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Celebrate Australia’s long-awaited reopening
by booking this trip of a lifetime: Crooked
Compass’s six-day East Arnhem Land and
Wessel Islands trip. This archipelago off the
Northern Territory, home to tidal rivers and
estuaries, mangrove forests and, of course,
pristine ocean, is so remote it’s likely you
won’t pass another boat once you set off from
Gove, where you’ll fl y into from Darwin. Before
boarding, you’ll be introduced to the Yolngu
Aboriginal culture, including a trip to the
world-renowned Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre
of art. You’ll spend the next six days on the
boat, dipping between anchoring at white sand
beaches, hiking island gorges and oceanside
waterfalls, discovering secret lagoons and
swimming holes — and even catching your
own squid for dinner. The Wessel Islands are so
remote that night-time is as beautiful as day
— there’s incredible stargazing from the boat.
This is a truly intimate experience, run
by the Davey family. Their eight-berth boat,
Wildcard, may not be as well equipped as a
purpose-built expedition ship, but that’s kind
of the point of this area — it’s absolutely back
to basics, for a really intense interaction
with nature.
Crooked Compass offers six days from £5,570
per person, including three meals a day,
beer, wine and soft drinks, all listed activities,
homelands entry permits and fees, and laundry.
Airfares and gratuities are excluded. Departs
10, 16 March 2 023.crooked-compass.com
Clockwise from top left: View from
above of rocks in the sea, Indonesia;
Kayaking and paddleboarding
beneath the Wessel Islands’ remote
waterfalls; Ombak Putih
SUNSHINE
BEST FOR
Adventure cruising for me is
about leaving the humdrum rat
race behind and journeying to
the more remote islands and
archipelagos on the west coast
of Scotland. There’s definitely
a daily routine that helps life
aboard run smoothly. One never
knows quite what you may see
or what weather we might have
— the key is to make the best of
the unpredictability and of the
wildlife. Once, travelling back
to Oban from the Outer Isles,
we were literally surrounded by
minke whales, basking sharks,
Atlantic white-sided dolphins,
Risso’s dolphins and bottlenose
dolphins. So much so that I was
having to constantly slow and
manoeuvre the ship in order to
avoid all the cetaceans. There
was also a massive amount of
bird life.
CharlesMcLeish:
skipper, Hjalmar
Bjorge, Northern Light
Cruising Company
CRUISE
JUL/AUG 2022 163
