Sun, 24th April, 2022 Kimberley Coast Cruise, WA (Middle Lagoon & Lacepede Islands)

 At midnight we anchored at Middle Lagoon on the Dampier Peninsula - I woke when the anchors were being lowered. 

Woke in the morning to the most boat movement we have had. More swell out in the Indian Ocean then across the top. 

The phone changed to WA time when it picked up signal going around Cape Leveque so the alarm didn’t go off so I missed the sunrise but managed a nice photo from our room. Lucky breakfast is a bit later this morning.

Note from our itinerary - This section of the coast was explored by the Buccaneer, William Dampier on the Cygnet in January 1688. An extract from his description of the country he was seeing follows: “New Holland is a very large tract of land. It is not yet deteremine whether it is an island or a main continent; but I am certain that it joins neither Asia, Africa, nor America. The land is dry sandy soil, destitute of water, except you make wells; yet producing diverse sorts of trees; but the woods are not thick, not the trees very big. We saw no trees that bore fruit or berries.” 

Looking across to the beach at Middle Lagoon. We will come and camp here when we return to WA with the camper.

Its just below the bay above Beagle Bay on the map. Got the other map out of my Camps book.

This morning Jamie was giving a talk on other expeditions the company has coming up. Clive and Rebecca went to it as they are looking into another one next year. I started writing up my blog - got the 15^th done!! Been to busy and tired to bother with it while we travelled. 

Took our morning tea upstairs into the fresh air.

We joined the remaining guests (seem to have lost a third of them to Covid isolation but nothing has been said) and the expedition crew for a photo recap of our trip. It certainly has been great and I am looking forward to getting the photos the crew have taken when they put them up on their site. So glad we have been able to see all this country though in a healthier environment would have been better but that is life at the moment. 

While we were chatting the ship started its move across to the Lacepede Islands. Checked the moving map.

Lots of birds started appearing as we got closer to the islands - not that I could get good photos of them. Lacepede Islands have the largest colony of breeding Brown Boobies (that got the boys excited) in the world and the largest breeding colony of Lesser Frigate birds in Australia.

Another Coral Expeditions’ ship is anchored there - the Geographer as they have just left Broome on their way to Darwin.

Got a photo of a Brown Boobie. The boys are very disappointed!

The islands are flat sand islands so very hard to photograph.

The Geographer is bigger than ours.

We dropped anchor then we boarded the Xplorer for the last time - plenty of room now. The crew got the zodiacs down so we can explore the lagoon area on the other side.

More birds zoom by us as we head between the two bigger islands. There is a smaller island to the south that has a beacon on it. The birds have found a good use for the nature reserve sign.

It is also a good nesting ground for turtles as we see the tracks going up the beach.

Steve stayed on the Xplorer with Ian - in the shade but I decided to go with Mike on a Zodiac. We were all given metal water bottles for the cruise which have been very handy as it has been quite hot and humid so we are all drinking lots of water to keep hydrated. The lagoon area is shallow as we are heading to a low tide (though not much tide movement now as we are in the ‘neap’ time (H 7.1m L 4.3m). We spotted turtles and stingrays as we cruised around. The sky is full of birds (all the black dots in the photo). Sadly the Frigate birds wait till the Boobies come back full of food for their young then the Frigate hit them so they throw up their food and the Frigates get a free feed. Also the Silver Gull (seagull) are bad for stealing eggs etc. Hard life being a bird.

We had Sam and Beck up front and they spotted a turtle being attacked by a shark on the other edge so we went out to investigate. It was a tiger shark and it had taken off one of its nippers. The shark moved away as we got nearer so Mike backed off as he didn’t want to interfere with ‘natures course’. The shark had a few more goes but the turtle didn’t give up and eventually the shark gave up - probably because we were there so the turtle swam off but probably wouldn’t survive now. I only managed a few photos of them.

We went into the lagoon spotting more turtles, stingrays and a few small sharks. Lots and lots of birds which Mike told us about. He is very knowledgeable and so easy to chat to. The Frigate birds are up high in the updrafts circling around. Pelicans also breed here. I have forgotten all the names of the birds now - terns etc.

Mum & Dad sitting taking turns sitting on the eggs.

Mike was fascinated by this little bird who had a red back as he was all by himself. I think it was a sandpiper!

I do remember these ones - white and grey Egrets.

We got back onto the Xplorer and headed back to the ship which is anchored beside the Geographer which headed off soon after towards Darwin. Hope they have a good trip and Covid doesn’t invade their ship.

We got changed then headed to the Bridge Deck. Took a photo of the dining area - the staff do such a wonderful job and the house keeping staff are great too. Every day our beds are made, towels changed and in the evening the sheets pulled back and blind is down on the window. Certainly makes you feel like you are having a luxurious holiday.

Captain Josh joined us for farewell drinks and we thanked all the crew etc for a fabulous trip.

Another beautiful sunset to finish off a great holiday though we are all sad for those who were confined to their rooms. As the birds were still flying back to the islands we were all trying to get one across the sun.

At last I scored with a perfect shot.

Final ones to finish the cruise.

Final dinner - lamb, no choice tonight though but it was delicious again.

A few guests joined Ilana in the lounge for the ‘Kimberley Quiz’. We teamed up with Kate, Peter & Judy. We chose Maskmaraders for our name due to having to wear masks all the time. We got an extra point for the best name. There were two other teams - the WA group are very competitive but great fun. We worked together answering the questions that we had learnt over the last 10 days - some we remembered well others we just got it. Unfortunately there was no question about how many mangroves types there were so I save that info in my brain for no reason!! The last question worth 24 points was to name all the crew - we got all but 2 who we never saw. In the end we won by the one point for our name. We each got a cap but as I had one already from Bingo I chose a stubby cooler.

10pm up came the anchor and we slowly made our way through the night to dock in Broome by 8am in the morning.