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| Gwion Gwion Art |
The coastline is changing with low flat top hill ranges in the distance and sandstone rocks lining the bays and islands that have been eroded over thousands and thousands of years creating extraordinary sculptural forms.
The sea color changed to aqua blue as we entered Vansittart Bay Traversing these shallow bays and inlets that have a sandy bottom rather than mud is still challenging even though visibility of structures just under the surface improved many of these waters are not adequately surveyed. A constant look out is required and getting the tides and currents in your favor to get to anchorages of interest.
The coastline is a labyrinth of bays, rivers and islands and
you could spend a lifetime exploring. Our reference guides state that only a small portion of aboriginal
art in the Kimberley has been found and local guides believe there are many more
sites yet to be discovered.
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| Skipping Fish |
We got our Permits to visit some of these culturally significant sites but some of the descriptions in our guidebooks to follow “the well-worn Track” were difficult to find. With fewer visitors over the past 18 months the tracks are not defined as well but many thanks to the Kimberly Cruising Yacht Club, which we are members, for placing rock placed rock cairns on the tracks to follow.
It was very windy, we sheltered in Maia Bay which is at the
bottom of the Vansittart Bay for the night making our way to Jar Island in the morning as a day hop visit
and then to the Wreck of the DC3 before heading to Freshwater Bay for a night
anchorage.
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| Aerial View |
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| Sens de la Vie at Jar Island |
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| Jar Island Beach |
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| Jar Island |
There are many things on my list of “should have Packed”.
More information from the “Bradshaw Foundation” website site
would have been helpful for understanding of the Aboriginal Art.
We carry on board an extensive reference library of books on
Fish identification, Shells, native edible Flora, Birds, Celestial Navigation,
Astronomy, Cruising guides of the Top End and much more. However, I wish I had got a book on the
Indigenous art in this region and a reference book on the Geology of the
Kimberley.
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| Sea Leaf and Sens de la Vie at Jar Island |
Jar Island Gwion Gwion Art is reported to be 20,000 years old and the drawings are unusually advance in both technique and style.
On our excursion to shore we did not find all the art as it meant going through a Mangrove that I was not keen on traversing up to my knees in mud in case I needed to make a quick getaway from the resident Crocodile.
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| Croc at Jar Island Beach Photo Matt |
Sandra and Brian arrived as we were leaving the beach they also found it difficult but finally after traversing the swamp and scrambling up to the rock overhangs further up on the ridge found the bulk of the art and kindly shared their photos.
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| View from Rock Overhangs Jar Island Photo by Matt |
We had planned to go and explore the DC3 Wreak but as the winds had turned not favorable for us to anchor in the very shallow bay we made a dash to Freshwater Bay for a stopover in safe and calm waters.
It is a very popular bay as it has all weather shelter We were very pleased to be out of the gusting winds and choppy swells of the bay.
We met Chris and Jenny from the Yacht Upstart who invited all over for morning tea to share information.
Chris and Jenny are
from Albany WA and were making their voyage northward to Darwin and to the
Eastern Seaboard of Queensland. Great information shared. Of particularly interest to me was the Jabiru on Melomys Island further south in our travels that I definitely want to make an effort to see this magnificent bird in the wild.
We dined on the biggest oysters collected by Capt Teza from the shoreline of Freshwater Bay.
Chris and Jenny, SV Upstart, warned us of a crocodile up the creek to the freshwater falls, we were not keen to explore on low tide.
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| Croc at Freshwater creek Photo Matt |
Freshwater will be a stopover on our return passage.
We departed the following day rounding Cape Bougainville into the Admiralty Gulf to the Osborne Islands to visit the “Apartments”.
The Osborne Islands unusual rock formations make for interesting views as we traverse these waters.
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| The Arches at Osborne Islands Photo courtesy of Matt |
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| Aerial View of the Apartments with Matt and Lisa on their Visit weeks before we arrived |
The Apartments are so called because of their unusual cave structures filled with indigenous art and shells middens.
We also explored the overhang a little further down the creek to find the famous rock wall art called “The
Birds”.
Its good to have the company of Brian and Sandra as we travel up creeks and inlets and climb to the rocky overhangs. Great memories and experiences shared
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| Terry and Brian at the "Bird Watching Bar" |
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| Creek to the Bird Art Rock Overhang |
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| Spotting the Overhang from the creek is challenging |
"The Apartments" is a labyrinth of spaces in a large cave structure which housed an indigenous tribe some 20,000 years ago.
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| View looking up to the Caves called "The apartments" |
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| Scrambling up the Rocks |
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| Inside The Apartments |
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| Sandra and Brian of SV Sea Leaf |
Thankful for Capt Teza’s help to get me up
these rock faces slowly and with care.
After a very active day exploring we settled in for the afternoon relaxing on Sea Leaf.
A Lemon shark decided that Sea Leaf was worth a visit,
entertaining us all whilst we fed it some fish wings from the Queenie Capt Teza
recently caught. They do have teeth in
the back of the Jaw but are not as aggressive as other sharks.
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| Capt Teza Feeding the Lemon shark |
We were able to contact Matt and Lisa from Cool Change and we both made plans to reunite with them so as we can sail together again for the last couple of weeks of our Kimberly adventure before turning around. The Motley Crew together again for our last couple of weeks before Cool Change and Sea Leaf continue their circumnavigation around Australia.
Cool Change were currently in the Hunter River, and we will rendezvous at Careening Bay in a couple of days together with Sea Leaf. We will bypass some of the places of interest on our passage plan, however we can make opportunity via our return to visit these areas.
We started this journey to the Kimberley with Matt, Lisa, Brian and Sandra and although we have not always shared the same anchorage over the past few months we all made an effort to keep in contact checking each others progress and making sure everyone was doing well. Camaraderie of like minded sailors has enriched our experience.
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