Monday, August 31, 2009
Broome
Raft Point to Broome
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Port Nelson to Samson Inlet
Yesterday, Monday 17 August we motored from Hanover Bay Inlet through Rogers Strait south of Augustus Island. There are many pearling leases in the passage and inlets, taking advantage of the clean, clear blue waters. Just as we were entering the strait Cran pulled in a lovely Mackerel on the hand line. Just as he and Peter were tying it up, the rod on the other side of the boat started to scream and Peter reeled in a spectacular 1.26 m Spanish Mackerel - just wait for the photos. Dinner last night was the smaller Mackerel expertly cooked on the BBQ by Cran. Our anchorage for the night was Sampson Inlet - a long L shaped deep gorge covered in gum trees, cycads and boab trees. After dinner while having a glass of red wine we heard a loud noise on the front deck. Spotlights on, we found a small Mackerel had jumped out of the water and landed in the trampoline netting at the front of the boat. I don't know who was more surprised. So there you have it, 3 Mackerel in one day, although the last fellow was given a reprieve.
This part of the Kimberley is greener and there are pockets of rainforest in some of the deeper gorges that have running water all year round. Today, Tuesday 18 August we are heading south west towards Raft Point. Passing close by Hall Point we were able to take the boat in close to rock face to photograph many fascinating weathered sandstone sculptures; then on to Langge Inlet where there is an Aboriginal site with more pillars of sandstone, looking like groups of people gathered together. We have been lucky to see many pods of whales today, gliding through the water ahead of us with the occasional tale splash.
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Saturday, August 15, 2009
Prudhoe Island to Port Nelson
On our passage to Bigge Island our next destination we were fortunate to see a mother Humpback Whale and her calf breaching in the sea ahead. We slowed down as they passed to enjoy their display. Bigge Island was chosen so that we could look at Aboriginal art located in caves at the back of Wary Bay Beach. We were not disappointed, with two magnificent Kaiara paintings(a mouthless head with a large halo which represents the weather clouds), a form of Wandjina art. There were also paintings of turtles, stingrays, crocodiles, snakes other animals. These caves also contain a painting of a boat with three men each of which have a pipe in their mouths. It is a privilege to be able to enjoy this ancient art in its natural environment. In Europe they would be housed in air conditioned buildings behind glass. Its preservation is however a concern as it is at the mercy of the elements. Wary Bay is enclosed by large weathered sandstone one of which looks like the head of a large crocodile, another an Egyptian Sphinx and also a rhino. After some exploring we headed south to the next bay, Boomerang Bay. Late in the afternoon a yacht named Pioneer sailed past our stern and anchored nearby. They were nearly out of diesel (we were able to help them out)as they had motored most of the way from Darwin. Peter the owner was on the final leg of his circumnavigation of Australia, heading for his home town of Perth. He and his friend Paul joined us for sundowners and entertained us with tales of their journey and adventures and gave us some good advice for our future travels as we head down the west coast and around into the Bight.
The weather is warm with light winds and we are heading to Port Nelson to see to "Mermaid" Boab Tree where Philip Parker King careened his boat in 1820. King chartered most of the Kimberley and his charts were still used by sailors until recently.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Governor Islands to Prudhoe Islands
At Jar Island we shared the bay with a Paspaley Pearl Farm and its mother ships (14 09'S 126 14'E). A walk ashore (or rather a rock climb and creek walk) took us to a cave behind the beach where we were able to enjoy some rock paintings including some more of the Bradshaw series. The cave floor was full of black soot and shells for long ago beach BBQ's. Our next stop in Vansittart Bay was Freshwater Bay a beautiful setting with good fishing and clear water as this bay also has a large pearl lease.
With the weather in our favour we decided to make our next destination Cassini Island out near Long Reef on the eastern end of the Bonaparte Archipelago (13 57'S 125 38'E). After a morning of washing and a short dinghy ride to the waterfalls behind the mangroves, we headed to Cape Bougainville to overnight before heading out to Cassini Island. The geography in this part of the Kimberley changes from the great sandstone cliffs to red sedimentary rock cliffs with many caves along the shore where the sea has eroded the rock. As we came into the bay where we planned to anchor for the next two nights we found that we would be sharing the bay with a fishing charter boat from Darwin - the Cannon. The Captain, Robin, gave us some good advice on where to anchor as there was a reef of red rock that only exposed at the bottom of the 7 metre tide. He then invited us aboard for coffee and then later in the day we joined the guests on the beach for a BBQ of Coral Trout and Mangrove Jack cooked to perfection by Stephen, the chef on Cannon. The charter group were from Melbourne and shared their fishing tales of catching Sailfish, Giant Trevally, Mackerel, Queenfish etc etc most of which were released - we are all a bit jealous of their success. Our fishing while promising had not proved as fruitful. The beach at Cassini Island were covered in turtle tracks and nests and we saw a few baby turtles swimming around the boat at night, attracted by our lights. We enjoyed a couple of long walks along the water's edge looking at the shells and corals and to our delight, not a plastic bottle or thong in sight.
Today, Thursday 13 August we are motoring west towards the Prudhoe Islands (14 25'S 125 15'E)in total glass conditions with zero wind. This area is similar to Greece with hundreds of small barren rocky islands some with white sandy beaches. It is very different to the east coast of Australia and quite beautiful. This morning we sighted a couple of pairs of whales, one group asleep on the surface looking like a pair of glossy black rocks until with a huge spume of air and water they sank below the surface.
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Friday, August 7, 2009
Berkeley River to Governor Islands
The King George River ends at a 100 metre high rock wall which in the wet season has spectacular double water falls - we enjoyed taking the dinghy right up to the rock wall where water now trickles down into the river. Many of the rocks around the waterfall are honeycombed by the force of the water that plunges down the gorge in the wet.
We are experiencing balmy winter weather with brilliant blue skies, cool evenings and warm days and not a cloud in sight. This week we have the added bonus of a full moon which rises in the dark blue sky of the evening above the red cliffs - we hope the photos will do it justice. Today we are under way to the Governor Islands in Napier Broome Bay in light winds and saw our first whales this year. We are looking forward to another beach walk today this time on a island with a surrounding coral reef so there could be fish for dinner tonight!
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Sunday, August 2, 2009
Darwin to Berkeley River
Yesterday we anchored at the Casuarina Creek falls. It is a side creek off the main river which has a basin at the end with a small island in the middle. We climbed to the top of the cliffs and walked up to the rock pools. We were fortunate to locate some of the Bradshaw rock paintings which are more than 40,0000 years old. It was good to have our first swim in 6 weeks safe from the threat of crocodiles. After a couple of other catamarans left we were able to anchor right in front of the falls and had to run a stern line from the boat to a boulder at the base of the falls to stop the boat swinging as there wasn't room to swing on the anchor without bouncing off the cliffs. It was quite surreal with 20 metre cliffs all around the basin and our own private waterfall just off the back of the boat. This morning Peter & I collected fresh water in the dinghy from the base of the falls and we all got in and washed down the boat to remove all the salt from the passage. It was great having access to unlimited fresh water but needless to say Peter & I had showers each time we collected water but it wasn't a problem with 30+ degree temperatures. At the head of the river I caught my first barramundi this afternoon but it was undersize at 35cm so was released. Tomorrow we will explore the head of the river and visit the Amphitheatre Falls before going back to the mouth of the river for an early morning bar crossing on Tuesday and a 45Nm trip up to the King George River. We have some great photos but unfortunately we can't upload them until we have normal internet access.
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