We are now in the area they call Western Kimberly.
 |
| Raft Point |
 |
| Stock Photo of the Western Kimberley Coast |
The rugged beauty of this vast and hostile wilderness
provides and endless backdrop of breathtaking panorama.
 |
| Coming into Raft Point |
Raft Point is one of the most iconic rocky points of the region
and most photographed due to its location and a scheduled visitation anchorage of Kimberley Charter Cruises.
 |
 |
| Cool Change coming into Raft Point |
 |
| Lizard Island at Raft Point |
There are thousands of creeks and bays with tidal waters
running between islands and into bays very creating strong whirlpools and tidal
rapids. This area of the Kimberley has
the largest tides in the Southern Hemisphere up to 12 meters. As you navigate
the waters it becomes very disconcerting having mushrooms of sand billowing up
to the surface of waters that are 30 meters plus deep. You have to be very prepared to be spun
around in the whirlpools if you get your timing incorrectly for the ebbs and
flows for the tidal currents.
 |
| Scenery as we make way along the coast |
Generously Brian and Sandra offered to us and Cool Change a day trip to Montgomery
Reef to save 3 boats going out to the reef.
Lisa and I were so excited to be going on a day cruise. Sea Leaf is a very comfortable Ocean Cruiser
and our hosts Brian and Sandra make us so welcomed on board. We have formed a wonderful friendship with
Brian and Sandra and Matt and Lisa sharing this adventure together. Packed lunch goodies prepared for the next day
we went on board Sea Leaf.
 |
| Stock Photo of Montgomery Reef |
Perfect weather and glass out seas we left Raft Point to
Montgomery reef with the timing of the Low tide around 1pm. Whales breed in this area and we got to
witness the whales as we crossed paths going to the reef.
Montgomery reef is a large reef that is 110km in
Circumference. There is a small channel
into the reef which you traverse and anchor to wait for the low tide and the spectacle
of seeing the reef emerge out of the sea creating water cascading waterfalls
along the reef edge.
The waters come alive with turtles, sea snakes and fish as
they make there way into the channel and deeper water as the tide drops.
You feel like the ocean has shrunk as you slowly sink to a
lower level of water.
A spectacular Day , great fun, good company and a wonderful experience
shared with the Motley Crew.
 |
| Sea Leaf in Reef Channel before tide dropped |
 |
| Sea Leaf in Chanel after tide dropped |
 |
| Sandra and Brian Sea Leaf |
Raft Point we stayed for a couple of days. I did have a dip at a nearby beach and
collected some rocks. Matt and Lisa did
the walk up to the art and were disappointed.
The local tribe decided to “touch it up”
but not in the traditional mediums of ochre and by way of hand
painted. It appears that white dulux
paint was used and drips of paint can be found on the Cave floor and down the
original work. I have included a couple
of photos courtesy of Matt and Lisa.
 |
| The Motley Crew all together at Raft Point |
 |
| Just a Little swim |
 |
| Capt Teza Foraging for Oysters |
 |
| Lisa at the overhang at Raft Point |
 |
| Not a good paint job touching up this rock art |
 |
| Raft Point |
 |
| Sens De la Vie and Cool Change Both Beneteau Yachts Sens de la Vie the old girl 15 years older than Cool Change. |
Making passage to Horizontal falls in Talbot Bay, Cool Change and ourselves took a different
passage than Sea Leaf, I was keen to go to Melomys Island to see if we could
find the Jabiru.
Also we could get a small amount of telco reception.
We were not disappointed and it was such a delight and joy
for me personally to see these huge birds in the wild.
As I watched from a distance through Binoculars witnessing a
White Belly Brown Sea Eagle catch a fish, eating its catch on the mangrove mud
flats. Out of the creek struts the Jabiru
in his red stocking legs and large wings flapping aggressively scoring himself
the fish away from the Eagle. Nature doing its thing. Matt has great camera gear and took some
photos, we were some distance off shore due to it being a shallowing bay and
the big tides.
I have decided I need to invest in a camera with a long
range lens so I can capture wildlife shots from a distance. Which is the trick to good wildlife photography
to have no disturbing interactions.
 |
| Talbot Bay Stock Photo |
We made our way to Talbot Bay, Horizontal falls to do the tourist thrill of riding a very powerful motor boat through the gorge gap over the large tidal overflow. There is a seasonal Tourist floating hotel that accommodates around 30 people overnight.
 |
| Horizontal Falls Talbot Bay |
They also have 4 seaplanes
that constantly land and take off on the water ferrying day visitors from
Broome and Derby. Up to 200 people come
to the tourist barge daily during the dry season to have a tour of the area and
do the fast boat ride over the horizontal falls. Its about an hour turnaround
from the time they land till they take off again and the Planes are in constant rotation
picking up and dropping off guests. The Kimberley Cruisers also have this activity on there cruise schedules. We were lucky to get a ticket to do the
Horizontal falls. The manager very
friendly and accommodating but the staff did not take her lead treating all
guests with courtesy and were made to feel like intruders by some of the staff
which was disappointing.
The falls are created by tidal surges through two very small
gorges and between two large bodies of water. Insert arial photo
It’s a thrill and very spectacular. We organised our tickets to participate and
were not disappointed. Capt Teza had a
big “Need for Speed” smile of his face.
We were also friended by a “Lemon Shark” as some people call
them, they are closely related to the “ Broad
Snouted Sharp-toothed Shark” as described in the Grants Fish
Identification Bible on all things in Australian Waters. The lemon sharks also visit the tourist
platform and get fed at certain times of the day. Obvious they are familiar with human
interaction. This shark decided to just
hang out with us for a couple of days at the back of the boat.
It was like having a pet …………………………….so we both patted the
sharks nose. Yes, they do have some teeth but are very timid
and not aggressive.
 |
| Patting Lemon Sharks |
We had our farewell Dinner, “gone troppo theme” on Sea Leaf.
This is our last goodbye night all together with Sea Leaf as they were going to make some miles to Cignet Bay to meet up with some friends and then onto Broome. We hope to once again sail and anchor
together on the Eastern Seaboard in 2022.
 |
| Beginning of the Night |
 |
| End of the night |
Lisa writes her own blog for Cool Change and I have shared
this link. Recently she wrote at the end
of her blog a quote, that we felt very connected.
There are friends, there is family and then there are
friends that become family.
We have experienced an amazing adventure in the Kimberley
that will forever bond us together with shared happy and fun memories.
This is an example of helping each other out as we all had failures of equipment swapping parts and assisting each other. Sea Leaf Water Maker went on the blink so cool change rafted up and filled via thier water maker.
But you what they say about boats that raft up!!
 |
| Brian and Sandra Towing us as our outboard conked out |
We all got dressed for the occasion Capt Teza feeling he should have some bling so he hung his favorite little spanner around his neck and went all out for the theme with his “Gillian Hat”.
Read more in the next blog Silver Gull, Cockatoo Island, and
our turnaround to return to Darwin.
No comments:
Post a Comment