Part 2-Western Australia-Cruising the Kimberley Coast

After our morning Crocodile boat ride we left Bamurru Plains and flew back to Darwin where we eventually boarded La Laperouse, a Ponant cruise ship where we are to cruise the Kimberley Coast for the next ten days. The ship has about 160 passengers who look to be closer to our age than our children’s. We are the only Americans on board. The ship is well appointed, and while our stateroom is small, it is engineered efficiently and will be fine. We did the abandon ship drill and had an enjoyable dinner before touring the ship and settling in. More about what we’ll be seeing later, but the Kimberley is supposed to be a very special area in the north of West Australia with amazing scenery that is best accessed via ship. Hence, our cruise.

We were a bit confused early the next morning. We were to turn our clocks back 1 1/2 hours but when I looked at my Apple Watch I thought it had automatically switched (as it always does) to the local time. It didn’t feel right and Betsey insisted it was too early to get up, so I called the bridge and, of course, Betsey was right, and my watch, and my IPhone, and my IPad hadn’t switched. It was 5:30am. So much for technology but thankfully I had brought a back-up digital watch which set me straight. That’s a long way of saying we are on the first full day at sea. Sunshine and no coast to be seen. After breakfast we had a very thorough briefing of all we would see on our cruise and how the zodiac launches work. It should be quite a trip. They have a dozen naturalists/scientists on board to teach us all about the Kimberley Coast, said to be one of the most beautiful scenic sites in the world. After an early lunch our first excursion was up the King George river to where the gorge ends at what is supposed to be the KIng George falls except it’s the dry season so no falls expected.

During a 2+ hour zodiac ride (tough on your butts), we saw very awesome sandstone cliffs made some 1.8 billion years ago. They rise about 250 feet and are splattered in varieties of bright orange, black and purple shades.

Sandstone is originally cream in color but the iron in the stone leaches out in shades of orange and bacteria coats and adds some black, and the manganese contributes the purple shades. They look like abstract paintings up close. Hardy little bushes and minor trees grab onto the rocks and somehow survive the dry season with no water and the wet season with deluges.

We headed to the very end of the gorge where the river ends in the waterfall that sometimes is. Above the waterfall is the other section of the river. At one point there were no falls but the cliff erosion over millions of years carved out the lower basin of the river. Before heading over to see the trickle that is the falls today, a tender boat handed champagne over to us to celebrate this stage of the journey. A nice touch. In the photo below the zodiac at the bottom of the falls gives you an idea of the size of the cliffs and the grandeur of it all. Here the walls look like a Louise Nevelson sculpture.

We headed back to the ship but not before taking a photo of the six of us since Lexa was a bit upset that I hadn’t included a photo of Ian and her in part 1 of this blog. So in deference to Lexa and with no slight intended here we are fully enjoying the ride.

We were pretty much wiped out by the sun and afternoon excursion. Betsey totally conked out, but we had to rally for the Captain’s “Gala dinner.” After a briefing for tomorrow’s excursion, we headed for the cocktail hour and dinner. We had been told that the evening was “formal” and we had brought jackets and ties on board. Turned out there were very few ties and many without jackets. We sat through an interminable dinner on a hot night, shedding our jackets and wishing the evening would end. Finally it did.

Next morning we were anchored off Jar Island, our expedition for the day. We took a zodiac to the beach, touching dry land for the first time since we boarded the boat. We did a “wet” landing on the island which meant we got to get our feet wet in the Timor Sea. Refreshing although a croc had been spotted earlier sunbathing on the beach.

There are 2600 islands along the Kimberley coast, and our mission this morning was to view two of the 500,000 rock art “galleries” that are found in the Kimberley. With 300 unique aboriginal language groups in Kimberley there is an amazing inventory of rock art that dates back at least 17 thousand years. This compares to the oldest Egyptian art we admire which is 5,000 years old.

The art we saw was not as well preserved as the Arnhem Land work but still impressive given its age. It depicts animals, what appear to be well ornamented humans, and fish.

After lunch on board, we had an interesting lecture on the Kimberleys which is one of largest unspoiled areas in the world, albeit facing threats from natural gas exploration, invasive species, and aggressive “modern” fire control methods. The Kimberley is among the least dense regions of the world. With a population of 39,000 (13,000 of whom live in the one city of Broome) and a land mass of some 160,000 square miles, that leaves one person for every 7 square miles.

We had a briefing about our next day’s activities which sounds really exciting. We are visiting the Ashmore Reef which is about 180 miles from the Australian coast and actually only 120 miles from Indonesia. The British claimed it in the 1800’s but ceded it to Australia in 1932. We are all doing a zodiac expedition in the morning, and then Arty, Ian, and Lexa are going snorkeling at the reef in the afternoon. A highlight of the day, heading to Ashmore, was standing at the railing of our balcony watching the sunset when I looked down and right below me was a very big shark. It looked to be about 9 feet long and was swimming pretty close to the surface. I later learned that it was a Tiger shark which is second only to the Great White in recorded fatal attacks on humans. And I’m going snorkeling????

