At Hanover Inlet we caught up with Nomad Davina again then Whiskers and Exhale arrived the next day – 4 cats in the bay. Here the tide changes were up to 8 metres and we followed the rising tide into the back creeks for some fishing, calmly floating along in the dinghy at 2 knots upstream. 

The mangrove trees here are enormous with long roots and well adapted to the huge tides. Despite the lack of fish for dinner the bird life was wonderful: variegated fairy-wrens, sandstone shrike-thrush, friarbirds, azure kingfisher and reef egrets, with the usual raptors: sea-eales, ospreys and brahminy kites scaring off a pair of beach stone-curlews.

Samson Inlet and Gorge was even busier. Here we met Slow Motion, who had sailed from Tassie up the west coast, and Arrow, on their fourth trip around the Kimberley. They were able to lead us on the trek to the upper falls and rock pools, through long grass over rocks and creek beds. I doubt we would have found the track alone. 

mauve mulla-mullas lining the creek bed

Hall Point, near Kid Island was a lovely overnight stop with a walk on a sandy beach with a rocky lagoon behind the sand dune.  Then we finally saw some humpback whales as we sailed towards Montgomerey Reef.  This reef, around a few small islands, is enormous stretching for 18 miles (nm) in all directions.

WA humpback and calf

Kimberley: The Amazing Prince Regent River

 Prince Regent River was up to 98 m deep on our way in and anchoring near St Patricks Island had us worried as it was still 30 m or more right into the bay.  Eventually we found 8 m to anchor in, sheltered from the westerlies, and had a calm night.  

Setting off again in the yellow-orange glow of the morning twilight, the towering rocky escarpments were just beginning to show their array of ochre colours.  A pod of dolphins with several young calves, was feeding nearby.

 The Coral Adventurer cruise ship was anchored in the main river, the longest straight river of 70 nautical miles.  Small gorges emerged on either side as we motored up with the tide to Purulba Creek, where Peter found Chestnut Rails strolling on the muddy bank, a new bird for us!

following Reef Prince upstream

Reef Prince offered to show us his track up the river, dodging sandbars, islets, reefs and rocks.  We were thankful as we zigzagged past all the hazards.  

visible hazards

The climb to the top of Kings Cascades was challenging for little legs, but awesome views and picturesque rock pools surrounded by shady paperbarks and pandanus.

Up the river, where cruise boats don't venture, is another beautiful waterfall,  Cathedral Falls.  

Might as well try for a barramundi along the way...

 

Coming out of the big river was just as challenging as going upstream, with huge tides and a massive flow of water.  At Strong Tide Point we had 3 knots of current with us and as we sailed up to Whirlpool Point we were reaching 11.5 knots speed over ground with 4 knots through the water!

11.6 knots - a new record for Heatwave!

Kimberley: Rainforest Ravine

Rainforest Ravine 
is a dramatic change in the landscape of towering ancient rocky cliffs.  
A stroll along the creek through paperbarks and pandanus interspersed with colourful
wildflowers leads to a series of cascades and a cooling rock pool.  
The trick here is to get the tides right and
not end up with the dinghy high and dry on the rocks.

Beach Caves, on the opposite shore is a series of deep caves
that wind through under the escarpment only accessible at low tide. 




Ivy Cove At Ivy Cove there is a large boab tree on which the
inscription “Ivy 19.10.1890” has been carved. 

Ivy was a pearling schooner working in the area under the command of Captain Biddles. 

Coincidentally, Toni’s Nana, Ivy Fox (nee George) was born on 19th October 
and the Ivy boab tree now has a small family growing around it. 


The Ivy Family of boabs  :)
  

Kimberley: Swift Bay Rock Art

Swift Bay has numerous art sites with Bradshaws and Wandjinas and a few later works added on.  A grinding stone for ochre still sits on the original mortar under the overhang. 

