Boat Harbour and the Den of Sharks

Australia Day 2018 was our final full day in Tassie. We stayed with a mate, Brian, in Burnie, and when he heard that we hadn't yet visited Boat Harbour, we found ourselves off for one last Tassie adventure. Best of all, it was a snorkelling adventure!

Boat Harbour isn't even half an hour from Burnie; nice and close. Being Australia Day, on the coast, and a region that supports free camping, it wasn't a shock to see the main beach chock full of caravans tightly packed together!

While driving down the road that felt completely devoid of anywhere to park, Brian said something along the lines of, "The popular beach, isn't the good beach. We're going to the good beach."

Right down the end of the road, Brian parked comfortably in his spot. We grabbed our gear, said horoo to the girls—they wen't to the popular beach—and began climbing across the rocks to find a place to get in.

I'll admit, I couldn't keep up with Brian's long legs sending him leaping across the rocks like a flaming wallaby. So, I entered the water a little earlier.

The warm weather had the water feeling pretty good. Plenty of fish were swimming about, and I was enjoying just cruising along. Still, I had no idea where Brian had gotten to.

A few minutes later, Brian is calling out my name from atop the rocks, waving his arms about, and yelling some words I couldn't quite make out—except one: shark. Needless to say, this extravagant show of flailing limbs had me climbing out of the water pretty quick! I climbed across the rocks, making my way over to Brian's position, only to see him back in the water.

He had found a shark, alright. Several of them. The waving and yelling, however, had been fuelled with excitement, not worry. A school of Port Jackson sharks had been sleeping under a shallow overhang, and he had wanted me to hurry up with the camera! I've added a video, which you can view at the end of this post or by clicking here.

The den was pretty amazing. We took some snaps and tried to count how many there were. I think it was somewhere between ten and thirty, we couldn't be sure!

After one of the sharks woke from his slumber and began swimming around Brian with a hungry grin, we continued swimming further along to an old Aboriginal fish-trap. It was a pretty clever setup. Basically, they had built a rock wall in the shallows, which water goes over during high tide. When the tide goes back out, any fish that aren't quick enough to escape are caught. Easy dinner!

Snorkelling at Boat Harbour was a top way to finish our Tassie trip. So, that's it for our Tasmanian blog posts. I hope you've enjoyed our adventure over the island state—we sure enjoyed did.

As always, we look forward to our future adventures.
Happy Travels!