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Port River Cruises

Dolphin and Ships Graveyard, Cultural Tours, Private Charters and Live Music Events

Book your PRIVATE CRUISE 🚤 or EVENT 🎉 with Port River Cruises!

Endless discoveries.

Cruise the Port River learning about its rich Maritime and Cultural History. Admire the local dolphin pod within the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary. Visit the Ships Graveyard and learn about the ships history. An abundance of birdlife living within the Port River and the International Bird Sanctuary provides bird lovers with plenty of photo opportunities. Admire the 10,000-year-old mangrove forests along the way, some of the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere!

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Port Princess Dolphin Cruises

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

90-minute Port River Dolphin & Ships Graveyard Cruise

Enjoy cruising the Port River learning about the rich maritime history. Explore the dolphin sanctuary, the ships graveyard and Garden Island Bird Sanctuary. This tour has something for everything and is a must do experience in Adelaide.

• Duration: 90 Minutes (approx.)

Private Charter

Port River Cruises would love to host your next function or event. Get a group together and cruise the Port River taking in all the local sights. Beer, wine and soft drink are available to purchase on board.

• Duration: 2 Hours (approx.)

Private Charter - Port River Cultural Cruise

Enjoy an experience out on the water learning about Kuarna Cultural History, a Cultural Awareness Workshop or Corporate Group Training with Port River Cruises.

90-minute Maritime & Dolphins Cruise

Twilight Ships Graveyard Tour

Explore the mysteries of the Ships Graveyard and enjoy a glass on us on this relaxing and informative 90-minute Twilight Cruise.

PRIVATE TOUR - 90-minute Dolphins and Ships Graveyard Tour

Book your own Private Dolphin and Shipwrecks Tour! Explore the dolphin sanctuary, the ships graveyard and Garden Island Bird Sanctuary. This tour has something for everything and is a must do experience in Adelaide.

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90 Minute Dolphin and Ships Graveyard Cruise

This is a must do activity when visiting Adelaide! See the iconic Ships Graveyard, the unique Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, the wonderful International Bird Sanctuary and so much more. A Guided Tour Sit back, relax and enjoy the views as your guide talks you through the local history, famous ships and iconic locations you are cruising through. A Rich Maritime History The Port Adelaide River is steeped in a rich maritime history that you will discover as you cruise along its length, seeing famous ships and locations. The Ships Graveyard Don’t miss out! For the first time you are able to enter Port Adelaide’s completely unique Ships Graveyard on a guided cruise. Be amazed as you cruise past giant wrecks, half-submerged in the hidden backwaters of the Port River and learn their history. Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Enjoy cruising through the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary searching for local dolphins, one of the only wild dolphin populations living within a city. Keep an eye out for some of the famous local residents and, during the warmer months, newborn calves! International Bird Sanctuary Travel towards the bird sanctuary where there's an opportunity to see migratory shorebirds, including threatened species such as Curlew sandpiper.

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Port River Dolphin Cruise | Great Value Family Fun | Review 2015

January 11, 2015

Port River Dolphin Cruise

If you are looking for an affordable, value for money activity to enjoy with the whole family you can’t go past a cruise along the port river..

At less than $30 for a family of 4 you can relax for an hour and a half while taking in the sites along the Port River, including an assortment of boats, ships, wharves, bridges, birdlife, local industries and businesses and of course, dolphins.

Port River Dolphin Cruise operators

There are two* operators here offering river cruises – Port Princess River Crusies and the Dolphin Explorer .  The cruise operators are located next to the famous red Port Adelaide Lighthouse on the Queen’s Wharf in Port Adelaide.  Each has their own ticket van where you can buy your tickets to board the boat on the day.  On this particular day we boarded the Port Princess simply because the departure time suited our plans.  Both boats have the same pricing – $8 per adult and $6 for children (as at January 2015).

[*EDITOR’S NOTE: The Port Princess River Cruises ceased operation in May 2017]

Once onboard you can choose to sit under cover or out in the open – our children headed straight to the front of the boat where they stayed for the duration of the trip, the wind in their hair and an uninterrupted view of the river.  Although the day was cloudy and wet we all managed to stay dry as the rain fortunately held off.