A friendly lemon shark (we think, no Google up here!) came by, under and slowly circling us, so close we could almost pat him.  A reef shark swam along under him and a few remoras tagged along too, with a school of yellow and black striped little fish ahead and along his pectoral fins like a ceremonial parade.  He stayed around all morning, and then there were two.  By afternoon there were three, all about 3 metres, of them cruising around, not worried about us at all – just magnificent.  Big broad head with a square mouth, tiny whitish eyes, all sandy in colour and long tails that moved them effortlessly with merely a wiggle.

Art Creek, also in Swift Bay, has lots more rock art and easy to access so cruise boats stop there too.

An overnight stop at Tjungkurakutangari Island only emphasised the many and varied names of the thousands of islands in this archipelago.  From French, Dutch, Indonesian and English they seemed to have ignored that there would have already been Indigenous names for these places, perhaps they forgot to ask.

Sharks at Swift Bay

Our friendly lemon sharks (we think, no Google here!) at Swift Bay. They stayed with us for days, under the boat around the boat and under the dinghy.  Magnificent gentle giants, about 3m, as long as our dinghy!  With their entourage of little yellow striped fish, a few remoras and a reef shark, the daily parade is wonderful!

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Osborne Islands

We had a great day exploring the Osborne Islands.  There is a some great rock art, mostly in the Bradshaw style that pre-dates the current Wandjina style.  This seven metre snake painting was a highlight.

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Freshwater Bay

Another really pretty bay.  A short dinghy ride up the creek and an amble up the creek for a freshwater swim in a shallow pool.  Crystal clear water about chest deep.  We could see the bottom and it was easy to see that there are no crocs.

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The Amphitheatre Gorge walk was challenging at first, a scramble over large rocks and through spinifex, trying to find the cairns to follow along the way.  Above the gorge is a series of rock pools and a larger billabong lined with pandanus and shrubs.  A square-tailed kite circled the billabong over our heads. The views back over the river were amazing, our boats looked so small.  By now we were 4 cats:  Nomad Davina, Duet, Exhale and Heatwave.  Then a power boat, Sally Jane, cruised in to join us.

Upstream you can travel by dinghy as far as Rock Bar then walk over a rocky terrace along the riverbank.  The Berkley River goes for miles, with series of cascades fringed with paperbarks and pandanus.  There are crocs in most parts of the river so you need to find a small waterhole before swimming.  Variegated fairy-wrens hop around in the shrubs and white-bellied cuckoo-shrikes fly around the escarpments. 

Just before Rock Bar is a beautiful waterfall where we tied up and scrambled over the rocks to another series of pools with waterlilies and plenty of fish.    24/6/21

Anchored near the Casuarina Creek entrance with Duet and Exhale we had several tourist boats cruise past.  At the end of the creek the waterfall was still running and Peter tried to collect some water in his new invention, tub with a hose connector, but we only managed to get wet and fill the dinghy with water.  Needs more work!

Eco Abroholus came up the river towing 3 dinghies and taking up a lot of space.  Later that afternoon they returned and anchored near us, to explore the waterfall.  Early next morning they left to return to Darwin.

We moved up the river at first light to anchor at Amphitheatre near Nomad Davina.  The light on the escarpments was amazing, until the fog rolled in and the humidity rose, just as we reached Narrow Gorge.  We were glad not to pass any other boats at this point, especially the cruise boats.   

   23/6/21

Morning Has Broken: The Kimberley

 

Luckily, nothing else has broken on the boat, so far!  After the first 8 hours of waves over the beam the boat is covered in salt again, then we get a call from Canberra that an EPIRB has been activated in our vicinity (they know this from our AIS) so Peter got the coordinates and we were asked to search a 2 nm radius.  He called the other 2 boats to turn starboard 40 degrees and start the search, not knowing what kind of vessel or how many people were involved.

We soon spotted and upturned tinny with 2 blokes clinging to the hull, circled around and dropped our sails then manoeuvred as close as possible with ladder down and throw rope out.  They’d been in the water about half an hour, had lost everything except one wallet and the EPIRB.  The skipper was relatively calm but the passenger was going into shock by the time we got him aboard, so I grabbed some towels to wrap around him and gave them both some water.  They only had a few scratches but were not injured so Rescue Helicopter asked if we would take them back to Dundee Beach where the Water Police would meet us.  As we anchored the Water Police arrived and took them to shore and waiting families.

