20/8/21 Discovery One Cruise Day 13 Last Day !!

 

Awake early for our last day , we’re not happy that it’s nearly over ! Up to the viewing deck for sunrise , first thing we spot is a crab swimming past the boat . We have seen them on other occasions , but weren’t sure what they were - someone else thought they were little turtles - but now we have the proof . Sharks and other fish don’t seem interested in them , just coming up and bumping them then leaving them alone .

  The sun was just coming over the ridge and bathing the other ridge in orange .

 Old mate was still hanging around .

  On the other side of the boat , Naturaliste Island also starting to catch the sun .

  Time to travel round to the other side of the island for pick up , this is our departure beach .

  We had about till 10am , then the announcement we were dreading - first passengers to the tender to transfer to the island - we we’re up first with Andy and Kathy . It was a happy and sad few minutes saying our goodbyes , a bit of eye leakage and then into the tender and over to the beach .

  We chatted with Mitch and before long our ride arrived , peppering us with sand & shell grit as it landed . Memories of helicopter line patrol from work days came flooding back as we got organised and loaded into the chopper . Andy & Kathy made a deal with me - I got the front seat as long as they got the photo’s - deal done !!

 4 passengers out & 4 in and we were off , time to fly . The views didn’t disappoint .

 We flew up the Hunter River , is was pretty hazy but still awesome to see from above .

 We flew away from the river a bit to another gorge , this is Devon Falls - there’s a slight spray of water there , but would be sensational in the wet season .

 We started flying over the plateau , this place is so rugged !

Before we knew it , we were over the top of Mitchell Falls .

  Here’s the three falls and two plunge pools in between . This is a sacred area to the aboriginals .

 During the wet , the water would be flowing both sides of the falls with the volume of water they get , you can see one of them - the green pool , the other is the gorge on the left of photo .

 Then we arrived at the airstrip and the arrival & departure lounge .

  Other passengers were waiting for their flight down to the boat , while we waited for our departure .

 Our plane was already there , we just had to wait for a few more people and we could go . That is where the problems had started , instead of bringing all the people for Derby first , the helicopter people mixed the passenger lists up . Andy & Kathy had to wait in the flow through ventilation till 2pm !! for their flight to Broome while we took off at 11:30am to head for Derby with 6 on board - there should have been 10 of us . The other 4  arrived back at Derby at 4:30pm and all the Broome people would have got there about 5pm .

  Anyway problems aside , we were about to get some aerial views of where we had been sailing for the last 12 days . Here’s Mitchell Falls from higher above .

 Then Naturaliste Island .

 Some of the creeks , rivers & mangroves .

 Our last look at Naturaliste Island , and the Hunter River sentinels guarding the river .

 Here’s the Prince Regent River and an offshoot showing the tidal flows and mangroves .

 Love the patterns of the rivers & mud flats & mangroves .

 Then there was Red Cone Hill and the entry to Ruby Falls - a few cruise boats were in the river as well .

 Plenty of water flowing here .

 You can see the outlines of Montgomery Reef and the channel we looked at centre right of the photo .

 Raft Point & Steep Island .

 Very shortly after , we were over Horizontal Falls for a few figure 8’s above it . The first photo shows the gaps between the ridges where the water has to force it’s way in & out .

 It wasn’t too much longer and we were flying over King Sound and approaching Derby . We think it looks better from above than on the ground .

 Then we landed at Derby , our best adventure was over and it was back to normality .

We hope you’ve enjoyed the cruise as much as we did , here’s some information .

 Discovery One Kimberley Cruise 12

 29 excursions off the boat 

 6 swims in the ocean

 3 swims in freshwater 

 Over 540 nautical miles of cruising 

 1 helicopter flight and 1 plane flight 

 Lot’s of wildlife both in & out of the water 

 Rockart 

 Lot’s of the most awesome scenery you could only imagine 

 Many new friendships made 

And finally the track log of our cruise - it’s a bit hard to make out the sections where we cruised around like we were lost , but you saw them on the earlier photo’s .