Dolphin spotting

We managed to spot a handful of dolphins swimming nearby as the boat headed out along the river.  Once we passed under the bridge and made our way out of the harbour we didn’t see any more, but spotted a couple again on our way back to the wharf.   Our captain, Brian was very friendly and supplied interesting commentary throughout the cruise, pointing out different landmarks and sharing the local area’s history.

Children with a fascination for boats and ships will love this cruise along the river as they spot an assortment of different vessels.  Many are docked at the wharfs as they are loaded with cargo, some are in the marina and others are out on the water.  We even spotted a fisherman with his dog on the banks of the river digging for worms.

On our trip the children were allowed to have a turn at ‘steering’ the boat – there is an extra wheel and seat along side the captain and Brian even gave them a salior’s hat to wear while driving!   Brian was very accommodating and was happy to chat to his passengers and answer their questions.  His cabin was full of photos and sporting memorabilia, including medals from his time as a volunteer firefighter.

As we made our way back at the half way mark we crossed paths with another cruise, the passengers waving hello between the boats.

Exploring the wharf, lighthouse and Hart’s Mill Playground

Once the cruise came to an end we set off to explore along the wharf.  The lighthouse was open to climb for a donation of just 50 cents for children and $1 for those over 18 years.  Before heading home we of course had to stop off at Hart’s Mill Playground – where both the adults and kids had a play!  The playground is now fully fenced with safety gates on every side.

The boat operators offer regular Port River cruises on Sundays, Public Holidays and during the School Holidays.  The boats can also be booked for private functions too.  For more information visit the Dolphin Explorer  website.

For more information about the Port River Dolphins and to support the Australian Marine Wildlife Research & Rescue Organisation, click here .

For more information about Port River cruises visit the City of Port Adelaide Enfield website . 

What:  Port River Dolphin Cruise

When:  Weekends, School Holidays, Public Holidays

Where:  Queens Wharf | end of Commercial Road, Port Adelaide

Who:  All Ages

All images by Play & Go 2015

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

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• Find a Park

Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary

More information.

Click the button below to view more information.

The Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary is one of the gems of met­ro­pol­i­tan Ade­laide. Locat­ed only 20 min­utes from Ade­laide, this marine park is home to around 30 res­i­dent bot­tlenose dol­phins, with anoth­er 400 tran­sient dol­phins that vis­it at var­i­ous times. These wild dol­phins come here to feed, play, socialise and nurse their calves.

Inside the Sanc­tu­ary you will find a 10,000 year-old man­grove for­est, as well as sea­grass, salt­marsh, tidal flats and tidal creeks, which all pro­vide habi­tat and food for the dol­phins. The Sanc­tu­ary is a part of South Aus­trali­a’s largest port, and has a num­ber of Abo­rig­i­nal and Euro­pean cul­tur­al and his­tor­i­cal places of interest.

The area is also a pop­u­lar bird watch­ing site and shares most of its north­ern coastal habi­tat with the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary. Oth­er wildlife that can eas­i­ly be spot­ted with­in the Sanc­tu­ary are sting rays, long nosed fur seals and endan­gered Aus­tralian sea lions. There are sev­er­al loca­tions that offer a great van­tage point to observe wildlife by land.

Why not come along and try your hand at dol­phin and bird watch­ing, kayak­ing, pad­dle board­ing, and fishing?

Opening hours

Open dai­ly.

Contact details

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, book­ings and park management:.

Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office Phone: (+61) 7133 7300 Email: DEW .​NPWSNorthLofty@​sa.​gov.​au

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions Phone: Triple Zero (000)

Police Assis­tance Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – Duty offi­cer Phone: 0427 556 676

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park Please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676

Out­side of the park Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

Marine mam­mals If you find a sick or strand­ed marine mam­mal (includ­ing whales, seals, sea lions and dol­phins), please con­tact Black Hill Nation­al Park and Wildlife Ser­vice Office (+61) 7133 7300 or the after-hours duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676 (out­side of busi­ness hours)

When to visit

Dol­phins and oth­er wildlife use the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary all year round. Because of the pro­tec­tion pro­vid­ed by man­groves and oth­er types of veg­e­ta­tion, there is always a pro­tect­ed spot to enjoy the water, even on the days when weath­er is not that favourable.

