About Sapphire Coastal Adventures | Merimbula, Eden, Bermagui

We have owned and operated Sapphire Coastal Adventures since 2008. When we first purchased the business (Merimbula Marina), it was primarily a fishing charter business that operated dolphin and whale watching tours at times.

We soon realised that whale watching was our passion and began to build this arm of our business. Back in those early years, winter was a quiet time in Merimbula with a low number of visitors at that time of the year. So, with a young family to support, we decided to take a risk and took our boat to Sydney for the winter.

We figured that there were plenty of people in Sydney year-round, and thankfully the whales migrated past on their northern migration May to August. It was a success and what started as a way to get us through the winter has turned into a year-round business, Go Whale Watching. Running a business in Sydney gave us the income we needed to buy new boats and develop our whale watching tours in Merimbula and helped us to become the company we are now. We continue to operate Go Whale Watching in Sydney from May to August each year.

The 2019/20 bushfires and then Covid presented many challenges to our business and forced us to rethink our operation and re-invent ourselves. In 2020, we began operating whale watching tours in Bermagui as well as Merimbula, and we changed our name from Merimbula Marina to Sapphire Coastal Adventures.

Then in 2023, we were honoured to have been given the opportunity to purchase Cat Balou Cruises, a well-known whale watching company who have operated whale watching tours in Eden since 1987. This has allowed us to expand to Eden, one of the most significant whale watching locations in the world.

We are thrilled to now operate whale watching and marine tours all year round in Eden, Merimbula and Bermagui on the spectacular Sapphire Coast.

We like to think we are a friendly, welcoming crew.

We love having fun on our tours and sharing our passion for the ocean. Our dog Roger loves to accompany us on our tours and is quite a good whale spotter these days!

We have so many people that come and visit us each year for their annual ‘whale holiday.’ It is always a joy to us to welcome back familiar faces. Our ‘whale family’ continues to grow and we invite you to join us on our future adventures.

Simon, Jessica and the team at Sapphire Coastal Adventures

Adventure means something different to everyone. To us, nothing else compares to the call of the coast.

The ocean is the source of all life and demands our respect. We are passionate about whales, dolphins, seals and the amazing diversity of the entire marine ecosystem. We believe that if we respect each other and our shared environment, the world can be a better place.

The ocean is facing many threats in today’s world, and we are committed to helping educate people about how they can advocate for our precious marine environment. Education brings understanding, understanding brings appreciation, appreciation brings change.

We protect what we love. Our mission is to help connect people with nature and inspire them to help preserve and protect it.

About us

Memories made daily

Our mission is to help you connect with the ocean.

A journey of discovery

For the past 20 years we have lived and breathed whale watching, running tours in Merimbula, Bermagui, Eden, Sydney and whale swimming in Tonga.

We like to think we are a friendly, welcoming crew.

An ocean of opportunity

Adventure means something different to everyone. To us, nothing else compares to the call of the coast.

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