew that due to my disability the walk to the "shed" which housed all the life jackets ,etc, would take me longer than for an able bodied person . Upon our arrival and once the owner saw my walking stick his first response was " I'll get Daniel ( who was our tour guide) to drop you back at the beach in the rubber duckie " sadly as much as I would have liked the walk back along the bush walkway I would not have made it due to the steepness of steps and incline ... This tour was BRILLIANT from start to finish ...watching baby seals frolicking in the water..to those lazing in the sun beneath stunning rock formations. Full tide... so ....big waves made the tour extra fun.Daniel our guide was very informative and quite clearly enjoys his job......who wouldn't Another highlight is when you are taken out into the southern ocean to see the stunning coastline plus the sheer beauty of wave after huge wave pounding the coastline. .Before we left on our tour the owner told hubby & I ...."Daniel will drop you both back at the beach in the rubber duckie " for this I will always be grateful and to be honest was kinda fun for this older couple waiting & riding the waves into shore with Daniel taking the " duckie" as far onto the sand as he could then tilting the duckie so all I had to do was remove my shoes and simply slide off.... So hubby and I say... THANK YOU ..... GREAT TOUR AND GREAT SERVICE

What a beautiful place Cape Bridgewater is. Seals by Sea Tours was icing on the cake from our trip down The Great Ocean Road. The swell looked so calm to me but our tour operator Aaron said it was big! He was right, he said 3 metres, I say at least 5. He handled the swell with ease, the seals were beautiful to see in their own environment. Aaron was full of information. Great that's the best word.

We have just had a fabulous week down at Cape Bridgewater and the seal tour was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It was great value for money, Jo's knowledge of such a spectacular piece of coastline made it really interesting and having the opportunity to be out on a boat seeing all that was out there was a real treat! A trip definitely worth doing if you are in the area!

My fiancé, 2 children and I did this tour. Our guide was clearly experienced at managing the boat as we moved close to the rocks and reef to gain the best vantage points. We were also lucky enough to also see some dolphins. Seeing the dolphins moving over the waves, along the side of the boat, was an unforgettable experience!

It is a bit of a hike down to the boat, but easy and well worth it. We had a great time viewing the seals and the boat ride.There is just a little shack at the end of the trail that holds life jackets, no facilities of any type.

Arrived at 1.40 pm as I was told we needed to be at jetty at 1.50 to pay, be fitted with life jackets and board the boat for 2.00 pm departure. We were told we needed to wait for 2 more passengers that we're running late. Finally they arrived and we left the jetty at 2.25 pm. We did our tour and arrived back at the jetty at 3.00 pm. When I booked this tour I was told we would have 45 minutes on the boat to experience the seals but only had about 25 minutes plus travel time. The seals were fantastic, it was just a shame we didn't get to experience them for the amount of time we had paid for.

We had done this trip before and found it was all that people have said, so we wanted to take our grandson. In fact we travelled to Portland just to this take excursion. However the operator would only do the run if he had either 6 or 8 passengers - it varied phone call to phone call - and as we were only 3 he sent his boat staff away. I later asked what he would have charged just to take us out and when told $150 I said that I would pay it - but he then had nobody to skipper the boat.If you are in the tourist business, especially in December, you have to be prepared to run the occasional loss making excursion, for the sake of preserving your reputation. The only exception to going out ought to be bad weather.

This is a wonderful trip viewing seals and the spectacular coastline. Well worth the effort to get there.

As a group of 17 ranging from 5 to 79 what a wonderful adventure we had. What started with a 15 minute easy stroll ended in smiles and cheers from everyone. Jo, our driver and guide was full of information not just about the seals but also local knowledge. Our group went in 2 boat trips and we were both ready to share and compare sights on our return. The boat trip was very safe and actually the faster the boat went the bigger everyone's smiles became. Thanks Jo for a great trip.