The best time to spot the Sanc­tu­ary’s dol­phins are on calm days with lit­tle wind, when you can eas­i­ly see the dol­phins on the water’s surface.

Sum­mer is the dol­phin calv­ing sea­son in the Sanc­tu­ary, so it is the per­fect time to spot a female with her new­born calf, a spe­cial and unique sight. It’s also the per­fect time to spot migra­to­ry shore­birds feed­ing with­in inter­tidal zones.

The autumn months are usu­al­ly the best time for calm winds; so pack your cam­era, a jumper, and head on down!

Dur­ing the cold­er months dol­phins are often found around areas of the Inner Port. Here you will be reward­ed with an impres­sive view from the ele­vat­ed points around the Port Ade­laide water front. Win­ter also brings great num­bers of long-nosed fur seals and even endan­gered Aus­tralian Sea Lions to the Sanc­tu­ary breakwaters.

As the warmer weath­er approach­es, why not grab a pic­nic blan­ket and head down to Gar­den Island for some dol­phin watch­ing. Hint- while you are there keep your eye out for oth­ers using their cam­eras, it gen­er­al­ly means that there are some dol­phins nearby!

Getting there

The south­ern end of the Sanc­tu­ary is locat­ed only 20 min­utes’ dri­ve from the city of Ade­laide and is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from the His­toric Port Ade­laide. Oth­er access points to the Sanc­tu­ary include Gar­den Island, St Kil­da, Snow­dens Beach, Out­er Har­bour and North Haven marina. 

Assistance dogs

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book .

Dogs allowed (on lead)

Dogs are wel­come in this park.

Please ensure you:

• Dogs must be under effec­tive con­trol or on-lead. 
• Bring dis­pos­able bags to clean up your dog’s fae­ces (please be aware there are no bins in nation­al parks).

Dis­cov­er oth­er parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 17 nation­al parks in Ade­laide where you can walk your dog by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

Along the shore­line bound­ary of the sanc­tu­ary there are numer­ous, coun­cil and pri­vate­ly owned, facil­i­ties that might be use­ful to visitors.

Pic­nic area/​BBQ

• Gar­den Island
• Snow­den’s Beach
• Largs Bay Foreshore
• Map of boat ramp loca­tions in South Australia

About the dolphins

Three species of dol­phin are found in South Aus­tralia: the Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phin ( Tur­siops adun­cus ), found in coastal waters such as those of the the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary; the com­mon bot­tlenose dol­phin ( Tur­siops trun­ca­tus ), which live along ocean­ic coasts and in the deep water off South Aus­tralia; and the short-beaked com­mon dol­phin ( Del­phi­nus del­phis ), which may be seen in the gulfs but usu­al­ly inhab­it deep­er waters.

In the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary there are approx­i­mate­ly 40 Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phins that are fre­quent­ly observed, with more than 300 of var­i­ous species record­ed as vis­i­tors. Exten­sive research has been under­tak­en by the Whale and Dol­phin Con­ser­va­tion, and Dr Mike Bose­ley, on the behav­iour and life-cycle of the sanc­tu­ary ani­mals and the adverse effects of human interference.

Indo-Pacif­ic bot­tlenose dol­phins grow to around 2.5 metres in length, and weigh about 160 kilo­grams. They live for up to 40 years. Like whales, dol­phins breathe through a blow­hole on the top of their heads.

Dol­phins can dive to depths of more than 500 metres, but they must sur­face for air every few min­utes. Dol­phins have excel­lent vision above and below the water.

Most bot­tlenose dol­phins are high­ly socia­ble and often can be observed as part of a group known as a pod. These pods of up to 15 dol­phins hunt, play and help pro­tect each oth­er. Most mem­bers of the pod are unre­lat­ed, although moth­ers may stay with their off­spring for up to eight years. Adult males gen­er­al­ly form sep­a­rate bach­e­lor groups of two or three, form­ing bonds that may last a lifetime.

