18. KIMBERLEY COAST CRUISING. Broome to Darwin. Rivers, Reefs, Whales, Cascades, Falls, Caves and Art

Having sprained her ankle on the night before departure, Carrol required a quick learning curve to master the art of crutches walking and wading in order to board the tenders for transfer onto the Eco Abrolhos.
Upon boarding, all were delighted in the great welcome and upkeep of the 35m catamaran.
Our cruise consisted of 27 passengers, all Aussies, and 9 crew, all fantastic as well as Aussies; and so knowledgeable about the Kimberley.
The entire trip was relaxing but at the same time challenging and full of adventure which all handled with ease. The crew was so capable, professional, obliging and at all times fun and safe.

Our mother ship, The Eco Abrolhos looked after us well.
Seen in Camden Harbour just after dawn; the time most of our shore trips began.

Boarding the Eco from the tender.  Motor forward against the stern, hold the Gandalf staff for balance and up you may pass.
We started and ended the cruise with the same number of  passengers.  That is a successful voyage.

The four tenders could carry the full compliment of passengers and crew and were very much fit for purpose aluminium tenders, equipped with 130hp outboards, high clearance, deep vee, hinged bow landing steps and capable skippers.  All were equipped with AIS, (ship identification), radio, EPIRB, anchor winch, depth sounder and fish finder etc, weighing in at about 1.25 tonnes  and costing $100,000 each.  Due to high clearance and all the safety gear, life jackets were not required as is the case with other tenders seen from other vessels.

Great sea boats, very dry and virtually bullet proof regarding hull strength.
Cruising at 20 knots allowed us to get right up into the upper reaches of the massive rivers in good time.

Extra ease and safety in waters concealing ambush predators.
The tenders were beached as far as possible for disembarkation being reversed out.

Radio PAs allowed the captain on one boat to address all the others as one. 

We steamed north for the first night, rounding Cape Leveque before daybreak.  There were few night time sailings, meaning we got to see the scenery most of the way.

Steaming north through The Narrows with 2 tenders on board.
After this day, all would be towed. 

Cyclone Creek in Talbot Bay was our first excursion where we saw how the boats worked and were marvelled by the landscapes and power of the water flowing through the creek.
The motors were cut at one stage through some narrows, with the tenders being swept and rotated like Pooh sticks.  Whirlpools were in abundance.

Some of the oldest rocks in Australia are in the Kimberley with massive upheaval giving additional contrast to the colours and remoteness.

Our crew call the cliff  "Phone Book Pages Cliff", due to the appearance of a phone book.
Our geologist friends would love this rock face. 

Phone book pages after being left out in the rain.
Folk under the age of 25 may need to google "phone book" to understand the relevance.

This tree growing in a vertical rock face, could almost be heard saying:
"Failure is not an option if the determination to succeed is strong enough!"

A backwater part of Cyclone Creek, which gives protection to the Horizontal Falls fleet, left here for the Cyclone Season. 

Just going with the flow of  7 knots!

The Horizontal Falls are created when gaps in the McLarty Ranges are filled and emptied by the incoming and outgoing tide, giving a build up of water on one side, and a massive flow out or in on the other.
Firstly, through one of the falls by boat.  Since the water level difference was over 1m, the boat was not permitted to attempt the narrow falls.  The height difference can reach 9m.
Then by air and we were staggered at the amazing power of the falls thinking tidal power generation in this area would work a treat. (Just missing the population in the area to service.)

James Bond style
Our boat and helicopter

No self respecting stink boat should have less than 1200hp on the back.

What a torrent!
And 40m deep (50m at high tide).

Try hanging onto those rocks!
The flow reverses with the in going tide. 

Not the place for man overboard drills.

This is at 1.2m height differential.
Imagine with a 10m tide giving a 4m waterfall. 

Nature's own washing machine.  Should have taken the dirty washing with us. 

We had seen the Horizontal Falls by water, now by air:

The speed boat is between the two falls.
This view would be totally different when the tide is rushing in. 

More impressive than conventional waterfalls in that rainfall is not required.
Simply time and tide which wait for no man!
(Note the rear vision mirror for reverse parking.)

The 15m boat is dwarfed in the flow.

From millpond to maelstrom in seconds.

Natural barriers to form a reservoir for the great show.

Tranquility with a 10m tidal flow.  Not an area for the inexperienced. 

The tidal range is among the highest in the world, which combined with the massive tidal flows that go with them, along with stingers, crocodiles and sharks which limit swimming even in summer, resulting in very few boats inhabiting the area.

Cruising through Talbot Bay.
Note the tidal range on the shore line. 

Perfect weather conditions such as this for the full 14 days.

