Jervis Bay

Dolphin Watch Cruise

Jervis Bay measures about 15 km from north to south and about 10 km across. The main town is Huskisson, where you can hire dolphin-watch cruises, fishing trips and boats, but it’s the natural beauty of the area that seduces. At its southern end, Jervis Bay is enclosed by Booderee National Park, a pristine coastal wilderness. From Wreck Bay village on Summercloud Bay in the park’s south, a walking trail circles the peninsula to St Georges Head, passing a succession of quiet beaches, cliffs and forests. Nearby, Shoalhaven is well worth a visit.

Kiama Blowhole

How Blowholes Work

Under the right conditions, large waves enter the mouth of the Blowhole & compress the air within the inner cavity.

As the retreating water leaves, it is forced upward by the compressed air, as the mouth is still blocked by the receding wave.

The escaping air causes the loud "oomph", which accompanies the water spout. Over many years the Blowhole will become less vigorous, as the underground cavity erodes due to the pounding waves.

Blowhole History

The main Kiama Blowhole was discovered by George Bass on his voyage of coastal exploration on December 6, 1797, after anchoring his whaleboat in the sheltered bay which became Kiama Harbour.

The shore Bass wrote, showed evidence of considerable volcanic fire and on the point he found: "The earth for a considerable distance round in the form approaching a circle seemed to have given way; it was now a green slope.....Towards the centre was a deep ragged hole of about 25 to 30 feet in diameter and on one side of it the sea washed in through a subterraneous passage...with a most tremendous noise..."

Bass was not, in fact, the first to discover the Kiama Blowhole, as local Aboriginals had for generations referred to it as Khanterintee.

In January 1889 a performer by the name of Charles Jackson attracted large crowds to see his crossings of the mouth of the Blowhole on a tightrope.

A smaller "little Blowhole" is located a few minutes south of the main Blowhole & performs best under moderate seas.

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