Females usu­al­ly become sex­u­al­ly mature between the ages of five and 12 and males usu­al­ly become sex­u­al­ly mature between the ages of 10 and 12. Bot­tlenose dol­phins may breed through­out the year, but they usu­al­ly give birth to their calves in late sum­mer. A female may be preg­nant for up to 12 months and a calf may suck­le for as long as 18 months, remain­ing with the moth­er for many years. Local females usu­al­ly pro­duce off­spring once every three to four years.

A nat­ur­al bond is formed between female dol­phins and those preg­nant or with calves. These group­ings are called ​ “ mater­ni­ty pods”. When dol­phins are first born they are usu­al­ly about 1 metre in length and dark in col­or. They tend to be born tail first and are able to swim and breathe with­in min­utes of birth.

Human activ­i­ties are threat­en­ing the sur­vival of dol­phins. Pol­lu­tion, stormwa­ter and rub­bish rep­re­sent a major threat affect­ing food sup­plies. Sanc­tu­ar­ies like the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary are vital to ensure the con­tin­ued sur­vival of these won­der­ful creatures.

More infor­ma­tion

• Respond­ing to Dol­phin Inci­dents in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary
• Keep­ing marine mam­mals safe in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary
• Research in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary

Useful information

• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary — User Guide 
• Boat­ing rules about marine mammals 
• 5 things you’ll find at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary from the Good liv­ing Blog
• Park man­age­ment plans and ref­er­ence papers
• Annu­al reports
• An Under­wa­ter Guide to plants and ani­mals in South Australia
• Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanctuary
• Encounter Marine Park
• Upper Gulf St Vin­cent Marine park
• Marine mam­mal strand­ing information

Plants and animals

Bot­tlenose dol­phins can be found in the sanc­tu­ary all year-round. Over the past 20 years, sight­ings of dol­phins have increased, which sig­ni­fies the impor­tance of this area for the species. In the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary, there are about 40 res­i­dent dol­phins, but up to 400 vis­i­tors have been record­ed. These vis­i­tors like­ly use areas adja­cent to the Sanc­tu­ary, such as the met­ro­pol­i­tan coast. Some of the Sanc­tu­ary’s dol­phins even trav­el as far south as Glenelg, and can be often seen swim­ming in the Patawa­lon­ga Lake. 

But dol­phins are not the only marine mam­mals with­in the Sanc­tu­ary. Long-nosed fur seal and endan­gered Aus­tralian sea lions haul out on the Sanc­tu­ary’s break­wa­ters after they have spent sev­er­al days at sea for­ag­ing for food. It is impor­tant not to dis­turb these ani­mals as they require lots of rest before they return to sea.

The man­groves and salt­marsh with­in the sanc­tu­ary pro­vide vital habi­tat for juve­nile fish. Their roots offer pro­tec­tion from preda­tors and pro­vide a nurs­ery habi­tat. Stingrays are often found inhab­it­ing the shal­low waters and com­mon­ly seen species include eagle rays, smooth rays and fid­dler rays. Sharks also swim into the Sanc­tu­ary on rare occasions.

The Sanc­tu­ary is home to many species of birds includ­ing some rare and endan­gered species. Sea birds often seen include pel­i­cans, cor­morants, terns, oys­ter-catch­ers and ospreys. Between Sep­tem­ber and March, the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary Nation­al Park in the north­ern parts of the sanc­tu­ary becomes an impor­tant feed­ing ground for migra­to­ry shore­birds. Many of these migra­to­ry shore­birds trav­el from as far away as Siberia and Alas­ka, pass­ing through up to 22 coun­tries as they trav­el the East Asian-Aus­tralasian Fly­way to reach the coast of Gulf Saint Vincent.

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​ ‘ Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​ ‘ Flo­ra Tools’ or ​ ‘ Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps .

Pests and diseases

Cauler­pa taxifolia.

Cauler­pa tax­i­fo­lia has been iden­ti­fied through­out the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary. This is a high­ly inva­sive pest algae species with the poten­tial to spread through to Gulf St Vincent.

There are a  num­ber of ways you can help stop the spread.

