This Brisbane based company organised a day out on Crusader 1 on Saturday 5th May. The weather forecasts were indicating it would be a great day to be out on the water.  We all knew there was some stronger winds – up to 20 knots were forecast – coming through later that night and the following day but ….what actually happened was a little surprising to everyone.

A stunning morning as we set out. No winds and flat ocean conditions. The fishing was great – lots of good sized Snapper on board, Coronation Trout and the good old Fusiliers.  overall there was lots of action on board and a great vibe.

Toby, Zoe & Dixon were the crew, and made sure the guests settled in for a nice early BBQ lunch followed by platters of dips, cheeses and fruit through out the day.

Unlike the forecasts, the weather decided to hit hard and fast from about lunchtime with wind gusts reaching 30-40 knots! Luckily the group on board took it in their stride as we were headed home when the worse took effect. We simply battened down a few clears and weathered the conditions until we got in.

All in all, a great bunch of guests on board, great fishing and everyone clearly to loved the.day  Gerard received a Rod & Reel as a gift from us for organising the group. It was a fun trip with trophies handed out and a great time had by all. 

If you think a day on the water like this would be something for your company, family of group of friends, look no further than Crusader 1 and our crew .

Fish species
Some of the great fish caught on the day

Visit Sunshine Coast work hard to bring more conferences and events to our region and we were lucky enough to have Maui Motorhomes enjoy our 3 hour Coastline & Canal Cruise the other evening.

After being locked behind closed doors for days they were looking forward to being out doors enjoying the surroundings that the Sunshine Coast can offer and what a lovely way to enjoy the evening, cruising the Mooloolaba Bay watching the sunset, enjoying some finger food, a few drinks and great conversations with their colleagues.

Everything was catered for so they didn’t have to worry about a thing, except bringing their alcohol which, lets face it, is not a chore.

All our trips are tailored to suit your needs and we are as adaptable as possible.

 

 

With all the horrible weather for the first half this year, it’s been difficult for any charter company in SE Qld. Last Friday we were able to get a small “Half Day” – 5 Hour Deep Sea Fishing Charter out, which resulted in a great day for all on board.

We actually had two birthday boys on board at the same time –  Anthony and Nigel who both managed to pick up a nice Cobia (Black King Fish), along with some other fish making their day.

We surprised them both with a birthday cake (and most likely embarrassed them as well!).

It was good to see some ladies on board as well, and for them to be hauling up some good fish proved that deep sea fishing is truely an activity suitable for everyone. They even had a double hook-up.

Cobia was certainly the flavour of the day, and they are a good fish to have on the line.  Hoping to see more as we get into the cooler months.

 

 

A nice way to start Anzac Day!  A beautiful sunrise and looking back on everyone gathering on the beach for the official Remembrance Service in front of the Mooloolaba Surf Club as we headed out on a 7 Hr Deep Sea Fishing Trip.

Aaron pulled together a group of friends for an outing.  He received a Rod & Reel as a gift from us for his efforts and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed the trip as he actually phoned us and thanked us for such a great day. Wow!  You don’t get that often.  Really touching.

Jackson’s Dad Daniel organised a fishing trip for his 10th birthday.  It was good to be able to get him out as we had to cancel on him a couple of times with all this inclement weather we’ve been having of late.  Well, it was a delight to see him hook up the first catch of the day – a nice Pearl Perch, he deserved a hat for that.

Then we had Scott bring his two daughters along and Fiona caught her first fish ever.  Toby was there to help her and show her what to do.Mike, a Sunshine Coast local and regular, certainly knows how to fish and pulled in a couple of great fish as usual.

To top it of the last catch of the day was a nice Mack Tuna so all in all a good day on the water and we are looking forward to seeing some return guests on our overnight fishing charters and whale watching over the next few months.

 

 

Escape the hustle and bustle and treat your staff and clients to a fun-filled, memorable day on the beautiful waters of the Sunshine Coast!

