Experience Coffin Bay Oyster veterans Chris and Linda Hank unveil new tourist friendly boat
Fancy a day in the life of an oyster farmer? This Coffin Bay couple and their new “pimped up” punt are hoping to help bring more tourism to the town.
Port Lincoln
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It’s been a year of reinvention for the oyster industry as diseases and global pandemics left many farmers to rethink on how to get the most out of their assets.
Experience Coffin Bay and owners Chris and Linda Hank, who have been oyster farming for over 20 years, is one business which has found a way through.
The couple were excited to finally see their new vessel in the water this week after COVID put their initial plans to a grinding halt.
Mr Hank explained he and his wife have been completing tours of their lease for just over 10 years after tourists took a keen interest into what goes into the day-to-day life of an oyster farmer.
“We went back and forth between actually farming and doing these tours,” he said.
“But once POMS (Pacific oyster mortality syndrome) and the spat shortage hit, that really slowed down the farming side of things down.”
With nothing more than the average oyster punt at their side, the Hank’s began their tours with a maximum of 10 guests at a time, with tours ranging from three hours to a full day experience.
“Once the cruise ships started to come in people were looking for bigger options and sometime we were doing five trips a day because we could only fit 10 people on at a time,” Mr Hank said.
Now the oyster veteran’s can take 36 guests on what Mr Hank described as a “pimped up” oyster punt, that boasts an on-board toilet, multiple seating areas and a bar.
“The boat has a flat bottom that we can bring right into the shore and is absolutely perfect for Coffin Bay conditions,” Mr Hank said.
“We wanted it to have a modern feel but a very relaxed feel.
“It’s informal inside, we didn’t want it to feel like and aeroplane or a bus where everyone’s lined up trying to look past each other.”
The punt was designed with the help of Adelaide based company Oceantech and architect Todd O’Brien, and was later built with the help of Paul Malone from Rediweld.
“We received the boat in essentially two flat packs just before Christmas,” Mr Hank laughed.
“We started in February on one stinking hot day, Paul and I built it in our shed on what was a 45 degree day.
‘We got about six weeks into it and COVID hit which pretty well shut us down for a couple of months.
“All up the actual build has taken about seven months.”
Now with domestic travel more critical than ever, the Hanks hope the idea of an interactive oyster farm tour will only benefit the seafood capital of the country.
“Before COVID we definitely had a lot of international travellers who obviously wanted to swim with the sharks, so really we are just providing another alternative activity and place for those people to visit,” Mr Hank explained.
“The more we have in this region the better it will be for everybody.”
