10/8/21 Discovery One Cruise Day 3

 

Another night in paradise , up before the birds again just to see the sunrise and start it’s daily journey . The islands soaked in the sun and glowed for us .

 Today we are off to Crocodile Creek , and we cruise past Cockatoo Island - apparently one of the richest veins of iron ore ??? - yes I hear you , there are several mines on different islands up here . Definitely not what we expected !! 

  The tide marks on  the rocks vary quite a lot , there's high tide and low tide twice every 24 hours up here . The dark mark is the usual height of the tide , the whiter marks are from the spring tide .

The cliffs are getting more colour now as well as having more waves & folds in the rock .

      Not expecting to see this up here .

     We arrived at Crocodile Creek , not quite knowing what to expect , but here’s the entrance .

Cruising up the creek in the tenders , we find a ladder attached to the rocks - attached by some of the miners that spent their spare time over here in the creek . A small waterfall was beside the steps .

We were greeted by another waterfall & a plunge pool .

The track around took us to another safe pool up above , it was a bit of a climb over very rough rocks . We got to swim in this one .

        Lyn had a sit in this one near the ladder .

After the swim we visited the hole in the rock , big enough to take the tenders into .

Next was Nairn Point where we anchored up for lunch , more rolls & folds here .

Another scenic round the point to see a big roll in the rock that went as far as we could see .

 We then had a swim at a little beach , complete with some caves , one went back about 40m into the rocks .

Next spot after a short cruise was Silver Gull Creek . One of the mine workers decided to set up a camp / home here , and , after all the required permissions , he built his little house tucked away in the creek . There was a spring nearby that flows year round , he ended up building a pool around it so people visiting could cool down in safety .

The bird life was amazing , after hearing none , all of a sudden we were hearing plenty in the trees beside the house .  A cruise further down the creek revealed a landscape so rugged .

Back to the boat and a cruise across to Cockatoo Island to reveal the loading facilities for the iron ore - the mine right beside the water - but 160 ft below water level !!

Another leasurely cruise across the bay to Myndi Bay - our anchorage for the night . Neighbours !! - they mustn’t have got the email we were coming , we’ll just have to share with these two small boats haha .

And we have to put up with this view .

As the sun went down , the colour changed .

     Here's our track log for today .

And there’s another splendid Kimberley day .

9/8/21 Discovery One Cruise Day 2

 

  Well here we are day 2 - up with the birds - Hell No - we were up before them !! I know it’s hard to believe , we’re never up early !! Here’s the proof .

  The sun was reflecting on the rockfaces and glowing orange . Breakfast done , we’re on our way to Edeline Island , where we will see some old graves - pearl divers who didn’t make it home . Here's a map of our where we've gone 

  We arrived and anchored in a beautiful bay and jumped into the tenders again for a trip to firm ground , well shell grit and sand mainly . The rock formations are quite different , the wind & rain have sculpted some amazing shapes .

        Some even look like cast concrete .

This is from the other side - notice the Osprey nest on top .

  The graves are very simple , with slabs of rock to mark out the grave and as a rough headstone .

Wandering down to the beach , we find a section of beautiful untouched sand with a section of rock slicing it in half .

There were a couple of birds sitting on the rocks near the tenders , they were Kingfisher’s .

 Back to the boat and a cruise toward Silica Beach - our next stop for a swim , after we’d had some lunch . Another small cruise boat went past and off on a different track to us , there are one or two of them up here .

 Arriving at Silica Beach was an eye opener - a small stretch of brilliant white sand , with a orange rock outcrop just behind the beach . 

 Time for a swim between the tenders , we have been instructed to just slide into the water and not make too many waves etc , don’t want to alert the local mobile handbags !! The sand is very fine and just sinks below your feet , making walking a task in itself , but the end result was beautiful clear water at a very comfortable temperature .

Without sunglasses the sand is painfully bright burning the retina’s of your eye’s .

 Back to cruise mode again , and a lovely cruise out to Hidden Island and Mundurral Bay , where will anchor up for the night . No sooner we’d arrived there , we were out in the tenders again for a scenic run around to check out the rocks & whatever we could find  .

  Apologies for photo’s of rocks & water , but that’s what we’re seeing , and it’s spectacular .

There are plenty of Kimberley Rose’s , and they are currently out in flower .

Check out this little fella , about 3m long , so not a big one .

Plenty more rock formations to keep us amused , even the heart of the Kimberley .

And that’s today done , relaxing with a beer & some nibbles up on top deck , Loving this trip !!!

8/8/21 Our Kimberley Adventure - cruising with Discovery One

 

  We're back , no service for a few weeks due to this adventure - we are sailing along the Kimberley Coast from Derby and finishing with a helicopter flight over Mitchell Falls , then a flight back to Derby . Let the fun begin !!!

 Excitement & anticipation gripped us this morning , today was the day - the start of another great adventure - our cruise along the Kimberley Coast !! This is something we’ve wanted to do since we first came over to WA , and it’s due to someones misfortune ( Covid lockdowns ) that we managed to get a spot on this cruise - there are 6 other couples that got the same deal as us .

   We waited for our pickup at Derby , then the ride out to the boat ramp , our luggage got to go before us in the first run . We met all of the others that are doing the trip as well . We got the 2nd tender load of people and were on our home for the next 12 nights in no time .

  Settled in to our cabins , we headed up on deck to check out the view . The murky waters of King Sound near Derby soon started to clear up and looked much nicer . We got to know some of our fellow travellers during the afternoon .

A lot of our time will be spent on the viewing deck , there’s even a Spa Pool that gets filled each afternoon fresh from the ocean , and emptied next morning .

   Our destination for the night was Lachlan Island , there are lots of islands here in the Buccaneer Archipelago . The islands are very rocky and low , the tide marks showing on the rock line . Everyone was chatty and getting sorted out , enjoying the fact we were actually escaping the rest of the world for a few weeks - no phones and no internet - or so we thought .

 Not long and we were having our lunch out on the back deck , smorgasboard style . We then sat and watched the world drift by untill sunset and another meal - seems to be the way the cruise is working out - sleep eat , watch , eat , watch & look some more , oh yeah , then eat again , drink and eat some more !! 

    Our boat " Discovery One " spent it's early days cruising Sydney Harbour doing Matilda Dinner Cruises , before a stint at Hervey Bay doing whale watching with Mimi Macpherson , before becoming a Kimberley Cruise boat . Our skipper Lennie has been on this boat for the last 17 years and knows a lot about this area , two girls , Melissa & Sarah were our regular hosts , Tracey is the cook and Mitch looked after the tenders and outside of the boat ,and Adjat is the engineer . 

    Sunset was spectacular as well .

Windows were cleaned regularly , usually twice a day , sometimes 3 !!

    First day of lots of photos , one of our shipboard friends took this photo of us .

  We left everyone to have a shower & so I could download the photos from the day . Stay tuned for Day 2 , maps will be attached as well .