Traditional owners

The Kau­r­na Peo­ple have lived with­in Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary area for thou­sands of years. The area con­tin­ues to hold impor­tant val­ues for the Kau­r­na Peo­ple. His­tor­i­cal and cur­rent asso­ci­a­tions are still in place and need to be pro­tect­ed. Sev­er­al tra­di­tion­al sto­ries are con­nect­ed with the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary area, includ­ing The Wan­der­ings of Tjirbruke.

Rangers recommend

Ranger tips: ade­laide inter­na­tion­al bird sanc­tu­ary and ade­laide dol­phin sanctuary .

Fur­ther inspiration: 

Pad­dle your kayak in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary and immerse your­self amongst man­groves, creeks, and the Gar­den Island Ships’ Grave­yard Mar­itime Her­itage Trail.

Explore the St Kil­da Man­grove Trail .

Have a pic­nic lunch along Gar­den Island foreshore.

Watch the res­i­dent pop­u­la­tion of bot­tlenose dol­phins from the shore, kayak or on a boat tour as the eat, play, socialise.

See migra­to­ry birds who vis­it from as far away as Alas­ka and Siberia at the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary . Between Octo­ber and April, up to 27,000 shore­birds from more than 50 species call this cru­cial habi­tat area home.

Dolphin watching

Dol­phins are present with­in the Sanc­tu­ary all year round, how­ev­er, please remem­ber there is no guar­an­tee you will spot one!

There are plen­ty of ways to see dol­phins from land, boat or kayak. 

See maps tab above for infor­ma­tion on best places to see dolphins.

Self guid­ed land-based tours

• Anna-Ren­nie Loop Path — This 3.5km loop trail around Port Ade­laide’s Inner Har­bor is a hotspot for spot­ting dolphins.
• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary — Inner Port map
• Vis­it Port Ade­laide app 

Guid­ed land-based tour

• Tani­a’s Dol­phin Tales
• Port Ade­laide Boat Hire
• Port Riv­er Cruises 

Kayak tours

• Adven­ture Kayak­ing  SA
• Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary Kayak Tours

How to get the most out your dol­phin watch­ing experience:

• Bring some binoc­u­lars and or cam­era with good zoom lens.
• Bring your patience and a chair — they may take some time to appear (remem­ber, sight­ings are not guaranteed).
• If you have a boat, respect both the dol­phins and the law. You must be at least 50m away from dol­phins and 150m if a calf or injured ani­mal is present
• Nev­er feed or harass a dolphin

Click here for more infor­ma­tion about boat­ing rules around marine mammals. 

Kayaking and paddle boarding

What bet­ter way to explore the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary then by kayak or stand-up pad­dle board?

Immerse your­self amongst man­groves, pad­dle through creeks, and explore ships’ graveyards. 

Tours and hire are avail­able from the fol­low­ing oper­a­tors :

The Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary can be accessed from a num­ber of boat ramps . Speed restric­tions do apply through­out some areas, so famil­iarise your­self with the area before you go.

From 29 April 2019, the 7 knot speed lim­it area will be extend­ed to the Bark­er Inlet and North Arm of the Port Ade­laide Riv­er to improve safe­ty for all users and marine life.

Ves­sels must not exceed 7 knots in:

• the Bark­er Inlet from St Kil­da south­wards to the Angas Inlet, includ­ing all inlets and creeks but exclud­ing ves­sels oper­at­ing in the marked chan­nel from Bark­er Inlet Bea­con 13 to Bark­er Inlet Bea­con 35;
• the North Arm from the his­toric ship­wreck ​ “ Dorothy H Ster­ling” east­wards to the Angas Inlet, includ­ing all inlets and creeks (North Arm Area 1); and
• the North Arm which lies between the Grand Trunk­way Bridge and the ​ “ Dorothy H Ster­ling”, and with­in 50 metres of the man­groves on the north­ern side of the water­way (North Arm Area 2).

