Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary and Ships Graveyard Kayak Tour
Description
The Kayak Tour explores the Dolphin Sanctuary and Ships Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail, just 30 minutes from the Adelaide CBD. Here you find one of Adelaide's "secret spots", it is an area of surprising beauty. The sheltered mangrove lined creeks are home to a fascinating array of marine life, birds and the Port River Dolphins. The Ship's Graveyard is a unique feature of the area with over 20 "wrecks" to view. All this makes for a sensational adventure and kayaking is the most environmentally sensitive way to explore and interact with the dolphins. Small-groups of no more than 8 people make this a personal experience. Perfect for the whole family, enjoy an up close look at the native wildlife and wrecked ships as your guide tells you tales of this mysterious area.
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Minimum age is 8 years
- Children 12 and under will need to be accompanied in a kayak by an adult
- Please bring: Insect repellent, drinks, snacks, shoes that can get wet, sunscreen, and your camera
- As we use sit-in kayaks, we find that people 140kgs+ can have trouble fitting in the kayaks. Please call us with any concerns
Reviews(295)
We had an incredible morning with a wonderful guide leading us through the ship graveyard and the mangroves getting to experience Adelaide in a way most people won't see and that is with birds and dolphins in their natural habitat. I cant thank our guide enough for not only all the details on the area he shared but really just the way he made everyone comfortable. I would totally do this again.
Booked trip through Viator, but the SA adventure kayaking company didn’t show and and said they didn’t run tours on that day. Very poorly organised we were looking forward to the experience, and communication was poor, had to call multiple times to get an explanation as to why no one was there to take us on our tour as we were waiting at the meeting spot and weren’t the only ones there waiting. Adventure kayaking company took little responsibility for their stuff up, trying to blame Viator for their miscommunication
Hi Cate We are very sorry that your tour did not proceed and that you arrived at the meeting point expecting an experience we were not prepared to deliver. We understand how disappointing and frustrating that would have been. A technical failure between Viator’s booking platform and our reservation system meant that several confirmed bookings were not transferred into our operating schedule or sent to our team. The issue had only become apparent the previous day, and at that stage we believed it related to a single booking. We had not yet identified that it was affecting multiple future bookings. We responded through Viator shortly after receiving your message, spoke with you by phone and offered either an alternative date or a full refund. However, we recognise that this did not make up for the missed tour or the inconvenience caused. We were not seeking to avoid responsibility by explaining the booking system issue. We wanted to provide an honest explanation of what had occurred. We have since worked through every affected booking, corrected the system connection and introduced additional checks to help prevent this happening again. Please accept our sincere apology for your experience. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
Great work out and if you’re lucky you’ll see dolphins. But if not, you’ll still get to see the mangroves and multiple ship wrecks. Great way to spend 3 hours in the morning before my flight.
Hi Leo Thanks for joining us and for sharing your review. We’re glad you enjoyed the paddle through the mangroves and past the shipwrecks. Dolphin sightings are always a bonus, but there is still plenty to see throughout the sanctuary. It’s great to hear the tour fitted well into your morning before your flight. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
It was a beautiful experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's visiting Adelaide. Our guide did mention there was a 60% chance of seeing dolphins, and there was a lot to see besides them, and he wasn't wrong. Kayaking through the mangroves was very peaceful, almost like a movie scene, especially because we encountered dolphins both before and after entering the route, which made it even more magical. Getting to know more about the shipwreck was also interesting, and it was a new way of learning history outside of the museum. Our guide, Jarred, was lovely and very patient. This is a bucket-list activity I didn't know existed, and we're glad to experience it.
Hi Mayara Thank you for such a thoughtful review. We’re so pleased you enjoyed kayaking through the mangroves, learning about the shipwrecks and seeing dolphins both before and after the route. Jarred will be glad to hear your kind feedback. It’s wonderful to know the experience became an unexpected Adelaide highlight for you. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
Fun welcoming environment instructor was great and super friendly we did the 3 hour tour which was a bit long for us but still enjoyed it
Hi Jaime Thanks for joining us and sharing your feedback. We’re glad you enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere and found your guide friendly and helpful. The three-hour tour does involve a longer paddle, so we appreciate your honesty and are pleased you still enjoyed the experience. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
Excellent experience kayaking down through the mangroves learning about their ecology and dodge tides before visiting 2 of the ship wrecks in the area. Jazz the guide was extremely knowledgeable.
Thank you for your review. We’re pleased you enjoyed paddling through the mangroves, learning about the local ecology and visiting the shipwrecks. Jazz will be glad to hear your kind feedback. We’re lucky to have such knowledgeable guides sharing this part of Port Adelaide with our guests. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
Our guide Lydia was awesome. She was very friendly, knowledgeable and Professional. She made the whole experience so easy. We were a bit disappointed that we had to turn back due to the weather and missed out on the shipwrecks but we felt this was the right decision. Safety was Lydia’s top priority. We would recommend the experience to anyone who wants to see dolphins in the wild and get a kayak workout in too!
Thank you for your thoughtful review. We’re glad Lydia made the experience feel easy, welcoming and informative. It was disappointing that the weather meant the group could not continue to the shipwrecks, but we appreciate your understanding that safety had to come first. Lydia will be pleased to hear your kind feedback. Kind regards Adventure Kayaking SA
The experience was awesome. Our tour guide was very patient and helpful. We all had a great time. Thank you so much. We will revisit again 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to leave us a great review! We are glad to hear you enjoyed your experience with us and cannot wait to see you again soon!
Lidia was well versed in what she does, very informative. Spotted dolphins 🐬 as well. Got bogged and had to climb out and push kayak lol.
Thank you for leaving us a 5-star review! We are glad to hear that you enjoyed your experience with us and were able to spot some dolphins as well!
Great trip with our friendly knowledgeable guide Lydia. Shipwrecks were interesting to see, and really enjoyed the mangrove paddle.
Thank you for leaving us a nice review! We are glad to hear that you enjoyed your tour with Lydia.
