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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE The boat nudges up to the cliff face for the obligatory photo; This northen bluefin tuna
made fine sashimi; Anchored off the vast Montgomery Reef.
The generator generally only runs when the
boat is underway so that evening anchorages are
quiet and peaceful.
There's a large air-conditioned galley along
with a deck-side barbecue, while sleeping is on
the top deck under cover, basically on single or
double beds in a comfortable swag.
While there is plenty of room, it pays to know
your travelling companions as there is little
privacy.
The beds are rolled up each morning and the
area used for sitting around when the boat is
cruising or you are relaxing at night.
Although not everyone's cup of tea, the setup
works very well in my opinion – the balmy
evenings of the Kimberley coast adding to the
allure of going to sleep on a calm sea with a
myriad of stars above.
For creek explorations and shore landings there
are two 3.8-metre tinnies with 30 horsepower
outboards, which are more than ample for the
short runs they are called on to do.
When cruising normally, they are generally
towed behind the mothership but for higher
speed runs they are brought back up on deck.
Trips on the Kimberley Xplorer vary from six to
15 days and while the boat sleeps 12 guests, on
longer forays such as we were enjoying, it only
takes eight along with three or four crew.HORIZONTAL FALLS
Our charter started in the Kimberley Xplorer's
home port of Derby, that lies deep within
King Sound.
With the aforementioned huge tides the
region is subjected to, everything revolves
around the ebb and flow of the sea, including
departure times, disembarkation schedules and
everything in-between.
Once we were on the way, the muddy waters
of King Sound soon gave way to blue seas as we
passed Diamond Head and nudged around intoCone Bay, the site of one of the few saltwater
Barramundi pen fisheries in Australia.
That evening we anchored off a series of
dragon-back like islands known locally as the
Razor Islands and dropped a few lines over to see
what we could catch for a feed.
Within a half hour we had more than enough
for dinner.
Next morning saw us cruise through the
narrow twisted waterway of Whirlpool Passage
before passing the 'Iron Islands' of Cockatoo and
Koolan, the latter still humming to the sound of
gigantic ore trucks crawling along the massive
man-made inclines of the mine, which now
requires a sea wall metres high to keep the water
from flooding the workings.
East of Koolan Island is probably the best known
tourist attraction in the Kimberley, the famous
Horizontal Waterfalls, and numerous tour operators
run excursions to these remote impressive tidal
streams from either Broome or Derby.Travel Planner
There are more than 20 boats cruising the
Kimberley coast, from small and basic, to large
floating palaces that will likely get you to shore
only once or twice during your cruise.
For more information about the Kimberley Xplorer
and the cruises Greg runs, check out One Tide
Charters.
If you want waterfalls, try scheduling your trip
just after the wet.
If you want to see whales, aim for September.
And if you want to chase Barra, try later in
the year.
ONE TIDE CHARTERS
W http://www.kimberleycruise.com.au