Port Ade­laide Riv­er, Bark­er Inlet and North Arm — Boat speed lim­its map

Fur­ther information

• Depart­ment of Plan­ning, Trans­port and Infra­struc­ture — Speed lim­its to change in Bark­er Inlet and North Arm
• Depart­ment of Plan­ning, Trans­port and Infra­struc­ture — On Deck boat­ing information

Bark­er Inlet and St Kil­da are impor­tant fish nurs­ery and breed­ing areas, there­fore some fish­ing activ­i­ties are restricted 

Marine debris is harm­ful and can impact wildlife, so always dis­card fish­ing gear in bins provided.

Fish­ing is active­ly man­aged in South Aus­tralia by the Depart­ment of Pri­ma­ry Indus­tries and Resources SA . Check out these use­ful links before embark­ing on your fish­ing adventure:

• Recre­ation­al fish­ing regulations
• SA recre­ation­al fish­ing guide app
• Aquat­ic reserves

Ships’ graveyard

The remains of at least 40 aban­doned ves­sels are hid­den with­in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary- the largest and most diverse ships’ grave­yard in Aus­tralia. Spread over five sites, this col­lec­tion of ves­sels includes a vari­ety of sail­ing, steam and motor ves­sels, barges, pon­toons and dredges. 

The ship grave­yard sites rep­re­sent a sig­nif­i­cant chap­ter in South Aus­trali­a’s mar­itime his­to­ry and pro­vide valu­able insights into Port Ade­laide and its past.

• Nav­i­gate the trail using Google Street View
• Ships’ grave­yard — Ship­wreck trail

Dolphin displays and exhibitions

Port ade­laide dol­phin dis­play room:.

Vis­it the Port Ade­laide Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre to map out the best spots to see dol­phins, seabirds and oth­er wildlife in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary. The dis­play includes a large map high­light­ing look­out points and what to see in the Sanc­tu­ary, and con­tains infor­ma­tion and pho­tographs about the Sanc­tu­ary’s dol­phin pop­u­la­tion and habitats.

Dol­phins! The Port Riv­er Pod:

Vis­it the South Aus­tralian Mar­itime Muse­um to learn all about dol­phin biol­o­gy, ecol­o­gy and human interactions.

Anna Ren­nie Loop Path (3.5km)

The recent­ly devel­oped Loop around the inner port is also one of the best trails to spot dol­phins, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the win­ter months.

• Anna Ren­nie Loop Path information

Volunteering

• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary Action Group

Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary Action Group is a com­mu­ni­ty group that, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water, is active­ly involved in the man­age­ment of the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary.

On their web­site you can find infor­ma­tion about the group, the vol­un­teers, the vol­un­teer projects and how to get involved.

• Estu­ary Care Foundation

Estu­ary Care Foun­da­tion is a not-for-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion that aims pro­mote the pro­tec­tion of the ecol­o­gy and shore­lines of South Australia’s Port Riv­er and Bark­er Inlet.

On their web­site you can find infor­ma­tion about the foun­da­tion, their projects and how to get involved.

Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary

Port riv­er encounter , com­mer­cial vessels.

The main chan­nel of the port riv­er is a deep chan­nel with steep banks and sub­merged haz­ards so extreme cau­tion must be used. The area is a busy port with thou­sands of com­mer­cial ves­sels move­ments a year. These big ves­sels have lim­it­ed abil­i­ty to manœu­vre around small recre­ation­al ves­sels there­fore is impor­tant to fol­low nav­i­ga­tion­al rules to avoid collisions. 

Tidal move­ment

The Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary is affect­ed by tides, winds, swell and wild weath­er at times. Always check the weath­er and tidal move­ments, and ask for local advice. We rec­om­mend kayak­ing at the turn of the tide, to avoid strong tidal cur­rents and poten­tial capsize. 

Water depth and speed limits

Some sec­tions of the Bark­er Inlet can be extreme­ly shal­low and is strong­ly advised that all pow­er ves­sels stay with­in nav­i­ga­tion­al chan­nels and adhere to speed lim­its. From 29 April 2019, the 7 knot speed lim­it area will be extend­ed to the Bark­er Inlet and North Arm of the Port Ade­laide Riv­er to improve safe­ty for all users and marine life.