Returning to our trip across the Bonaparte Gulf, known by yachties as the “Blown Apart Gulf”, we anchored at Blaze Point which was much calmer by then, and left early again to catch up with Duet, ExHale and Nomad Davina for the overnight sail across the gulf in fairly light winds and mostly calm seas (a nice change!).

First light in WA and we could see the ancient rock escarpments of the Kimberley, what stories they could tell over thousands of years.

We passed Uncle and Aunt Islands and reached Reveley Island to await the tide to head into the Berkley River.  Just one small croc was sunbaking at the edge of the mangroves, so we decided not to go ashore, apart from being exhausted.  Now for the real start to the Kimberley adventure: into the Berkley River.  The charts are dodgy up here and Navionics had us motoring across the banks and escarpments, which was a bit of a worry!    

Kimberley: Glycosmis Bay

 

Blue Nomads are a bit like Grey Nomads, we pass each other often and catch up for sundowners and chats now and then.  By the time we sailed into Glycosmis Bay there were 3 boats already there and 2 more behind us. Word was out that barramundi, snapper and jacks were biting, and so all the dinghies set off for fishing again. Such a pretty spot to spend a few days and explore The Lost City.  To reach the walk we dinghied 1.5 nm around to a small beach and pulled the dinghy up high on the sand, then a scramble under trees to the start of the climb, which was easier than previous climbs.  

Wildflowers interspersed the rocks and boulders, red-winged parrots flew by and we found the first Bradshaw painting under a cave.  There were remnants of ancient campfires at the edge and you could imagine a family sitting around telling their stories to the children.

High in the cliff behind us, a peregrine falcon returned to feed young and became annoyed with a circling sea-eagle so chased it away. 

Jabiru take-off!

A lone jabiru was feeding along the sandspit at the corner of the bay near a pair of pied oystercatchers, then 4 brolgas flew across the gorge in perfect formation. 

On our morning beach walk we found an abandoned nest of red-capped plovers and a fresh croc slide into the mangroves beyond the sand.  Keep walking!   

Kimberley: Jim's Bay to Osborn Islands

Leaving Glycosmis at first light, to catch the tide over the bar, we sailed up to Jims Bay, a mere 13 miles.  The wind and waves were picking up by the time we turned in and anchored, just in time for morning tea.  Here was a long beach to stretch our legs, with no sign of crocs, for a change.

Working the tides is really important up here as we could have up to 5 knots against us if we miss-time it.  Working out the tides in each place is another challenge.  Skipper Pete managed to time it perfectly when rounding Cape Londonderry and we sailed at 7 – 8 knots on light winds with the help of the 3 knot current.  On the other side of the cape the tide turns and we had 2 knots with us again as we sailed down to Honeymoon Bay.  We first visited 25 years ago, on our honeymoon!  

Kalumburu was still closed to visitors but the caravan park kiosk sells ice creams (compulsory!), some fruit and veg, with which we stocked up.

Picture perfect beaches are dotted all around these islands, some would have seen more crocs than humans.

The Osborn Islands have several rock art sites with many Bradshaws in a series of caves.  The sandstone arches are also spectacular.

Dodging the radar reflectors around the pearl farms, passing the massive red escarpments of Carlia Island, we sailed down to South West Osborn Island for a quiet night.

Just before Davidson Point mobs of little terns and white-winged black terns (which we haven’t seen since Broome many years ago) were diving for fish.  In the middle of the frenzy we caught a giant trevally, sharks following the line in to our stern.  When all calmed down again a pod of 15 or more bottle-nosed dolphins came to play around us, riding the bow waves, cavorting and having fun.

Glycosmis Bay -Lost City

We went for a dinghy ride and a walk up the hill to a sandstone formation known as the lost city.  We saw some amazing Bradshaw rock art.

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