April 5, 2016. Wineglass Bay Cruise

CAMPGROUND:  St. Helen's Bay Tourist Park.  Mostly full-time trailers and cabins.  Nice kitchen and lounge. Great showers.  4 stars.  $19

LOCATION:  St. Helen's Bay, Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  Extremely windy. Partly sunny. Highs in 60s

We made coffee and breakfast at our campsite, since there was no communal kitchen at the national park.   Chef George prepared French toast.

Then, off to the cruise.  The weather originally was supposed to be picture-perfect like yesterday, but the wind and clouds were coming in.  Uh-oh

This is the poster for the cruise.

There are 3 theories on how Wineglass Bay got its name:  1) the water is crystal clear like a wineglass, 2) the bay is shaped like a wineglass, or 3) the water was once blood red from the whaling industry.  It is considered one of the world's 10 best beaches.

We boarded the boat and headed out for a 4-hour cruise.  It was nice and smooth for awhile, just like the pictures.  We were in the calm bay.  Then, we headed around the peninsula, in the infamously rough Tasman Sea, to get to Wineglass Bay.  We hit some huge waves.  There were lots of children on board.  They screamed with delight as we lurched up and down.  The captain instructed everyone to come indoors as it was getting even rougher.  More kid screams, now screams of terror.  Then......they started throwing up.  Kids and adults turned green.  Sick bay was created at the rear of the boat.  

The captain decided it was too rough and too unpleasant to continue, so we turned back, unable to get to a Wineglass Bay.  We were supposed to anchor there for lunch, like in the brochure...

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Too bad.  We did find a calm bay and anchored there for a ploughman's lunch.  I think there was a lot of untouched food!  

We saw frolicking dolphins chasing our boat, fur seals diving from cliffs as we neared, and many seabirds.  It was still a good cruise, and they kindly announced that they would give everyone a partial refund.  George told the waiter that we are celebrating our 40th anniversary (true, but 10 days ago), and he gave us 2 glasses of champagne.  The bubbles helped my stomach!

Back on firm ground, we drove north along the coast.  We saw a sign announcing that fuel was not available in an upcoming town, suggesting we buy it there.  George said we had plenty so we did not stop.   After several miles, he admitted we were low on gas.  GPS showed no gas ahead for many miles, so we had to make a detour to another town.  It was inland, over a mountain pass.  We arrived at the gas station, traveling on fumes.  I was not happy.....

We found this RV park and settled in.

DINNER:  Sautéed scallops I had bought near Freycinet Peninsula over herbed fettuccine.