Seabourn Pursuit - Kimberley Expedition: Waterfalls & Wandjinas

Where this cruise calls, day by day

10 ports and 1 sea day over 10 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Darwin

   AustraliaDepart

   Darwin is the closest Australian capital to Asia and feels it - a small, hot, rebuilt city that has been flattened twice, by Japanese bombing in 1942 and by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Both stories are told well here. Ships use Fort Hill Wharf just below the CBD, and the walk up the escarpment into town is short but steep in the heat.

   • Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory - the Cyclone Tracy room and Sweetheart the crocodile
   • Mindil Beach Sunset Market, dry-season Thursdays and Sundays
   • WWII oil storage tunnels under the waterfront
   • Litchfield National Park waterfalls, about 90 minutes out

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Fort Hill Wharf, though some calls get the commercial port instead; the CBD sits on the cliff above and there is a public lift up the escarpment, which makes it about 15 minutes on foot - the Waterfront Precinct is immediately alongside.

   Best months

   May-Sep (dry season)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   King George River, WA

   AustraliaPort

   The ship anchors in Koolama Bay on the Timor Sea and Zodiacs run roughly twelve kilometres up a gorge of sheer red sandstone to the twin King George Falls. Whether they are a roaring double curtain or two dark stains on the rock depends entirely on how long ago the wet season ended - the flow tails off badly by late in the season. When it is running, the drivers nose the Zodiac in under the water.

   • Zodiac run up the gorge to the base of the twin King George Falls
   • Taking the Zodiac under the cascade for a freshwater shower, flow permitting
   • The layered sandstone gorge walls, which close in on both sides
   • Ospreys, rock wallabies and crocodiles along the transit

   Getting ashore

   No landing - the ship anchors in Koolama Bay at the river mouth and the whole visit is a Zodiac run up the gorge and back.

   Best months

   Apr-May for the strongest falls; Jun-Aug for calmer seas and less water

4. Day 4

   Vansittart Bay, WA

   AustraliaPort

   Vansittart Bay holds two very different Kimberley attractions within a short Zodiac ride of each other. On the salt flats of the Anjo Peninsula lies the wreck of a WWII C-53 transport that crash-landed in 1942, still largely intact and lying in the open. Nearby, Jar Island has sandstone shelters containing Gwion Gwion rock art, among the oldest figurative painting anywhere.

   • The C-53 Skytrooper wreck, force-landed on the salt pan in February 1942 with everyone aboard rescued
   • Gwion Gwion rock art shelters on Jar Island (Ngula), named for the earthenware jars left by Makassan trepang fishers
   • Zodiac cruising among the bay's islands and mangrove edges
   • Enormous tidal flats and the birdlife they attract

   Getting ashore

   No wharf - the ship anchors and Zodiacs make beach landings, one for the aircraft wreck and one for the rock art.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

5. Day 5

   Ashmore Reef

   AustraliaPort

   Ashmore Reef is an Australian marine reserve in the Timor Sea, far closer to Indonesia than to the Australian mainland - a submerged platform with a few low sand cays on it. Only expedition ships repositioning between the Kimberley and Indonesia come here. Access is tightly controlled and landings are restricted, so the visit is normally Zodiac cruising and snorkelling rather than time ashore.

   • Zodiac cruising over the reef flats and lagoon
   • Snorkelling among the sea snakes, for which the reef is unusually well known
   • Seabird colonies and green turtles around the sand cays

   Getting ashore

   No wharf and no settlement; access is by Zodiac from the ship under a permit, and landings on the cays are restricted.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (dry season, when Kimberley expedition ships operate)

6. Day 6

   Hunter River, WA

   AustraliaPort

   The Hunter River is an anchorage rather than a place - the ship parks off Naturalist Island on the north Kimberley coast and everyone gets into Zodiacs. The run up Porosus Creek, named after the saltwater crocodile, takes you deep into mangroves where the crocs sit out on the banks, and the guides explain at some length why nobody trails a hand in the water. Naturalist Island is also where the helicopters land.

   • Zodiac cruise up Porosus Creek through the mangroves for saltwater crocodiles
   • Helicopter flight from Naturalist Island to Mitchell Falls (Punamii-Uunpuu)
   • Mangrove birdlife - kingfishers, egrets and white-bellied sea eagles
   • Red sandstone escarpment behind the river, and mudflats exposed by the huge tides

   Getting ashore

   No dock - the ship anchors offshore and everything runs by Zodiac, timed to the tide, with helicopters lifting from Naturalist Island for the Mitchell Falls option.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

7. Day 7

   Swift Bay, WA

   AustraliaPort

   Swift Bay is an anchorage among sandstone islands on the Kimberley coast, and the reason ships stop is the rock art. Overhangs a short Zodiac ride and a scramble from the beach hold both Gwion Gwion figures - fine, elongated human forms of great antiquity - and the later, large-eyed Wandjina figures. Getting up to the galleries involves uneven rock, so footwear matters.

