A Day With The Watersports Guru

The Watersports Guru is located in Kingscliff just on the NSW/QLD border. It is about a 50 minute drive from Surfers Paradise and providing you have a good gps and the correct address easy to find. I won’t even begin to explain the hassle we had with our gps, needless to say we returned it the following day. We had a full day of activities planned with these guys and that wasn’t even everything they have on offer. Our first part of the day was spent on the boat out at Cook Island swimming with turtles and all other marina life. After a lovely bbq we headed off to the creek to give paddle boarding a go.

Snorkelling at Cook Island

When I heard we were going snorkelling on an island, I imagined a sandy beached island with beautifully clear waters. Well I got the clear waters but not the sandy beached island, Cook Island was a rocky affair covered in seagulls and all sorts of leeches on the rocks. Getting close to the island was a no-no and after taking one look I wasn’t sure I wanted to go near it away with all the birds. All this aside the trip was fantastic, from the point of set off just being at sea on a boat felt awesome. The company is a family run business and was set up by the main man Mel, also the boat driver. Tim was our leader for the day and unlike many snorkelling trips I’ve been on spent the whole time in the water with us. Making sure the choppy wave conditions didn’t send us to near to the rocky island. He made it is main focus to point out any awesome marina life to us, within minutes he had seen two eagle rays swimming so close to us. Shortly after that we spotted our first turtle and from then on it just got better. He kept us in a tight group so everyone could hear his explanations and get the full benefit of the trip. I really enjoyed having the leader in the water with us and being kept in a close group It certainly helped calm my nerves of being in open water.

We saw so much marine life it was unbelievable; sea cucumber, star fish, puffer fish, eagle rays, leopard shark, turtles, nemo fish, and at the very end of the swim a manta ray. Well I didn’t see it because I was looking in the wrong direction but a few of the others did and Tim went swimming after it at rocket speed. Of course none of us stood a chance of catching another glimpse of it. Not only did we see of this but during our boat ride to and from the island we met a pod of bottlenose dolphins around 50 or so would have been swimming there. On our meeting the second time they were so friendly, swimming right up to the boat and the swooping underwater before re-appearing the other side. I just wished we could have swum with them.

We were provided with a full wetsuits, flippers and a snorkel and mask.

After the snorkelling Mel cooked up some food and we all took the chance for a hot shower – just an outside thing but the hot water was most welcoming. From the boat house of the Tweed River we headed over to Cudgen Creek where the paddle boarding was.

Paddle Boarding

Having never paddle boarder before I was a little bit nervous I was going to spend more time in the water than on the board. Given may lack of balance and how big the board was compared to me I didn’t think my chances were high. Thankfully somehow I didn’t fall off once; I listened to the instructions carefully and made sure to follow exactly what I had been told. It took a while to get the hang of it, but once it did I was speeding around. We were able to explore down and up the creek but we could go in to the sea. I found paddle boarding to be very relaxing but a little dull. Of course being the bunch of backpackers we were we liven things up with a race down the creek. However what we really could have done with was one of their Sunday morning yoga sessions on a board!

After that we finished the day off by doing what all the local kids were doing and jumping off the bridge. Of course the kids made it look much easier and as soon as I got on the bridge I wondered why on earth I had agreed to jumping! Somehow I found the courage to jump on three, unfortunately not all of us did and Vicky and Sean were left staying with the local kids as we hit the water. I was so glad I jumped and instantly remember the awesome nights we had jumping off the Murray River Queen in Waikerie. Unfortunately the other two were left to the taunts of the local kids for not being able to jump – in fairness Sean did jump eventually.

Watersports Guru offers so many activities and board hire at the creek, they have a huge van and you cannot miss them! Everyone who worked there had a great attitude and was lovely to be around; I really loved the family aspect of it too. If you find yourself with a day to spare on the border of NSW and QLD or fancy the drive from Surfers or Byron Bay then I would highly recommend it! The boat trip was awesome but just hanging out at the creek was a ton of fun too.

Check our The Watersports Guru Insatgram feed for more awesome photos!