Explore the breath-taking coastlines and diverse marine wildlife on board Crusader 1, the largest open deck charter vessel on the Sunshine Coast. We can accommodate up to 45 passengers and offer complete catering flexibility.  Hire a BBQ and bring a private chef on-board.  Bring your own food on board or get it catered for.  We are happy to work with caterers.  A great activity for team building, or a unique and fun venue for your end of year Christmas party.

Whether you’re after an action-packed adventure, or a relaxing cruise on the ocean, our experienced staff will work to your requirements. With a range of affordable and exciting options to suit all occasions, let Sunshine Coast Afloat arrange your next corporate outing, and make it one to remember!

 

 

What a weekend just past!
Finally a really good break in the weather enabling us to get our guests out!
The results were excellent as we certainly had some great trips.
The cyclones started to impact us as far back as on New Years day, and basically continued to play havoc until Early April (Yes, that’s a touch over 3 full months!), we lost a massive part of the normal summer fishing time.
Our first trip out immediately showed we were already into the changeover to the Winter species.
Not that that is all bad, but the Summer pelagics are always exciting fish to hook!
All in all a mixed bag of fish species caught by the end of the weekend.
A few excellent school Jewfish (aka Mulaway), a lot of Red Emperor (sadly most JUST under the limit), Tusk fish, Parrot fish, Snapper, Cobia, a lot of Red Throat Emperor, and the normal reef fish such as Cod, Pearl Perch, Gold Spot Wrasse, Banana Fish etc. We even hooked a few Coral trout and a Nanoguy! Not a common fish for our region at all!
Just a selection of the fish caught this weekend.
The weekend started off with a 5 hr sunset charter. The forecasts were borderline so we changed it to a sunset charter to get the best of the weather.
Luckily we had picked it right, and it was a good fun trip.
Jamie had a bit of a Bucks get together with some of his interstate mates that could not make the main celebration.
A few others joined the charter & there was some good fishing.
Some of the action as the sun set on the 12th April
Friday was a corporate outing with a great bunch of guys from the Cleveland area.
This charter was a Full 9hr day out at The Barwon Banks. And, like the 5hr it ended up with another lot of good fish on board. Have to say, some of these guys could really fish! ???? ???? ????
Overall just an excellent day out on the water, with a nice BBQ lunch, some great Fishing, and one lucky person walking away with a rod & reel combo compliments of Sunshine Coast Afloat.
Saturday also started with a 5 hr sunrise charter. It’s worth noting that now that the mornings are getting darker we are seeing some spectacular sunrises.
It seems that the fish must be hungry from the extended period of bad weather as we managed another number of beauties being caught on this trip as well.
Michael had organised this for their Bucks party celebration (well, the start of it I guess) and seeing as they had the boat to themselves they  decided to have a great big cook up breaky – bacon, eggs & hash browns. Certainly hit the spot we were told!
Some of the action on the 5hr Charter on the 13th April.
A quick clean up & turn around for a 2 hr cruise which turned out to be another Bucks celebration.
A 2hr Bucks Party cruise
After that we headed off to the back canals to pick up a Hens group. They had rented a canal-front house for the occasion, so instead of them coming to us to board, we went and picked them up from the pontoon attached to the property! Talk about door to door service!! I do wonder what the neighbours thoughts seeing the 55 foot Crusader 1 coming in to moor up at the property! These girls certainly knew how to party. Lots of singing, dancing & screaming.
On Sunday we had yet again another 5 hr (half day) charter to begin with. Luckily once again the Fishing was good. And on this trip his we even managed to get a few Spanner Crabs as well.
Some of the fish caught on the 5hr Charter on Sunday morning April 15
The final trip of the weekend was Sunday afternoon when we finished off with an 80th birthday celebration. Another absolutely lovely bunch of guests. They too incorporated a BBQ lunch, while they enjoyed a beautiful day out on the water with  with family & friends.
All in all  simply a fantastic few days.
We can only hope the weather and this pace continues!