We set out early after breakfast on our reef excursion via a very circuitous route. Apparently there is some agreement between Australia and Indonesia that regulates who and how you can approach the reef. The zodiacs have to follow a meandering route past a patrol vessel (to enforce and also look for illegal immigration from Indonesia) and through a convoluted buoy channel to approach the reef which has three islands as well. We went close to the West Island but no human landing. All told, the reef is 24miles long by 10 miles wide.

There are 95 species of birds out here and we saw thousands of birds, nesting on the low bushes and flying overhead. Boobies (Brown and the rarer Red), Terns, Frigates, and Noddies etc etc.The water is amazing. An almost straight line demarcates the blue (deeper) from the greenish turquoise (shallow) waters, all crystal clear. We saw many green turtles swimming just under the surface and occasionally lifting their beaks to breathe. We saw a manta ray flying under the water very fast. It was all good fun.

After lunch, Lexa, Ian, and Arty boarded the zodiac for our snorkeling expedition. We re-navigated the same circuitous route back to the reef and jumped in. I hadn’t snorkeled in at least 15 years so I’m glad I overcame my initial hesitation and went for it. It was spectacular. The water was delicious—just a tad colder than my pool, and the underwater scenery was breathtaking. There were many, many fish in all sizes and colors, (750 species in these waters), and I even spotted three manta rays along the way, but what was so awesome was the reef itself. It was like an underwater botanical garden. All manner of shapes and colors. Iridescent purples, teals, blues, oranges, yellows and greens. I thought I saw a blue turtle but it was a coral shaped like a turtle’s back. This is a very healthy reef so we didn’t see any bleaching. We all saw a bright blue starfish which really was a starfish. We were under water for about 40 minutes of pure awe and wonder.

We came back on a high. I showered, wrote my blog entry sitting on our balcony, and then we went to the briefing for our next day and a nice dinner outside on the back deck with an almost-full moon watching over us. We were moving all night for now we were heading back from the reef to the coast. The next day was mostly a moving day. We had a couple of lectures—the history of exploration of the Kimberley, led by a Phillip Peter King who’s careening of his ship (deliberately beaching it for repairs) gives the bay where we will dock it’s name. (More later on this). The second lecture was on the wildlife of the Kimberley which is being severely threatened by uncontrolled fires and feral cats which seem to be invading all over the country and are the subject of intense efforts to eliminate them.

As we ate lunch we entered Careening Bay and later that afternoon went ashore. This part of the Kimberley is very different. Unlike the rock cliffs of the King George River area, here we are ringed by lush greenery because of the rich volcanic soil in the area. In 1820 when PP King was forced to beach his 59 foot boat because it was taking on 9” of water an hour from the stern essentially coming apart from the rest of the ship, it would have looked much the same. The very big tidal range would have allowed them to beach and then float the ship back into the deeper waters. They stayed long enough to make repairs, and the ship’s carpenter left their mark by carving the ship’s name (Mermaid) and date into the soft Boab tree, and there it is 200+ years later. As a bonus, at dinner we saw whales breaching in the distance.

Next, morning at breakfast we were entertained by about a 9 foot Tawny Nurse

shark right off the stern of the ship and then a bit later by three Dolphins bidding us welcome to Swift Bay. King named it after Jonathan Swift for no known reason. This is part of the Bonaparte Archipelago which has the same rock formations (although much lo

wer) as King George River but with a lot more vegetation. We are here to see examples of Wandjina rock art. Wandjina refers to the style of art and these are the finest examples we’ve seen so far.

After lunch we had another excursion to another part of the bay. It was low tide which got much lower on our way back.and we walked about 100 yards along the beach which was littered with broken shells, barnacles, oysters, and sea weed (the first I’ve spotted on a beach). We were going to see more Wandjina art and the hike was worth it. The art is mostly found under big rock overhangs where the aboriginal people would have come for shelter and to pay homage to their gods. The art often depicts Wandjina spirits that have big ears and eyes but never a mouth. It is thought that if there was a mouth, the water would spew out of it and bury the people. We saw depictions of shore birds, animals and the spirits.

To go under these overhangs and realize we are standing where many thousands of years ago others stood, prayed, ate, and slept is a humbling experience. To know that civilization, in good times and bad, has managed to survive gives one hope that our children and our grandchildren won’t be the last of the species.