   • Gwion Gwion (Bradshaw) rock art galleries in the sandstone overhangs
   • Wandjina figures at the same site complex
   • Zodiac cruising among the sandstone islands and tidal channels
   • Sea eagles and the vast tidal range on the mudflats

   Getting ashore

   No wharf - the ship anchors and Zodiacs run to a beach landing, followed by a short but rocky walk up to the art sites.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

8. Day 8

   Montgomery Reef & Freshwater Cove, WA

   AustraliaPort

   Montgomery Reef is the strangest thing on the Kimberley coast: a 400 square kilometre inshore reef that appears to rise bodily out of the sea as a ten-metre tide drains off it, water sheeting over its edges in cascades metres high. Zodiacs run into the main channel to watch, which means the hour of your excursion is set by the ebb, not by the ship. Freshwater Cove nearby is the companion landing, guided by Worrorra traditional owners.

   • Zodiac into Montgomery Reef's main channel as the tide falls and the reef emerges
   • Turtles, rays and reef sharks washed off the reef flats by the draining water
   • Welcome to Country and ochre marking with Worrorra guides at Freshwater Cove
   • The steep walk up to Cyclone Cave and its Wandjina rock art

   Getting ashore

   No wharf anywhere here - Montgomery Reef is a Zodiac cruise timed to the falling tide, and Freshwater Cove is a beach landing by Zodiac.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

9. Day 9

   Talbot Bay (Horizontal Falls), WA

   AustraliaPort

   The Horizontal Falls are not falls - they are two gaps in the McLarty Range, roughly twenty metres and ten metres wide, through which a ten-metre tide tries to push more water than they can pass. The result is a four-metre step in sea level and a sideways cascade that reverses twice a day. Note that at the traditional owners' request, boat transits through the gaps are being ended, so expect to watch from the entrance rather than ride through.

   • Watching the tidal race build and then reverse at the two gaps
   • Zodiac cruise into Cyclone Creek, through spectacularly folded ancient sandstone
   • Seaplane or helicopter flight over the gaps and Talbot Bay
   • Sharks and rays gathering in the churn below the falls

   Getting ashore

   No landing - the ship anchors in Talbot Bay and everything is done by Zodiac or small boat, scheduled around the tide; spring tides near the new or full moon are far more dramatic than neaps.

   Best months

   Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

10. Day 10

    Lacepede Islands, WA

    AustraliaPort

    The Lacepedes are four treeless sand and coral-rubble cays - West, Middle, Sandy and East - strung along a reef platform about 120km north of Broome. They hold Western Australia's most important green turtle rookery and a brown booby colony that may be the largest in the world. Landings are banned outright, so the entire visit happens from a Zodiac a few metres off the beach.

    • Zodiac cruise past the brown booby colony, which runs to thousands of breeding pairs
    • Green turtles surfacing right beside the boats
    • Roseate terns, frigatebirds and pelicans nesting on the cays
    • Manta rays, dolphins and saltwater crocodiles in the surrounding channels

    Getting ashore

    No landing permitted - the islands are a protected nature reserve and the visit is a Zodiac cruise from the anchored ship.

    Best months

    Apr-Sep (Kimberley dry season)

11. Day 11

    Broome, WA

    AustraliaArrive

    Broome is a pearling town on the Kimberley coast where the tidal range runs to around ten metres, which dictates everything about a ship call - including when tenders can run. Its history is Japanese, Malay, Chinese and Aboriginal as much as European, from the pearl-diving fleets. Cable Beach is 22km of sand facing straight into the Indian Ocean sunset.

    • Camel ride along Cable Beach at sunset
    • Gantheaume Point dinosaur footprints, visible only at very low tide
    • Chinatown and Sun Pictures, the world's oldest operating outdoor cinema
    • Willie Creek Pearl Farm tour

    Getting ashore

    Normally docked alongside at the Port of Broome jetty, with oversized ships occasionally anchoring and tendering instead; the wharf is an industrial port 6-7km from town and is not walkable, so take the shuttle to the Visitor Centre near Chinatown, about 10 minutes.

    Best months

    May-Sep (dry season)