Perfect Nature Cruises Monkey Mia Marine Life Cruise

Step aboard the Aristocrat 2, Monkey Mia Marine Cruise for some family boating fun! We decided to splash out on a family cruise whilst visiting Monkey Mia in the September school holidays. The kids haven’t been on a boat this size before so we wanted to see if they had sea legs or not. The Aristocrat do various cruises and we chose the Marine Life Cruise which included a sunset cruise, so 2 separate cruises. The Marine Life Cruise is a 3.5 hour tour to spot Dugongs, Dolphins, Turtles and other endangered marine life that frequent the area.

We arrived early for our boat cruise and took part in the morning’s Dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia.

The kids had fun running up and down the pier whilst we waiting for the Aristocrat 2 to arrive. We were very lucky to see a few Turtles cruising underneath the pier as well as lots of huge fish and not forgetting the beautiful Dolphins.

We boarded the Aristocrat 2 and quickly found a good spot to take in the views and listen to the safety and tour talk. There are a few quite important safety instructions to take note especially for the little ones who just want to run around the deck. The boat does has a very large sail which swings from one side to the next when the boat changes direction, this could easily knock someone off the boat if you’re sitting in the wrong place! Also the sides of the boat are fairly open so I wouldn’t feel comfortable with toddlers on the boat, our kids were aged 5+ and we kept a very watchful eye on them all at ALL times.

There are plenty of seating options, including the top of the deck (this is where the sail is), at both sides of the boat on a bench, at the back of the boat and inside the boat.

The kids did enjoy playing inside the boat as it was quite windy and cold on our cruise but also they wanted to fantasy play pirates! You can stow a day pack in this area where you can buy drinks and snacks from the bar if you wish. We took our own snacks and drinks as well as some towels.

Another area they loved was the net nests at the front of the boat, which proved to be the most comfortable way to get a view of everything that was happening.

Strangely no one got a wet bum!

The crew were avid spotters of marine life and we did see Turtles and the odd Dugong surface from afar. Apparently, we were quite unlucky to not see more but we were happy to see them in their natural habitat, albeit for a brief second or two. Someone would shout: “Dugong” and we’d all rush to one side of the boat to catch a glimpse and then they’d say: “Dugong gone”!

The boat does provide some wet weather coats which we thought were rather fetching 😉

Another great activity for the kids was the boom net at the back of the boat. I kid you not, they got all the kids into the net (it was FREEZING!!) at full speed and they LOVED it! Best part of the boat cruise apparently.

A few days later and we were back on the boat for our sunset cruise. It was a very different experience and the kids relaxed and took in the ocean views and listened to the captain’s tour guide.

We saw some amazing views on our sunset tour and made some very special family memories.