Freediving With Tuna

Swim With The Tuna Port Lincoln
Swimming with tuna or in my case freediving with tuna, in large numbers is not something one gets to do every day, particularly in large numbers, so the opportunity to do this in an enclosed area whilst visiting the town of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia was something I had to do.
There are plenty of in water attractions in Port Lincoln. One of them is appropriately called 'Swim With The Tuna' and enables you to do just that. It has been built in the same type of netted aquatic farm structures as are used throughout the Blue Fin Tuna industry in the region. It's a first rate experience, with some of the staff having significant prior experience in the Blue Fin Tuna Industry itself. It's also very reasonably priced for an adventure that lasts 3 hours. It starts with a 15 minute boat ride in a luxury catamaran out to a world class Tuna Pontoon, then put on wetsuit, mask and snorkel and in the water you go, surrounded by fish.
There are two enclosures you can swim in (one smaller one within the other) so you can experience not only the excitement of swimming amongst large blue fin tuna themselves (one of the 10 fastest species of fish in the ocean), but also a host of other aquatic life that you will find in the smaller enclosure which is equally interesting. There are also some shallow pools that you can observe and in some cases touch marine life and underwater viewing. Not content to just snorkel, I wanted a 3 dimensional experience that I could immerse myself in so as I am a qualified freediver I asked if I could freedive in the enclosures. This isn't always possible with large fins when the company has lots of customers but as there were only a handfull that day and there was plenty of room, the friendly staff obliged on this particular occasion. Whether you get to swim with the tuna on the surface or like me freedive with the tuna too, it's an exciting experience and I highly recommend it. You will also learn much about the tuna farming industry and may get to see some other aquatic life on your trip to and from the pontoon, in particular seals and whales. So for anyone passing through the area with half a day to spare, you don't need much in the way of experience, as long as you are comfortable in the water. Feel free to contact 'Swim With The Tuna' for further information.

[@EnduranceSwimmer]

In October 2014 we did a 2 week road trip on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. One of the attractions that I videoed was an experience called 'Swim With The Tuna' in Port Lincoln. As there were only a few participants on the day we went, the staff permitted me to properly freedive the enclosures.

[@jcotteri]

Strange to see a porty that inquisitive, never seen them come up like that before, usually just sleeping or swimming away. Also wouldn't want to get struck by one of these guys swimming at 60-80km/h during feeding. I wonder if there's much risk in that occurring.

[@EnduranceSwimmer]

jcotteri If you are referring to the Port Jackson Shark's curiosity, yeah I haven't seen that before either but I've only ever dived with them in the ocean before so they have probably become a bit accustomed to people in this enclosed environment which is a tourist attraction. In all probability they have been exposed to many thousands of people who come and partake in this experience. In regards to the Tuna they certainly do move. This particular enclosure isn't jam packed full of them though. I haven't heard of that happening. The smaller enclosure in the middle is full of different fish (no tuna in there) who are more than happy to come right up to you if you take the food with no great hurry to disappear. With the tuna they they are located in the larger outer enclosure and didn't seem to want to hang around, it was a case of quickly take the food and swim away fast as shown in the video.

[@jcotteri]

***** Yep I meant Port Jackson, my dictionary through it was smarter than me in that instance. I have edited the correction it made. I have read that SBT can reach speeds of up to 80km/h during a feeding. I could imagine that would be a very painful death. I heard that there is a pretty high death rate amongst the tuna (up to 50%) for that very reason. They run into each other.

[@EnduranceSwimmer]

I didn't know that actually. I'll have to ask the staff if i go out there again.

[@jcotteri]

***** www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-08/farming-the-bluefin-tuna-could-save-it-from/6379342 good short story by the ABC

[@EnduranceSwimmer]

Thanks for the link😊.