A FREE Rod & Reel for Christmas? Thats right! Summer is on it’s way, and so is Christmas – only about 5 weeks to go as I am writing this!  At Sunshine Coast Afloat, we want to make sure you are set for the best Christmas holiday season yet! Fishing is pretty much the national pastime for Australians. (Well, probably almost every human on the planet!). And we know that as much as we would all love to head out every weekend (on one of our charters of course! ) that is neither realistic or possible.

So if you are looking at heading out over the Christmas holidays we want to make sure you are rewarded! How? Well, as a small local business we need your help to get as many people heading out with us. Be it on Crusader 1 or on our Kayaks. The more the merrier! And if you can help us with that we will help you to keep fishing even when you can’t jump aboard with us!

So now is the time to organise that group of guys (and gals) and book a Fishing Charter on Crusader 1. Get a group of 7 or more together and we will GIVE you, the organiser, a free, brand new, Offshore Rod and reel. Yep, your to keep (or give away if you are feeling like Santa). Retail value of over $100.00

Got way more than 7 People? Get your group size to 14 or more and you actually get go FREE!  Get to a group of 19, and the entire boat is just your group.  You still get the Rod and Reel AND you get to have up to 21 people come on for no extra cost. Thats 3 free of charge (You should be one of them of course!)

A couple of happy campers receiving their free offshore Rod and Reel sets from Sunshine Coast Afloat.

Got an offshore rod n Reel already? Well, how about a japanese made estuary spinning rod designed specifically for kayak fishing? That’s right, you can walk away with a super high quality Japanese Rod and reel set worth well of $140.00 by coming out kayak fishing on one of our Guided Kayak Fishing tours! And in this case its not just you that gets the gear. Everyone in your group does! AND you only need 4 or more people to get this happening! 4 hours of fun and expert assistance on how to get the most out of your kayak fishing.

Another group having a great time on a 4hr Guided Kayak Fishing tour.
(Free Rod and Reel available for direct bookings only. Not available for bookings made via 3rd Party agents and or sites)

Choose your experience for some of the best Whale Watching of the year.

With the Sunshine coast whale watching season closing at the end of the month it surprises some people to know that there is in fact often no better time  for some truly amazing whale encounters. The number of whales in September and October, heading back to the antarctic waters, is simply astounding. And so many of them have of course their new family additions swimming alongside them. (and the calves are usually so playful too!).

In fact this time of year you will often get the chance to spend time with a number of different pods. Some in groups of 5 or more together.

Why Choose Sunshine Coast Afloat for your whale watching?

When choosing who to whale watch with there are a number of operators  and vessels on the sunshine coast. From the biggest and most well known operators of Whale One and Croc one down to the smallest with Set Sail Cruises or Hella-va-jet. This now give visitors (and locals) to Mooloolaba a much better range of operators to choose from for their experience with the whales.  Every operator is different. These differences will range from the type and size of vessel, to the actual way you get to interact with the whales. Some of the larger vessels will take up to 120 passengers on a trip, and then with the smaller vessels as little as 5. Smaller groups can often mean you might have the boat to yourselves. The larger vessels usually have the ability to pay on board for additional amenities (food and drinks), or come as “all inclusive” tours.

At Sunshine Coast Afloat we operate a small fleet of vessels from 5m-17m. We specialise in small group charters from 2 people up to 23 people on our vessels Crusader 1, Hela-va-jet and SupaYot.  We work closely with all other regional operators including Sunshine Seaplanes who often help locate the whales before we even leave the dock. All of this to allow us to get you quickly, and comfortably, close up to our large marine friends.

Because, as mentioned, we specialise in smaller groups, our tours are aimed squarely at those people that want a guaranteed railside, uninterrupted viewing position.  We don’t need PA systems to be heard of the noise larger groups always generate. Your experience is purely directly with our friendly experienced skippers and crew, who are there to assist you and answer any “whaley questions” you may have. No matter where you go on board, you will never be standing behind someone having your view blocked. You will never struggle to find a comfortable seat when you want to have a sit down. In fact, we do everything we can to make you feel as if you are on a large private trip with just a few friends. The sort of trip we all really want to have!  Add in the fact that the Whales certainly seem to love our boats, constantly having a number of very close personal encounter this season and last.

