On October 20th 1985, the Charmaine set out on her first Akaroa Harbour Cruise. At the helm was Captain Ron Bingham and on board were two paying passengers. Total revenue $16. The business was partly inspired by the Hutchens family who started Fiordland Travel (now Real Journeys). Living in Te Anau we had seen what […]
Category Archives: Akaroa New Zealand
The original Black Cat boat was called Charmaine. She was bought from the Marlborough Sounds in 1985 and held a maximum of 42 people. After three years she was sold and the larger Canterbury Cat brought from Whangarei in 1988. Prior to the Charmaine there were no cruise operators on the harbour, though one or […]
Good news: all of our cruises are operating as normal. Our 1860 building in Lyttelton has some earthquake issues so we are operating in temporary facilities until such time as the building is fixed or we move our check in at Lyttelton to something more permanent. More news on that as soon as we have […]
Check out this awesome blog about an Akaroa holiday and a great cruise on Black Cat: Click to View
This is the question most on people’s lips when they come for a cruise. For the last 4 years every cruise we have taken out on Akaroa harbour has recorded how often we have seen dolphins and the results are as follows. We asked crew to rate the encounters on a scale of Very good […]
Popular childrens’ television show What Now has enlisted the help of Black Cat Cruises to help with its hunt for a new presenter. Hundreds of people from around New Zealand applied for the role, and What Now are now down to three finalists. They were put through their paces in Akaroa on Sunday and the […]
Hi there, Just a little note to say thank you very much from myself and my family for a fantastic Swim with the Dolphin excursion on Saturday 05 June. The dolphins were a highlight of our visit to Christchurch/Akaroa over the long weekend. The weather was amazing and the dolphins obliged in more ways than […]
We’ve been debating this question internally for a while now and we are interested in your thoughts. There is no doubt Akaroa has a French flavour and it is a unique part of New Zealand for that reason. But should we be doing more to make the most of this? And if so what are […]
Every year we take literally thousands of pictures of people swimming with dolphins. This year we held a competition for the best shot and here is the result. Competition winner was swim guide Georgie Shadbolt whose winning picture actually featured another team member, Charlotte White. Georgie won a digital camera for her winning photo. “It […]
Our whale sighting activity continues with sighting of a Humpback Whale and Calf on the 23rd May, No doubt they are on their way north to warmer climes. There are more images on our Facebook page.