SA’s cruise sector took its first steps back to smooth sailing with Australian-flagged Coral Expeditions ship arriving for a 10-day tour of the remote coast. The Coral Adventurer, with an all-Australian crew onboard, was the first ship to cruise in SA waters in almost 12 months.

Passengers and crew were required to complete mandatory COVID-19 PCR testing within 72 hours before boarding, undertake a GP health screening seven days prior and complete a health declaration.

The Coral Adventurer departed on a 10-day tour from Outer Harbour in Adelaide on 10 February visiting locations in Kangaroo Island, such as Antechamber Bay and Western River Cove, and the Eyre Peninsula including Coffin Bay and Tumby Bay, before arriving back in Adelaide on 20 February.

South Australian Tourism Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex said while the majority of the around 50 passengers will be South Australians seeing SA, the tour was an important step forward for the industry and the eventual safe return of cruise. “South Australia hasn’t had a small expedition ship visit our shores since 2010 and they provide a unique experience to explore remote nature-based locations that the bigger traditional cruise ships aren’t able to,” Mr Harrex said.

Eyre Peninsula Tourism Regional Chair Dion Dorward said it was exciting to see the first steps in welcoming the cruise sector back to the region. “We have run a very successful and popular cruise visit program to Port Lincoln in the past, so it is terrific for our local operators to see the safe return and the modified program being delivered by Coral Expeditions,” he said.

View details of the cruise here: Coral Adventurer