Sunshine Coast Afloat is a small Family business with a complete focus on providing high quality experiences and service.  Every member of our crew have young families of their own, ensuing a great understanding of your family’s needs. Each of our skippers have been working on the ocean for over 10 years, in all areas of marine tourism. From Scuba Diving to long range expedition cruising, up and down the east coast of Australia. Each brings their own knowledge and experience with them them and all are willing to share this knowledge with any of our passengers interested. Their experience and understanding of what our customers need and deserve means that your time is valuable and is treated as such by each and every crew member.

 

A humpback whale shows her tail near Crusader 1 on the Sunshine Coast

When choosing your boat with Sunshine Coast Afloat it’s worth knowing the facts:

Crusader 1

Crusader 1 coming back to her home port
  • Spacious and very stable 17m Conquest West Coaster
  • Cruising speed of up to 23 knots
  • Max 23 passengers.
  • All inclusive with food and non alcoholic drinks.
  • 2 toilets
  • 2 decks
  • LOTS of seating to accommodate more people than actually aboard.

Crusader 1 is one of the largest charter vessels on the Sunshine Coast. So large that most other operators would easily run up to 100 or more passengers on a vessel this size. With just a maximum of 23 people the most common comment we get is “Gee, the boat almost seems empty!”. And that is the feeling we want for our guests because that means you have both room and privacy aboard! Room to move about. Room to position yourself for the best view or angle possible. And privacy to not feel crowded or “sardined” in. Privacy to feel that you are having a very special and privileged experience!

Our main deck is only 1m above sea level. So when the whales decide to check us out you are SUPER close! Anyone that has had this experience will agree, its an emotional and moving experience!

Our forward deck is only 2m above sea level and its quite common to stand there and watch the whale swim right under our bow! Dolphins are also often seen playing in the wake as we head out or on our way back in.

Hela-Va-Jet

2 shots of Hela-Va Jet during whale Watching trips
  • 9.5m enclosed Oceantech Jet Boat
  • Cruising speed of 35knots (70km/hr)
  • Seats up to 12 but only takes 4-8 passengers (10 with 2 kids) for whale watching.
  • All inclusive whale watching

Hela-va-jet’s size and speed make her an ideal whale watching platform for small groups in sea conditions up to 1.5m of swell. She has the ability to get you out to the whales up to 10 miles off shore within 15 min of leaving the river mouth. In calmer seas enjoy the smooth, fast, air conditioned ride. And when the seas pick up strap in for a high speed adrenaline filled ride out to the whales as the highly experienced skippers twist and turn through the waves.

Once with the whales your skipper will open up Hela-va-Jet’s full length gullwing doors allowing you to move around the cabin getting the best views from at sea level with the whales.

Hela-va-Jet’s size allows her to sit on a single wave preventing the twisting motions you can get on larger vessels (which usually contributes to sea sickness) making for a very comfortable, fun and easy time with the whales.

If any above the information above sounds like something you are interested in just give us a call on 0402 625 825 or 0412 155 814 or jump online. We would love to have you aboard!

The highlights from August 2017

August proved to be another fabulous month here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. We really only had one (and a half) weekend(s) out due to unpleasant weather.  Although we have not had rain for some time now,  we have experienced a few, shall we say “ordinary” days, with strong winds and swelly seas, keeping us grounded in port.

Whale Watching Trips

On the other side of things, our mid-week WHALE WATCHING trips are, slowly, gaining momentum.  Some of these have been absolutely spectacular to say the very least. Even our bird watching trips (More on these below) have turned into amazing whale watching trips! Have a look at a few of the images and some footage:

 

Hela-Va Jet, our offshore Jet Boat, is getting the same results most trips as well. And when you as close to the water as you are on this boat, the whales really look VERY big!