We cruised over night farther south to Prince Frederick Harbor and the Hunter River, and when we woke it was noticeably cooler. Not cool but cooler. We were a bit surprised to see a smaller cruise ship anchored nearby as well as a couple of private yachts. We’re not used to other people being around. This is to be a very exciting day. The Feinsod’s and Selkowitz’s have elected to take a helicopter up to see the Mitchell Falls on the Mitchell River. Should be good fun.Then we have an afternoon zodiac tour up the Hunter River for crocs and other wildlife and fauna. When we woke we had arrived and the coastline is dramatic with good sized cliffs of the now familiar Kimberley sandstone. Exciting it turned out to be. We took a

short zodiac ride to a beach where helicopters were waiting to take us up over the escarpment and high across the plateau out to the Marshall River. There were no doors on the helicopter so you could enjoy the view. A bit nerve wracking I have to admit.

The view really brought home to me the vastness and solitude of this region. No sign of civilization to be seen. A lot of trees, scruff vegetation and aqua green river. Pretty stunning. We landed atop a smooth rock plateau and walked to a viewing area of the Marshall Falls. They are actually a series of four cascading falls. Even in this dry season the falls were impressive. Near the landing site there is a shallow body of water. You can’t call it a pond, more like a water hole. The four of us put our feet in and I took the plunge to cool off. Then it was back on the copter and a zodiac back to the ship. A really fun morning that brought home to us how vast and how empty this region of the world is.

Our afternoon excursion started out pretty tame. We were going to explore the Hunter River on the zodiacs. The River is impressive. Wider than the Hudson in NYC I would say with palisades of Kimberley sandstone more majestic than the NJ Palisades and with mangroves along the bottom instead of NJ flatlands.The excursion was touted as rich in wildlife, but we barely saw any birds except one White Belly Eagle and a couple of Kites. Then things got interesting. We saw one Crocodile after another, and these were pretty active six footers. The guides call them handbags. The crocs were nosing along the water’s edge and doing some swimming and grabbing for Mud Skippers. At this point I should explain Mud Skippers. We first saw these little critters at Bamurru Plains. They skip out of the water with leaps and bounds. They look like a cross between a fish and a frog, and that’s sort of what they are. They need to pop out of the water to breathe because they are part amphibians. Funny little guys.

Anyway, the hunt for the Crocodiles was good fun and all told we spotted seven of them, but it was getting late, and we had to make our way back to the ship. The sun was going down as we headed back and also the seas got very choppy. In fact, we ended up pretty soaking wet as we hit the waves, but the sunset was stunning. As we bounced our way back, we couldn’t help but think of our friend, David Tunick, who had just finished a solo journey from Spain to Stamford on his 54 foot sailboat, and had many a harrowing experience. It put our little soaking ride in perspective.

Turns out we had two dramas before the day was done. As we were returning to the ship in choppy seas we saw that two other zodiacs had come together. Our guide thought someone had lost a hat overboard and they were fetching it. As it turned out an older man had gone overboard. On the zodiacs there are no seats; you sit on the edge of the inflated sides, and it’s usually fine. Apparently this man may have dozed off and went overboard. There was an immediate response, and he was taken out of the water in under three minutes, but with crocodiles around you don’t want to take chances. The second drama was the strap on my Keens water sandals broke. Fortunately, the ship’s shop carried water shoes, and I was able to get an acceptable replacement. End of dramas.

Next morning we had arrived at Collier Bay, and we did an excursion on Fresh Water Cove (so named believe it or not, because some explorer found fresh water here). There is a small settlement of aboriginal people and also Australian researchers. After not being on a bike or Peleton since we left, it was good exercise to do the 40 minute hike up to the top of this place to see some rock art. But first our cheeks were smeared with ochre by an indigenous woman who explained that was our ticket to enter their land. We did a vigorous and very rocky half mile plus hike in very hot weather to the art, and an indigenous guide explained their interpretation. One piece of concentric circles depicted the reef that we will visit in the afternoon.

Two factual tidbits. The aboriginal peoples have tribes and subsets of clans. No intermarriage between the clans is permitted, or at least it’s discouraged, to maintain the pure bloodlines. Second fact. This bay is shaped by massive tide ranges—up to 45 feet between high and low tides, among the largest in the world. Before we left to go back to the boat, we stopped at a shack on the beach which serves as a research HQ and gift shop. Yes, Ian bought a branded shirt as he does at almost every visiting place.

The dramatic tide change was important to our afternoon excursion to Montgomery Reef, Australia’s largest inshore reef. It is 240 square miles, 24 miles long by 18 miles wide. That’s impressive in and of itself, but it’s the dramatic tide change that makes this reef so unique. At high tide the reef is entirely submerged, and as the tide goes out the run-off of water from the flat plateau rushes out to sea in cascades all across the reef. An astonishing sight. Our zodiac trip ended with another pastel masterpiece.

