Tues, 19th April, 2022 Kimberley Coast Cruise, WA (Mum 1 year passed, Careening Bay, Mermaid Boab Tree, King Cascade etc)

A whole year since we farewelled my beautiful Mum. We are so happy to be doing this cruise in memory of her and Dad as they enjoyed it so much.

We had travelled during the night and apparently had 40 knot winds which gave us a bit of rock and roll. I remember waking a noticing a bit of movement but it was all good. We are in Careening Bay.

Up early for breakfast at 6am as we will be on the Xplorer at 7.15. Sunrise isn’t till 7.15 so I got some pre-sunrise photos before going down to breakfast. We are heading to that beach this morning to check out a carved boab tree and coral etc.

Low tide (0.7m at 7.45am) so a wet landing as we can’t get the Xplorer close enough to the beach.

We split into three groups, we were with Jamie. Up the beach and through the grass to check out the boab tree which was carved by the crew of the HMC Mermaid in 1820.

Boabs will start to lose their leaves now to save their water. Contrary to stories, boabs don’t hold volumes of water. This one has a few nuts on it too. This one has split over time and Jamie said it has parted more since he was last here. The Cutter ‘Mermaid’ was in bad condition and Phillip Parker King ‘careened’ the ship on the beach to fix the problems. He found that the nails used to put it together had rusted away so they had to make new ones to stop water from leaking in. Handy people to cope with such problems in such remote areas. (Wish I had taken more notes but you can read up on it via Google, though as this is a heritage listed site there are information plaques and a boardwalk here.)

On the other side there is a carving that is believed to be where a candle or statue of Mary was placed when they had church services for the crew.

           

We walked back to the beach checking out coral and plants along the way.

Down to the water’s edge to check out the marine life. Water was pumping up out of these cone shapes.

Spotted a Stone Curlew who posed for a photo.

A creek runs down to the beach and further inland is where King and his crew got their freshwater from.

Back on board the Xplorer to head back to the ship for morning tea. 

 The ship started to move to Saint George Basin and the mouth of the Prince Regent River.

We joined the others in the Bridge Deck Lounge to listen to Ian and Goyma’s presentation on ‘Bush Tucker in the Kimberley’. There certainly is a lot to eat if you know what you are looking for.

11am We wandered around the deck as we travelled. We are going to go through that gap. The tide is coming in fast and it comes from three directions. It will rise 8 metres so there are lots of whirlpools and updrafts which we can feel as we travel through it.

Early lunch which was delicious again.  

1pm onto the Xplorer along the long and straight Prince Regent River. High tide is at 4.07pm (10.8m). The river follows a fault line. All tributaries enter the river a right angles. Another boat is here. We feel like we are the only people around and then a boat appears! Interesting countryside.

At last we stopped (after one hour travelling) and looked across to the magnificent site of King Cascade. Phillip Parker King didn’t name them himself - another explorer named it after King.

The river continues further inland. We have been dodging a few logs on the way - twice we had to stop so Dan could remove them from the engines.

We headed in, keeping a look out for crocs that usually sun themselves on the rock ledges. I notice they refer to Saltwater Crocs here rather than Estuarine that we were taught to call them. An American model, Ginger Meadows was taken by a 4 metre croc here in 1987. She was told not to get in the water by the skipper. Hence we are not getting out of the Xplorer. but they will lower the front plank and we can have a cool off under the falls which will be nice as it is quite hot and humid again (35 degrees). 

The crew are having a bit of fun in the zodiac - rescue boat if needed. They found another waterfall to cool off under.

We floated back and forth taking lots of photos.

We went over the left into the mangroves to have our afternoon tea as the other boat wanted to come in.

Back out to the cascades and we lined up for our ‘dunking’ under the falls. They lowered the front plank so we went out one by one to get wet and ‘smile’ for the camera up on the roof. It was very refreshing and hit you with a good force. I called it our ‘Kimberley Baptism’.

An hour back along the river with Jesse driving this time - he only got one log. The crew are all so friendly. We were all dry by the time we got back. 

Changed our clothes then headed up for drinks to the Sundeck for our drinks. There are a few of us that sit up there from 5pm for drinks to enjoy the fresh air.

On the move again with the outgoing tide. It is so strong we are doing 8 knots faster than the ship can go normally. I think one of these is Trafalgar Island (named by King) and the bigger one is St Andrew’s Island.

Checked out the moving map.

Lovely colours on the rocks as the sun drops.

Downstairs to the Bridge Deck for a recap by Mike about what we saw today and to hear what Jamie has install for us tomorrow.

Sunset is at 7 so I got some photos in before going in for dinner. Love all the swirling water too.

Dinner was lovely as usual though we have noticed some more people have disappeared into Covid isolation in their rooms.

Quiz night but as it was already 9.30 after dinner was finished - entree, main and dessert. We decided to have an early night since it was an earlier start.