2 shots of Hela-Va Jet during whale Watching trips

Deep Sea Fishing

With the abnormally high winter temperatures (We have not really had much of a Winter here on the Sunshine Coast at all this year) we certainly have not seen the influx of Snapper and Cobia we normally do.  Most trips are still very much a mix of both Summer and Winter species. Towards the end of the month we finally started to see a bit of a resurgence of the Spanner crabs, even though the vast majority are well under size. At least there are clearly crabs about which will hopefully spawn in November and December to restock the levels back to where they should be.

Amongst our August trips one of the highlights was the 11 hour fishing charter which took us out past the Barwon Banks in search of the bigger fish, and we were not disappointed.  It was actually Angie’s birthday and it was a stonker of a day.

Angie getting her cake (and eating it too!) aboard Crusader 1.

And Angie got in on the fishing action too as you can see below!

A snapshot of some of the fish caught during August aboard Crusader 1.

August in general did see a lot of Tea Leaf Trevally, Amberjack, Parrotfish (Surprisingly so), and Mack Tuna. Along with the usual year round fish such as cod, pearlies, squire, Mowong, tuskies etc.

A snapshot of 2 of the trips results in August 2017 aboard Crusader 1.

This stunning Coral Trout was released back to the Coral Sea to fight another day and the only memory the person that caught it wanted was this picture of it. So I thought I would share it will everyone as these fish are seldom released!

Aboard Crusader we have been experimenting with different styles of bait, and we believe we have found an excellent mix which is seeing great results in most conditions. A combination of our own designs of both hooks and plastics combined with bait is the final result of which our customers feedback has been overwhelmingly positive!

We have had a lot of groups book their trips with us. Our vessel’s size at 55 foot makes it ideal for larger groups to still be able to head out for a day of fun together. We also had another school outing which was again strongly supported by Gary of De Bretts on Parkyn Parade.

Two of the many groups hosted aboard Crusader 1 during August. On the left is a school group from St Teresa in Noosaville.

August also saw another Pelagic birdwatching trip (you can read the full post on that here). Its funny how we all hang out for calmer winds and seas for fishing and whale watching, these guys prefer stronger winds. But so far every trip has seen beautiful calm conditions, making their trips more whale and marine watching than true pelagic bird watching! Ah well, as they say, “be careful what you wish for!”. No doubt they will soon enough have the weather they are currently wishing for.

The arrow shows the Brown Boobie on the Trawler. The passengers carry some of the most impressive camera gear we ever see aboard Crusader 1.

General Trip stuff

Of course the Beautiful Coral Sea off Mooloolaba here on the Sunshine Coast provided for some amazing sunrises over the ocean. Zoe took a number of amazing shots. Here are just 2 of them:

A couple of Sunrise Shots taken by Zoe aboard Crusader 1.

And of course we still had the other usual marine encounters such as dolphins (Yes, Crusty is still visiting us almost every day when fishing!).

It’s a common sight to see dolphins enjoying swimming in the wake created by Crusader 1 as she steams along.

So that caps off another month of fun and sunshine here on the Sunshine Coast. With the September school holidays just around the corner, we can only hope that the weather gods decide to grant us all more of the same.

We hope to see all of you out with us for some awesome fun soon!

The highlights from July 2017

What a fabulous July we had on the Sunshine Coast!  Spectacular weather with temperatures in the mid-twenties, you would think we were in Spring rather than Winter. We have not experienced the normal winter weather at all this year. In fact we are even still seeing some pelagic out there!  Overall fishing has not been too bad at all. The crabbing has been rather dismal with only 1 in every 5 trips hitting any real volume of crabs.

The weather certainly resulted in a massive influx of bookings and has allowed us take on a variety of different activities this month. All of which which has kept us on our toes and excited.

The great weather even allowed us to get TWO overnight charters out in July! The first of these being a single group booking, celebrating a couple of birthdays. The other overnight charter consisted of a lot of our regular customers, which is always a lot of fun for everyone involved!  Of course both trips were very different, but both successful in different ways.  Everyone certainly said they enjoyed the trips and almost all are asking about when we will be doing our next!