Sapphire Pool upstream from Doubtful Bay gave us our first chance to swim in the Kimberley after taking a meandering maritime expedition up a mangrove creek.
Due to her sprained ankle, Carrol and a couple of the others took up the option of scenic cruising instead, laying crab pots as they went.  The crabs did not oblige though.

Heading up a mangrove creek to Sapphire Pool.
Some corners required a 3 point turn to negotiate.

Disembarkation through the fold down bow onto rock platform.
The ebbing tide level becomes evident in a photo following shortly.

After a scramble up and over rocks away from the creek to Sapphire Pool. 
Volunteers can be seen checking for crocodile presence.

An hour or so earlier, we had disembarked at the top of the closest rock platform.
Fortunately our experienced crew preempted the tidal drop and had the boats on the other side of the now exposed rock shelf.

Cruising past some incredible structures.

Slug Island

100m high Steep Island.
Similar to Uluru in that it is not conducive to sheep grazing.

Raft Point
Iconic Kimberley Icon

Steaming out of Doubtful Bay towards Montgomery Reef.

Montgomery Reef, covering 400 square km appears to rise out of the ocean shedding water as white water rapids when the sea level drops up to 10m with the tidal change.
Just like the Horizontal Falls, it challenges the senses and has to be seen to be appreciated.

The reef appearing to rise out the ocean with Steep Island and Raft Point in the distance.
Waterfalls are created as the sea level drops.

Riding salt water rapids for the first time.

The reef was like a submarine surfacing.

With motors switched off, an exhilarating salt white water ride was experienced.  

Unfortunately due to Montgomery Reef being a marine park, Turtle Soup was not on the menu.

Whales were guaranteed at Camden Sound, however no one expected such a show-off to turn up and be encouraged by the yells of delight from those on board.
Keeping clear of whales was one thing, having whales keep clear of us was another when buzzed by a whale for half an hour, with passengers running from side to side when the whale continuously did slow maneuvers from side to side showing us all how at ease it was around us.

Humpback Whale conducting like an orchestra leader;  indicating that a great performance is about to begin.

Very proud of the white undercarriage and backstroke abilities.

Getting a better look at us; possibly through a fish-eye lens.

Our engineer on the fore-deck received a face full of  wet bad whale breath in a similar encounter.
He sat alone at the dinner table.

Just hanging around as interested in us as we were of him.

.

First class show-off' 

Bending over backwards for the show.

Breathing in!

Diving down.  Truly massive.

A 6am shore excursion to the ill fated Camden Harbour settlement showed us that real estate scams existed back in 1864 when Victorian investors were sold land said to be just 440km north of Perth.  It turned out to be 3200km north, and the most inhospitable land possible for the 2800 sheep they took with them.

Nothing much is left of the settlement.  There wasn't much to start with though.

Our trip onto Sheep Island to which the sheep were transferred for safe keeping, was curtailed by a salt water crocodile showing aggressive behavior.  We left it to its own patch of beach. 

The mighty Prince Regent River flows almost straight along a fault line for 105kms.  We anchored 24kms up stream before taking to the tenders to continue upstream to the incredible Kings Cascades.
This was the tragic scene in 1987 when an american model tried to out-swim a crocodile without success.
We took in the wonderful view from below before climbing up the cascade to a beautiful swimming pool, returning back down for a late trip down the river to the Eco Abrolhos after dark.

The width of a football field by 30m high.

Accolades to the Cascades.

Our swimming pool well deserved after climbing the cascades to the top. 
Some of the blocks were almost shoulder height for some.

Not man made in a botanical garden.
Nature at i's best.
 Perfection.

Moss curtain

Heading downstream with dusk reflections from another cruise boat.
We saw very few other vessels during the entire two week trip to Darwin.

Returning after dark after leaving on our first excursion at dawn.
This is a holiday with a difference!!!

To do justice to our incredible voyage, we will have to go for Part B in a second blog to cover this trip. The above photos cover just some of the first 5 days. The full trip was this way, generally breakfast at 5 or 6.30am, with first shore excursion anything from 6 to 7.30am.

Finally, at night the water behind the boat looked enticingly illuminated with blue underwater lights. The following are some of the locals who dropped by to check out the intruders into their realm.

This chap swam so gracefully and effortlessly, looking identical to Godzilla from the movie.
No doubt related but possibly less affected by radiation than Godzilla.

Tawny Nurse Sharks off the back of the boat.  These nocturnal sharks estimated to be about 2.5m in length.
They have somewhat limited vision, but great sense of smell and motion.

We will continue with the massive rivers, cascades, crocs, fishing etc in the next blog. (Yes, Don caught some fish and Carrol's ankle improved!)
Hopefully we will shortly have better internet coverage from wherever we happen to be, as uploading these photos has been a real issue.  We also hope you find them worthwhile.

Carrying on.  Keep well!!
Don and Carrol.