Next morning we arrived at Talbot Bay.We are relatively close to Broome, the main, probably only, city in the Kimberley, so there are several small expedition boats around. In fact there is a large semi-permanent floating raft that serves as a base for sea planes and fast boats for folks coming up for a day trip from Broome. The reason it’s a popular spot is the famous “horizontal falls” that are here. The tidal range here is 27 feet, and there is a narrow passage between some of the high rock cliffs. So when the tides come in or go out there is a funnel effect through this narrow passage, and it creates the horizontal falls, whirlpools and rapids (without the rocks underneath). We were supposed to ride our zodiacs through the horizontal falls, but last May there was an accident on another expedition company boat. The boat got caught in the current and hit a rock, crushing the front of the boat. Fourteen people were injured so the authorities suspended the practice of going through the falls. That was fine with us as we enjoyed the experience through a wider gap elsewhere and got to watch the tidal flow of the horizontal falls from a safe distance.

However, what was the most exciting and fascinating for me was the coastline. We are near the end of the Kimberley basin, and here the horizontal sandstone rocks have pushed up against the tectonic plates of Australia. Over the 1.7 billion years these rocks have been compressed and pushed so far up they created a series of undulating rock formations in big hills with giant semi-circles of stone. In some places the horizontal sandstone strata has gone completely vertical. It’s so different from all the other rock formations we’ve seen on this Kimberley journey, and it was a breathtakingly dramatic sight.

We didn’t just look at rocks. Jamie, our naturalist guide (she’s actually the group’s leader) was superb in describing the habitat and spotting some of the plentiful birds here. Among others (for those bird-watching mavens) we saw Black-headed Cookoo Shrikes, Blue Kingfish, Sandpipers (who travel 7500 miles from Siberia to get here each year) and very handsome Brahminy Kites, the smallest of the raptors we’ve seen on this trip.

After lunch Sebastian gave a very detailed lecture on geology. It was fascinating but a bit long for the group. We topped the afternoon off with a quick trip out to the horizontal falls with the tide coming out of the gorge this time. Let me just say if you’ve seen the horizontal falls once, you’ve seen it a thousand times. Glad we went but time to move on.

Tonight was our penultimate on the cruise, and so it was “gala” night. We wore our jackets and dressed up, and the entire crew was introduced and thanked by the guests. Dinner followed with our best dessert yet—a chocolate wafer over pistachio ice cream with hot fudge sauce poured over. The food on board has been quite good and inventive despite some grumbling we did prematurely early in the trip.

Next morning at breakfast we were greeted by Humpback Whales in the distance doing a mating dance with their tales flapping on the ocean. This area is the largest Humpback Whale breeding area in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our last zodiac excursion of the cruise was to the Lacepede Islands. This is Australia’s most important breeding area for Green Turtles, and it’s also a major bird area with the largest breeding colony of Brown Boobies in the world. We didn’t need to read that because the ship was surrounded by thousands of young Boobies learning to fly and having a ball it seemed. As we neared the islands, the birds were swooping in close to the zodiac and then we saw them dive bombing headfirst under water to spear a fish on their very sharp beaks. Very fun. We saw young white Boobie chicks on the island that turn brown as they grow into adult Boobies. Many other varieties of shore and migratory birds were all over and around the islands. It is a birder’s paradise. Because it’s a bird reserve, we can’t go on the islands which seem to be made up of broken corals. In addition to bird sanctuaries, these islands and others like them are major suppliers of guano which is exported for fertilizer.

We watched scores of Green Turtles stick their heads up out of the water briefly then dart very rapidly swimming under the water’s surface. We also saw a couple of varieties of sting rays, including some little critters that hug the beach and go for snails etc. All in all it was a very fitting and exciting end to our expedition experience. We returned to the ship in fine fettle.

This has been a superb experience, cruising the Kimberley coast. We’ve had ten days of some fascination each day, and we’ve learned a lot about this part of the world, it’s ancient history, its peoples, and its wildlife. We were all very pleased with the Ponant line. The crew was extraordinarily well trained, polite, enthusiastic and experienced. Our naturalists had deep experience in all facets of the area, and were incredibly upbeat and excited to share their knowledge with us. The food was quite good, too good for my waist line, and all in all we thoroughly enjoyed this part of our adventure. All told on this cruise we traveled 13000 miles and loved every minute of it.

We had our final dinner on the back deck as usual and did “Bests & Worsts” of this tranche of the trip. Lexa was surprised with a birthday cake although her birthday isn’t until next week. Apparently, Doug, our travel agent, has alerted every one of our stops to present a birthday cake. It happened at Bamurru, and it’s driving Lexa crazy. Great fun.

We have to be out of our cabins by 7am tomorrow, so it’s early to bed and tomorrow is another day.