This luxury cruise in Tasmania is like no other at-sea adventure

An expedition cruise along Tasmania's east coast, where fierce and fickle Mother Nature calls the shots, is all about going with the flow.

It has only taken a few minutes for our catamaran to drift from crystal-clear skies and waters into a 360-degree haze of sea mist. The chop in Tasmania's Storm Bay isn't too ferocious today, nor are the winds, but our vessel is 24 metres long - small enough for the swell to leave it wobbling. I'm not sure if it's sea sickness or the tablet I took to prevent it, but I'm feeling lethargic - as if I am inside a dream. And the sea mist is only adding to the effect.

But as the catamaran nears Port Arthur - laced with history and melancholy - the haze thins away just as quickly as it appeared, and shameless blue skies emerge again. It's as if someone's opened a curtain and let sun into a dark room.

And this is pretty much going to be the order of the day for the next four days. Because we're sailing along Tasmania's east coast, where Mother Nature is fierce and fickle. She can send frigid winds from Antarctica one moment, then peel back the clouds and drown us in heat the next.

In fact, our four-night cruise on On Board Expeditions' striking new catamaran, Odalisque III, is going to be a lesson in letting go.

After departing from Hobart, the plan is to skirt along the rugged coast, sail past majestic cliffs such as the Blade and weave our way through islands like Batsy, Schuten, Tasman and Maria, before ending up in Coles Bay in the Freycinet National Park region.

But On Board Expeditions owner and our skipper on this jaunt, Pieter van der Woude, is not promising anything. He earned his stripes diving for abalone for 25 years along the wind-battered coastlines of Tasmania so he knows this neck of the woods like the back of his hand.

He also knows just how temperamental the elements can be here. Winds and waves will pretty much determine when and where we go each day and - for that matter - how fast or slow.

Am I, who plans and tries to control every last aspect of my life, ready to let go? The next four days shall reveal.

During his lifetime, Geoffrey Dyer - arguably Tasmania's most famous artist and the winner of the 2003 Archibald Prize - painted hundreds of landscapes featuring the red-lichen-clad cliffs of the east coast. But he never saw them the way I am seeing them on the third day of the cruise.

I know this because Dyer's long-term partner, Kristiya, is one of the eight guests on this expedition.

As Odalisque III sails past Cape Bernier Nature Reserve, dwarfed by its soaring bluffs, Kristiya and I gawk at the dramatic red sandstone cliffs plunging into emerald waters. "Geoff was obsessed with these cliffs," remembers Kristiya. "But when he painted them, he was always on land, looking at them in the distance. Not at sea, looking up at these mountains from such close proximity."

When it comes to luxury, the cruise onboard Odalisque III leaves you wanting for nothing. It starts with a scenic seaplane flight from the Hobart waterfront to Opossum Bay, where the catamaran is anchored. Onboard the vessel, there are six state-of-the-art suites with tall, wide glass windows and well-equipped ensuites. There's a long, sunlit dining room on the main deck, a slick lounge with plush couches on the upper deck and an al fresco sitting area on the aft of the vessel.

And there's a small army of incredible staff (Jess the head host, Courtney the chef, Nancye the host and Doozie the guide), who not only cater to all your needs when you're onboard the vessel but can also turn an isolated beach on an uninhabited island into an open-air pop-up restaurant with gourmet food (as they do on the last day of the cruise on Maria Island).

But perhaps the biggest luxury here is nature and your closeness to it. Dozens of mega ships cruising between mainland Australia and Hobart ply these waters, but none of them can come as close to these red mountains, stop at these quiet coves or sail between isolated islands because they're just too big in size.

As Kristiya says: "There are details on these cliffs you can only see when you're on a small boat. I wish Geoff was here."

An intense argument erupts at the dinner table when I ask who does the best scallop pie in Hobart. Everyone on this cruise other than me and my partner is from Hobart or nearby and they all have an opinion.

Some say Smith's Pies is the best; others vouch for the ones at Harbour Lights Cafe on the Hobart waterfront. But there's no disagreement about the food on the table.

Whether it's surf and turf (which stars Cape Grim beef and crayfish from the coastal town of Bicheno) or free-range pork belly (which comes from Scottsdale, in the state's north-east), chef Courtney sources everything straight from the local producers. Even the humble sides - from Tassie Dutch carrots glazed in honey to pink eye potatoes rubbed in salt - hold their own. There's also a bar laden with exquisite local wines.

In the end we never make it to Coles Bay. The BOM app and Pieter's own instincts tell us the conditions are going to be rough. So plans are changed and the vessel is steered into Spring Bay, where guests disembark near the town of Triabunna.

Am I disappointed? Not one bit. I have experienced more adventure in these four days than I have in the entire year. I have hiked a part of the Tasman Coastal Trail near Fortescue Bay where Doozie the guide pointed out the difference between jack jumper ants and inchman ants. I have walked barefoot on the sands of Rheban Beach with just screeching plovers for company. And I have spotted dozens of wombat families and curious kangaroos on a sunset stroll on Maria Island.

The vessel: Onboard Expeditions' Odalisque III

The size: 24 metres long; six cabins; 12 guests

Good to know: Onboard Expeditions offers a range of cruises - from the four-night Port Davey escape to the six-night Coast-to-Coast adventure, which visits Port Davey in the state's west and Coles Bay in the east. Weather conditions can affect the schedule, so it's best to arrive in Hobart at least 24 hours before the cruise is supposed to start, and leave at least 24 hours after it's meant to end.

Get on board: The four-night East Coast Expedition starts from $10,300 per person and includes accommodation, food, beverages and all activities.

Explore more: onboardexpeditions.com.au

The writer was a guest of Onboard Expeditions.