The Sky Lounge concept arrived in Coles Bay in 2019 when local operator Wineglass Bay Cruises commissioned a custom-built 150-passenger vessel with floor-to-ceiling glass panels wrapping the upper saloon.
Naval architects designed the elevated viewing deck to sit four metres above the waterline, high enough to clear the spray yet low enough to register the granite cliffs of the Hazards rising 450 metres from the shoreline. The vessel departs from jetty 61 on Jetty Road six times daily between September and April, threading the Freycinet Peninsula's eastern coves where Tasman Sea swells meet the sheltered bays.
Freycinet National Park remains Tasmania's most visited coastal reserve, drawing 250,000 annual visitors to a coastline Captain James Cook charted in 1773. The peninsula's pink-hued granite formed 380 million years ago during the Devonian period, cooling into the rounded domes that define the skyline. Wineglass Bay itself curves for 1.6 kilometres between Mounts Amos and Mayson, its white sand composed of crushed quartz and shell fragments deposited over 12,000 years. The bay earned its name from whalers who worked these waters in the 1820s, though today Southern Right Whales pass offshore between May and October without disturbance.
The wineglass bay cruise sky lounge operates as a seated dining experience rather than a transport service. Passengers board at 09:30 or 12:30 for a five-hour circuit that includes a two-course lunch prepared onboard using Tasmanian ingredients — Bruny Island oysters, Huon Valley smoked salmon, Coal River lamb. The route follows the coastline south past Schouten Island, then north to Friendly Beaches, maintaining a distance of 200 metres from shore to comply with marine sanctuary regulations. Guides narrate the geological record visible in the layered rock faces and identify seabirds — white-bellied sea eagles, Pacific gulls, short-tailed shearwaters — that nest in the coastal scrub. The Sky Lounge concept distinguishes itself through elevation and enclosure, offering unobstructed sightlines while passengers remain seated at tables rather than crowding open-air railings.
4 hr 30 min