Port Ade­laide Riv­er, Bark­er Inlet and North Arm — Boat speed lim­its map

Slip­pery rocks

Do not climb on, or fish from slip­pery rocks.

Know before you go

Remem­ber that the dol­phins with­in this area are wild, so as with any wild ani­mal there is no guar­an­tee of where they will be and when. How­ev­er, if you spend a cou­ple of hours around the riv­er, there is a very good chance you will spot a group or two! We rec­om­mend that you bring your patience and a chair, and enjoy the beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment that you are in.

Have access to binoc­u­lars and/​or a cam­era with a zoom lens.

If you have a boat or kayak, respect both the dol­phins and the law. You must keep least 50 metres away from dol­phins and 150 metres if a calf or injured ani­mal is present.

Nev­er feed or harass a dol­phin, it is ille­gal and it harms the animal

Swim­ming is not rec­om­mend­ed in any sec­tion of the Sanctuary 

Why does my dog need to be on a lead?

If your dog is off lead, it is more like­ly to impact on native wildlife and oth­er vis­i­tors in a park and be at risk itself.

Risks to wildlife:

• Dogs off tracks will leave a scent in the bush that will keep wildlife away.
• Uncon­trolled dogs may fright­en wildlife and dis­rupt their nat­ur­al behaviour.
• Some dogs will kill or injure wildlife.

Risks to oth­er park visitors

• Dogs may be aggres­sive to oth­er park visitors.
• Even friend­ly dogs can knock peo­ple over caus­ing injury.
• Some peo­ple want to enjoy parks with­out dogs.

Risks to your dog

• Poi­son baits may be laid to con­trol fox­es. Baits can be fatal to dogs.
• Even if your dog is friend­ly, oth­er dogs may not be.
• Your dog can catch par­a­sites (such as fleas and ticks) from wildlife.
• Snake bites are a real risk in nat­ur­al areas such as parks.
• Wildlife such as kan­ga­roos and koalas will defend them­selves if threat­ened by a dog and can cause sig­nif­i­cant injury to or the death of your dog.
• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary map
• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary – Gar­den Island map
• Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary – Inner Port map
• Port Ade­laide Riv­er, Bark­er Inlet and North Arm – Boat speed lim­its map

Google Street View

Want to explore a trail before you leave home or use Google Maps to nav­i­gate straight from your door to the trailhead?

We’ve worked with Google to film more than 600 km of walk­ing trails , park roads, camp­grounds and water­ways in some of our most beau­ti­ful places. Click to see what the parks offer and the avail­able facil­i­ties before you go. This is an espe­cial­ly great tool if you have acces­si­bil­i­ty needs, are vis­it­ing with peo­ple of vary­ing ages or fit­ness lev­els or are push­ing a pram and want to view a trail before leav­ing home.

You can start explor­ing this park on Google Street View using the links below.

Kayak­ing trail 

• Ships’ Grave­yard Mar­itime Her­itage Trail

Maps on your mobile

If you have a smart­phone or tablet you can down­load the free Aven­za Map app and have inter­ac­tive nation­al park maps on hand when you need them.

The app uses your device’s built-in GPS to plot your real-time loca­tion with­in the park onto a map. The app can be used with­out a net­work con­nec­tion and with­out roam­ing charges. You can also mea­sure area and dis­tance, plot pho­tos and drop place­mark pins. 

How to get it work­ing on your device:

1. Down­load the Aven­za Maps app from the app store ( iOS / Android ) whilst you are still in range (its free!). 2. Open up the app and click the shop­ping cart icon. 3. Click ​ ‘ Find’ and type the name of the nation­al park or reserve you are look­ing for. 4. Click on the map you are after and install it (all our maps are free). 5. You will now find a list of your installed maps on the home page of the Aven­za Maps app. 6. Use our maps through the Aven­za Mapa app while in the park and nev­er take a wrong turn again.

Come and enjoy this park for free.

Acknowledgement of Country

The state government acknowledges Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Nations of the lands and waters we live and work upon and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge and respect the deep spiritual connection and the relationship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to Country. We work in partnership with the First Peoples of South Australia and support their Nations to take a leading role in caring for their Country.