Night Fish often gives excellent fishing results as can be seen by this huge Sweetlip.
A nice Tusk Fish on one of the evening deep Sea Fishing Charters on Crusader 1

We decided to give August a miss – a good call as it turned out – as we tend to experience the strong Westerly winds in that month. In the 3 years of doing these trips we are yet to have a comfortable August overnight charter happen! The date we had pencilled in before we decided to “play safe” saw strong winds and high seas. So we made the right call and did not need to disappoint anyone that would have had a booking!

July saw a massive number of “common” fishing charters completed. Certainly nothing like the 60% cancellation rate due to unsuitable weather the prior months had been impacted by! Perhaps this is also one of the reason the fishing was often much better than expected.

The smile says it all! An awesome size Tusk Fish makes all the effort worthwhile!
Any Coral Trout is an exciting catch. Especially this size!

As a company we are always looking at ways to improve the experience we provide us customers. Fishing isn’t becoming any easier with the ongoing increases in boat numbers and without doubt the impact of huge overseas commercial fishing vessels. Large fish grow large for a reason. They have learnt to survive! So catching a large size fish requires more than just pure luck. Skill and technique are more often than not the key. And to assist in this we trialled a number of different “plastics” in July. Some more successful than others. These plastics need to be matched with the correct hooks etc. So we ended up getting our own designs made for us to ensure we were able to get the best possible results. And we believe the result are more than encouraging. We’ll never remove bait fishing entirely, but the impact we are seeing from the plastics is so strong we feel it will become a very key component of our setup moving forward.

Of course this time of year whale watching really starts to hit its strides. Especially towards the end of July into August. The now clearly rapidly growing numbers of whale migrating up the Eastern coastline is making for more and more frequent amazing encounters. Both Crusader 1 and Hela-Va Jet offer very personal and special viewing of these special animals. The growth in our booking for whale watching trips is fantastic and we believe down to both our brilliant crew and the very private feel we have aboard our boats. Our focus is on giving the best possible viewing of the whales, and the only way to do that is have small passenger numbers on our vessels. With some mind blowing encounters already in July we can’t wait till August and September!!

Whale Watching aboard Hela-Va Jet on the Sunshine Coast
Another group enjoying the amazing Humpback Whales from HEla-Va Jets unique perspective
HEading out whale watching on Hela-Va Jet is exciting in many ways!
A pod of Humpbacks sees one whale head straight for Crusader 1
A curious whale pops up right next to Crusader to see what all the fuss is about.

July also saw our 2nd Pelagic Bird watching trip for the year. See the full post on that here. It’s funny how it goes. Fishing and whale watching needs to ideally have light winds, whilst we are told the pelagic birds are much more plentifull with winds speeds of 20 to 25 knots. Both Pelagic Bird trips have seen the most gentle of conditions of course! I bet our fishing and whale watching customers had that same luck every time!

 

Getting the best positions for the Pelagic Bird Watching trip in July 2017
Birds on the Bow of Crusader 1 on July’s Pelagic Bird Watching trip

Of course we had a number of other trips on as well. Cruises, Hens and Bucks parties to name a few. And of course a large number of the more common or standard fishing charters. See below images for a few images taken during those trips. Some great fish were caught. Just a bit of a pity the spanner crabs did not play the game as much this month.

A common sight on a nice day is the dolphins swimming and playing in the Bow wake of Crusader 1 as we steam along.
One of the local dolphins trying to get the attention of the passengers aboard Crusader 1
The spectacular Sunrises on offer over the Coral Sea from Mooloolaba never fail to impress!
Heading out before the Sun has risen gives a great sunrise over the ocean every time. It never fails to make an impression!
Steaming back in as the Sun prepares to set on another day of fun deep sea fishing aboard Crusader 1

Well that wraps up July 2017. A great month by any measure! Here is hoping to more of the same in August!