Pirates Bay to Waterfall Bluff

Region : Tasman Peninsula
Length: Very long (2 days) 
Difficulty: Very High
Climbing quality: High

Overall quality: 3 stars

Late Jan 2026

Benny Plunkett (Unsupported) 

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Day 0 - 1m of SE swell. Light winds.

This reccie day is worth a mention as it was a fun adventure in of itself. I set off in a sea kayak from the boat ramp at the blow hole around 9am. The main objective was the find an exit route for a two day traverse. Sea kayaks really are a game changer when it comes to scouting new zones. The main objectives were to find a water source, bivvy site and reccie the exit route. Pisser of a day that eliminated much of the uncertainty I had about attempting a new traverse alone.

Day 1 - 0.6m of SE swell. Sunny w light winds

Departed around 9am with a 12L trail running vest equipped with the essentials. Kicked things off with a swim by falling in at the end of the DWS problem in the cave at the blowhole. Very cool way to start the day and worth a suss as stand alone DWS.   

Relatively cruisey coastline for the first couple of hours but there’s still plenty of places worthy of your undivided attention. Quite a few short swims past phenomenal caves and archways. 

Things begin to ramp up as you wrap around in to Waterfall Bay. The rock quality was surprisingly bomber for much of the traverse although there are sections that require very delicate climbing on slippery and sharp rock. I’m a bit bloody baffled by how many different textures of rock I touched over 2 days. Much of the traversing is over deep water so there’s potential to choose your own adventure and seek out fun DWS routes for most ability levels. There were quite a few sections that climbed like a slippery and sideways version of Tip Toe Ridge.  Fun and flowy scrambling for days with the odd no fall zone to keep you on your toes.

By 4pm on Day 1 I stumbled upon an all time bivvy ledge that was too good to pass up. It was just around the corner from Patersons arch and directly across from a beautiful 50m high sea stack. The grass helped compensate for my shitty UL sleep system. I had a rough night sleep but my SOL bivvy bag kept me somewhat dry and warm from the downpour.

Image 1 - Caves for days                                                           Image 2 - Tasman Arch                      Image 3 - Bivvy ledge near Patersons Arch

Day 2 - 1m of SSW swell. Overcast with a chance of 0-3mm rain.

I must admit, after putting on wet clothes first thing in the morning I may’ve eye balled a super sketchy escape route. I knew there was still plenty of magic to be explored around the proceeding corners so I got the first swim out of the way and the froth returned. Day 2 was pretty relentless and I wasn’t mad about it. I can’t remember getting any opportunities to run. I was in constant awe of the sheer beauty of the Tasman Peninsula. It would have to be one of the best all round adventures I’ve had in Tasmania. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea as it's quite a committing dance with dirty dolerite.  

Around smoko on Day 2 I resupplied at the waterfall on the southern side of Waterfall Bay. Some of my favourite stretches of climbing were wrapping around the southern side of Waterfall Bay. There’s a wide variety of epic cliff jumps on offer and there’s pretty much always a way to minimise/maximise the height. Over the course of 2 days I completed between 30-40 swims. Majority of them were very short and a few were between 50-75m. As the end neared, I swam through yet another incredible archway which brought me to a beach full of boulders located a few hundred meters south of Waterfall Bluff lookout. All that remains is a bush bash up a steep unmarked exit route until you connect with the Tasman Coastal Trail. This is arguably the most dangerous part of the traverse so avoid knocking rocks on your friends. If you're eyeing off any legit scrambling then you've gone the wrong way. I stayed slightly left of the main scree slope and crossed over once it tapered off. See Image 6 below to see the exit route. I found this area slightly disorientating so it was nice having offline maps to work with. Flowy trail run to get back to the blowhole.

I’d like to have a crack at combining this two day traverse into one massive day out. Reach out if that proposition intrigues you (0432312932). Spending the night out made the experience truely unique and I’m really stoked I familiarised myself with the coastline before attempting the entire traverse in a single push. Completing this in a single day would be fairly similar to trying to link Chasm Creek to Deep Glen bay + Deep Glen Bay to Eaglehawk neck in a single push. I've been somewhat reluctant to give the Blowhole to Waterfall Bluff traverse the same 'Length' grading as all the other 'Long' traverses I've done (Most of them), so I've opted to put it down as a 'Very long' traverse. I'd be more than happy to chat through the finer details as I'm really hoping others will get to experience what this incredible stretch of coastline has to offer (0432312932). 

Image 4 - Gaia route         Image 5 -   19km circuit                 Image 6 - Exit route