(Updated 20.12.2021)
Keeping passengers and staff safe
We are open for business and want to keep you – our passengers – safe. The COVID-19 case numbers are very low in Tasmania and therefore, joining one of our Ocean & Wildlife tours poses a low risk. To ensure your safety and the safety of our staff, we have implemented a few changes to our normal operation procedures.
Part of our safety procedures is to check the COVID-19 data and updates on a regular basis and to re-evaluate the safety measures that we put in place.
Please see below the changes we have made to our ‘normal’ operating procedures. This page will be updated regularly in line with the updated health and safety information provided by the Department of Health and the Tasmanian Government.
1) Booking process
- We ask you to leave the name and contact details for every passenger for our manifest, to ensure people can be contacted should a COVID-19 case be detected.
- We will email you our updated T&C’s, COVID-19 Safety Plan, online liability waiver and information on how to stop the spread. We will also email you a COVID-19 questionnaire (see below) to make sure nobody is going to join the tour who is supposed to be self-isolating. Should you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions, or feel unwell on the day of the tour, you will not be permitted to join the tour on that date. In this case you can choose to reschedule to another date, receive a gift voucher credit or have a full refund issued.
2) Changes to tours
- Frequently touched areas of our vessel will be cleaned and disinfected before and after every tour.
- Passengers will be greeted from a safe distance and not greeted with a handshake
- All passengers are required to check in with the Check-in Tas app. If a passenger hasn’t got a smart phone, the wild Ocean Tasmania staff can check the person in
- Passengers will be asked to keep a 1.5m distance from each other during the safety briefing.
- Posters have been placed at our shop to remind people to maintain physical distance when entering. Decal markers on the floor indicate where people should stand to maintain 1.5m of separation. A sign at the entrance to our shop shows how many people are permitted inside.
- Signs have been placed in the shop to remind our guests of good hygiene
- The briefing for both our tours is now conducted outdoors.
- Before entering the shop & boarding the vessel, passengers are required to disinfect their hands with alcohol-based hand sanitiser provided. Hand sanitiser will also be available in the toilet cabin.
- Wearing face-masks is now mandatory in indoor settings in Tasmania. Please bring your own face mask to wear in our shop and during the short bus ride from our base to the pier. You can also choose to take your own car to drive from our meeting point to the pier.
- We usually provide warm sailing jackets and over pants. However, in these circumstances, we kindly ask you to bring your own warm layers, waterproof jacket, beanie and gloves. It can be very cold on the water once the vessel is underway, so the more warm clothes you have the better 🙂
- If a passenger feels unwell on the day of the tour or displays flu-like symptoms or has been in contact with a person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 within the last 14 days, he/she won’t be permitted to join the tour. Instead the tour can be rescheduled or a gift card credit or full refund can be issued.
- The skipper and deckhand are informed about and apply regular hand washing and sanitising routines. If the skipper feels unwell, the upcoming tours will be canceled and a full refund will be issued. Tours will only be resumed once the skipper has been tested for COVID-19 and the result comes back negative.
3) Check in TAS App
What is the Check in TAS App?
From 1st May 2021, Tasmanians and visitors will be required to use the Check in TAS App when they visit a range of businesses, organisations and events.
Each time you sign into these locations with ‘Check in TAS’, your details will be stored securely with the Tasmanian Department of Health for 28 days before being deleted. Your details will only be accessed by Public Health if contact tracing is needed due to a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the community.
If you do not have a smartphone or are unable to use one, others in your group can check in for you on their device or the Wild Ocean Tasmania staff will be able to record your contact information on their device.
The free ‘Check In TAS’ app is available for download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
How does it work?
Download the ‘Check in TAS’ app to your mobile phone and register your contact details. You only have to do this once.
As you enter a venue or event location you will see large posters at the entrance. These display the unique QR code for the particular premises. Open the ‘Check in TAS’ app on your phone, select ‘check in now’ and scan the QR code (hold your phone over the QR code so the app can read the code). You can also add in any additional people that are in your group. When the check-in is complete, show the venue staff the successful check in screen.
4) COVID-19 Questionnaire
- Have you experienced any cold or flu-like symptoms in the last 14 days? (including but not limited to a fever, cough, sore throat, respiratory illness or difficulty breathing)
- Have you had close contact with or cared for someone diagnosed with COVID-19 within the last 14 days?
- Have you returned from any overseas travel within the last 14 days?
- Have you been in close contact with anyone who has travelled overseas within the last 14 days?
If your answer is ‘yes’ to any of the questions above, unfortunately, you won’t be permitted to join our tour. Instead you can reschedule to another day or have a full refund or gift card credit issued.