Southern Wanderer Scenic Cruises

We had a great experience on our short cruise with Southern Wanderer. John and Oli are great guides and know a lot about the peninsula and its wild life, also beyond the sea life of interest (dolphins).As other posts have already stated, it is only a small group of up to 8 people joining the trip which creates a great atmosphere and allows for a lot of your questions being answered.Moreover, the small business respects the wildlife such that the animals decide how they interact with you as visitors in their habitat. This made us feel like our trip was a very unique experience.Thanks for the awesome tour.

Awesome experience...loved every minute of trip. Very informative, professional and friendly. Just an intimate small group , saw lots of beautiful Hector's dolphins. Thank you very much

Cured my fear of boats. Informative host and very enjoyable experience.

We had an absolutely wonderful time with Southern Wanderer. Our hosts, Jenny and Oli were great to talk to - such nice people and they had amazing knowledge of the animals we were seeing, the history of Akaroa, and of the geography too. We saw penguins, and dolphins as well as incredibly cool sea birds.The boat was small and intimate which was really cool! This is a great way to escape the large, crowded, and impersonal tours! Really can't say enough good things about this experience! Thank you so much for having us!

Absolutely amazing experience. The hosts were very nice and informative about the place and its wildlife. I was never keen to go on these cruises as it was like a lucky dip if you will see dolphins or not but the experience totally changed it and I would highly recommend to everyone. The dolphins were everywhere and they were so close!

We loved our trip with Jenny and Ollie. They were the perfect guides showcasing the harbour and area they call home. We would highly recommend to anyone wanting a personalised more intimate cruise without the crowds.

Definitely recommend! My partner and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour! The owners John and Ollie are a family business operating a smaller but nice boat. They live in Akaroa themselves so have so much information on the Maori history, the wildlife and the surrounding Banks Peninsula area. Personally enjoyed this a lot more than a big commercialised tour as it felt a lot more personal, passionate and educational. We saw plenty of birds, dolphins, penguins and seals with an abundance of interesting facts about them. Also I found learning about the boat and systems on board to be quite interesting as well. They also gave out a cookie to everyone on board so bonus on bonus. We were also all given binoculars which was awesome to see all the wildlife what felt even closer. Fast boat with a quiet engine so could still converse easy. The tour went a little longer which was cool to be out on the water for longer and you could also ask to go to specific locations within reason so their accomodation to requests and time constraints is another great thing. 5 stars all around so definitely go and book this! Know we will be back. (Circle photo is a penguin and seal taken through binoculars)

I really enjoyed my cruise on the Akaroa harbour with Southern Wanderer. Our small group made for a nice friendly atmosphere and personal attention from the knowledgeable crew. Seeing the Hector's dolphins so close was a fantastic experience, and the choice of tour times was convenient. Definitely recommend them.

Really awesome experience. The owners John and Ollie were really friendly and made it a really fun time. The environment was family friendly and also very informational. Loved the experience 10/10 must do experience.

We had an awesome cruise around Akaroa Harbour with Southern Wanderer. The small boat makes for a more intimate experience, with conversational commentary about the wildlife and history of the area. I really enjoyed their ethos of not chasing the wildlife, but allowing it to come to us. And with that, we saw plenty of hector dolphins, seals, Pohatu blue penguins, and a couple albatross. Ollie and John were great hosts. I highly recommend this cruise if you want a more natural, intimate tour of Akaroa Harbour.