Sea Kayak Life in Australia, with Dane Hallinan
7-minute read
Aqua Bound Ambassador Dane Hallinan has been sea kayaking in Australia for almost two decades. From year-round kayaking options to his country’s unique wildlife, Dane shares why his part of the world is special for kayaking.
Kayak tour guests watch a stingray below them
We know you’ll enjoy what he has to share about his kayak life, his kayak company and what it’s like to get on the water Down Under.
Here’s our interview with Dane:
AQUA BOUND: How did you get involved in paddling and the paddling industry?
DANE: I studied Outdoor Recreation at University. This was the main stepping stone into working in the outdoors. The course was called a Bachelor of Applied Science (Adventure and Ecotourism), so it turned out to be very relevant to where I ended up!
My initial sea kayaking training was through Sea Kayak Jervis Bay in 2010. I fell in love with the place upon my first visit. I returned just about every year to explore the area further while hiking, abseiling [rappelling], canoeing and sea kayak guiding around Australia. I decided I like sea kayaking the best and got a job kayaking in Melbourne, where I worked for seven years
I was all geared up to take over the business there, then COVID hit. Back to the drawing board. Mid-COVID, in the gap where we were allowed to travel for a brief period, my (now) wife and I hired a sea kayak to paddle around Jervis Bay as we often did for our holidays.
Dane Hallinan, owner of Sea Kayak Jervis Bay and Aqua Bound Ambassador
The owner (the guy who trained me 10 years prior) asked if I was still thinking of buying the business in Melbourne. I told him probably not. He said, “How about you buy this one instead?” and that was pretty much a dream come true for me! So I moved over a week later and got stuck in!!
I have been a Sea Kayak Guide for 16 years now and still love it every day.
AB: Tell us about your company, Sea Kayak Jervis Bay.
DANE: We mainly run a half-day sea kayak tour every day throughout the year. We have various routes depending on predicted weather conditions and the group's experience level.
Our guests are a 50:50 mix. Half are Aussies: mostly weekenders and holidayers from Sydney (2.5 hours away) and a few from Canberra, country NSW and Victoria. The other half are people from all over the world: mostly UK, China, India, Germany, the Netherlands and Singapore. I think I'm most proud of my customer who was a Liechtensteiner, one of only 40,000 in the universe (I was very excited to learn)!! So we get heaps of interesting people who I learn just as much from as they learn from me!
We also offer on-demand services: 3-hour family-style sea kayak tours, kayak hire, introduction to sea kayaking courses and multi-day school programs.
Some of Australia’s varied and scenic shoreline
Another incredible part of our business is sea kayak travel, where we currently travel twice yearly to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. The trip is an 8-day sea kayak and snorkel safari, which is a great way to fill in some time in the off-season. This is another truly magical place with sea turtles everywhere, tropical fish and corals, humpbacks, and one of the best places in the world to swim with the elusive whale shark.
AB: What makes sea kayaking in Australia unique compared to other parts of the world?
DANE: What makes sea kayaking in Australia unique is that you can paddle anywhere, all year. We are especially lucky in our region to have a beautifully stable climate year-round. We’re busy in the high season with a lot of visitors from all around the world, and then in the quiet season, we are blessed to have our annual humpback whale migration. A population of Australian fur seals takes up residence here also.
Australia has wildlife found nowhere else in the world
Being able to still run sea kayak tours for beginners in the winter is a real luxury and also my favourite time of year to paddle! And our unique and abundant wildlife make the paddling extra special. We have the chance to see small and large native species going about their day-to-day while we float around in an unobtrusive way.
AB: Why do you offer kayaking courses as well?
DANE: We like to provide beginner sea kayaking courses to enable keen paddlers the skills to safely take on ocean paddling without a tour group. Many people in our area own their own sea kayak or wish to, and we have a lovely protected bay for beginners to hone their skills in their sea kayak.
Sea kayak courses give kayakers the skills to venture out on the ocean on their own
We want people who are heading out paddling on their own to have the skills and knowledge to be safe on the ocean. Group tours are a wonderful and social outing to spend time with like-minded people, but more experienced paddlers know the beauty of being the only person or people in sight in an incredible nature setting. This is what we try to help people achieve through our sea kayak skills courses.
AB: What’s your connection with Aqua Bound?
DANE: I’ve been using Aqua Bound paddles for as long as I’ve been paddling. I came onboard as an Ambassador in 2024 and have been loving the working relationship. I have been committed to AB for around 20 years, and now make a more concerted effort to include paddles in our marketing efforts (mostly on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok). I find it very easy to spend time taking photos of the magnificent paddles when they have the colour schemes of the Tango and Tetra that I use daily.
More importantly than looking amazing in our marketing material, Aqua Bound paddles make big days on the water a dream. They help our staff and customers paddle further with less effort required.
Our customers regularly comment on how light the paddles are and that they’re the best paddles they’ve ever seen on a commercial tour (I’ve never seen better paddles used on a commercial tour in Australia either).
I've most recently been using the Tetra bent shaft, which I love. It’s easy on the body and cuts through the water like nothing else I've used before. I love that it also makes for very easy rolling.
The clear green water along Australia's coast is a joy to paddle
AB: Is there anything else you'd like readers to know about sea kayaking in Australia?
DANE: As most people know, we are truly blessed with incredible wildlife here in Australia. People overseas hear a lot about dangerous creatures, but this is extremely overstated, usually due to interesting clickbait articles.
Probability says you are far more likely to meet your demise from a cow! Or while driving to the beach than from a shark, jellyfish, octopus or other marine critter.
The animals most expected to see in Australia are curious kangaroos, acrobatic dolphins, playful seals, majestic humpback whales and incredibly colourful birds! We are lucky enough to have all of them, right here. Come and see!
The beautiful climate and abundant native wildlife near Jervis Bay make it ideal for sea kayaking
Learn more about Sea Kayak Jervis Bay on their website. You’ll also find them on Facebook and Instagram.
A big thanks to Dane for his time! All photos courtesy of Dane Hallinan and Sea Kayak Jervis Bay.
What paddling questions can our friendly Customer Service team help you with? Contact us at 715-755-3405 or sales@aquabound.com, or choose our online chat option.
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