Today started off with a “Zodiac” circuit of a rocky island which is a breeding ground for gannets and terns.  As with many of the islands here, the rock formations are exciting in themselves, probably eroded into these shapes over many thousands of years.

This particular formation looks as though it surely cannot last much longer before its collapse.  “Not longer”, but is that measured in years, centuries or millenia?

We then headed north, and came across a pod of whales enjoying themselves at the surface of the sea.

Yes, I accept, the above left is not a whale.  It’s a fish called a “Long Tom” skittering over the surface of the water.

Another good day.  It started off with our crew having to rescue another boat which was leaking water and slowly sinking.

All against a beautiful backdrop, of course.

After the crew had successfully rescued the other boat, we went for a scenic cruise around “Steep Island”, which as you can see, is very steep!

A highlight was the nearby rocky island with some extraordinary rock formations, complete with sea-eagles nests.

After this, we motored/sailed up the coast to Hall Point, where we had a swim, and then travelled up to Samson’s Inlet, where we anchored for the night.

An excellent day. 

First was Montgomery Reef: around Montgomery Island, it is a large area of reef which is covered at high tide, and when the tide falls it takes some time for all the water to drain off the reef, creating fast-flowing currents. 

This attracts birds, turtles and other wildlife.

Later, we traveled over to Doubtful Bay, and after lunch we went to Ruby Falls, after a long “Zodiac” journey through the mangroves, complete with crocodiles.

Ruby Falls were excellent, as was the swim in the pool at the top of the Falls.

Who discovered this beautiful spot I cannot know, but it’s a real attraction.  No other parties of people.

Talbot Bay and the Horizontal Falls:  spectacular day.  To appreciate this entry one has to understand the geography; two parallel long hills, water on either side of both upland areas,, (the sea on one side) and small gaps in the linear hills.  Rather like and “H” with two uprights and small horizonal connections.  The tide rises, water pours through one gap and then the other gap as the lakes fill. One after the other.  Apparently David Attenborough declared this the eighth “natural wonder of the world”. 

There are people who fly in by seaplane from Broome, get into boats at the floating reception area and then do what we did – go through the outer gap, then fly out again.

Anyway, the transit thorough whilst the tide is running is quite dramatic.

This is our approach to the wider (outer) gap.  The  tide was flowing out (against us)

This is the narrower gap, through which no-one now goes.

… more like rapids than falls, but hey, who’s quibbling?

Here is the inland bay

After lunch we went up Cyclone Creek (where you take your boat to shelter from a cyclone?)

More spectacular rock formations

… and I saw my first wild saltwater crocodile!

As I type this we are travelling through an extraordinary landscape: a series of approximately parallel long hills with water in-between.  There are breaks in the linear hills, through which we sail to progress north through the range of flooded mountains. 

The water is without waves, in marked contrast to the sea this morning: out departure from the overnight mooring had to be delayed by several hours because the wind was too strong, and had created very rough conditions.

When we did get started, our first stop was at Crocodile Creek; a beautiful spot where there were two freshwater pools separated by waterfalls from each other and the sea.  We climbed up to the second pool and swam there.  Although initially cold, once we had been swimming for a few minutes the temperature felt lovely. In keeping with the name, at the lower pool we had to keep a good lookout for crocodiles, as it was only a metre or two above sea- level and only about ten meters from the creek.  We were discouraged from swimming in the lower pool …

We sailed/motored on, past Koolan Island, which is one of the few modern infrastructure sites that we will see on this trip: a huge iron-ore mine which has largely consumed one of the islands here.  Despite the remote nature of the site it is worthwhile because the ore is such a high percentage of iron – the second richest iron ore in the world, we were told.

We are now travelling on to Talbot Bay, where are found the “Horizontal Falls”.  These are small gaps between the linear hills, with water on both sides.  The tidal range is so large (it can be over 12 metres from low to high water), that the tides create tidal races through the gaps. 

Finally, once moored, we were visited by sharks.

We woke to find ourselves in a lovely bay.

The rocks rising up enough to show out of the water have several lines on them.  The lowest is commonly covered by the tides, the next level is not covered by water often enough to have algae growing (I think)  is white from the salt (Sue’s theory) and the layer above that is a red colour from the natural rock.

In the morning we visited Edeline Island, where there were several rather sad graves, probably from unlucky pearl fishermen, and also some fantastic natural sculptures, formed by the wind and sand erosion I presume .

We then travelled on to Silica Beach, a beautiful bright pure-white sand beach, to go swimming.

After that, a longish journey on the boat to Myridi Bay, a sheltered spot to anchor, in amongst some very impressive rock formations.

Our first day of the boat trip.  To start with, though, we had a long drive from Broome to Derby.  Derby is a tiny town on the King Sound – a large bay up which we would travel later. 

There are many boab trees in and around Derby.

Properly called “Boabab” trees, they start off small, like this:

… but grow into this shape, with huge trunks but weirdly normal branches on top.

Anyway, there are lots of them in Derby.  Derby was probably a key port for the surrounding cattle stations to export their beef, and so has a very imprssive pier, now lying largely disused.  There was also a derelict railway station, which I will haver to find out more about once we have internet connection again.

The remainder of the day was spent on board “Discovery One”, our home for the next twelve days.  Travelling up King Sound to Cascade Bay, where we arrived after dark.  No pictures, therefore.

Today was a quiet day prior to starting our proper trip tomorrow: we start tomorrow with an early (8am) coach ride over to Derby.

We did some kayaking this afternoon though.

Very stable sea-going kayaks, basically a trip around Gantheaume Point, seeing some extraordinary rock formations.

We had seen these rocks on our first day from the land; seeing them from the sea was even more impressive.

The tour was promoted as a way of seeing sharks, rays and turtles, but this part was a little disappointing, although we did se  one turtle (to be accurate, though, we only saw its head as it popped up to breathe).  We did see an osprey seeding though, and were treated to a magnificent sunset.

Today started off with a visit to Broome Museum: an interesting collection showing amongst other things the appalling dangers faced by early divers, with the all-over diving suits with huge brass helmets.  Also the terrible history of the diving masters “black-birding” aboriginal divers – forcing them into slave labour diving for pearls, actually mostly for the pearl-shells, from which to make buttons, etc (Mother-of-pearl).

Then we set off on a boat tour to see the dinosaur footprints.  The trip started in an area with more fascinating rock formations.

And lovely coloured sand-cliffs.  There are also patches of mangrove trees.

Actually the dinosaur footprints were a little underwhelming, in my view.

Most of them appeared to me to be patches of discoid compressed rock (which is, of corse exactly what they are.

The mud was compressed by these huge creatures (the footprints come from a brontesaurus-type reptile, about 30m long and 12m high), and so resisted erosion enough eventually to be made into ovoid rock patches.

.

This picture shows a footprint with much of the surrounding rock eroded away.

To me it was a tribute the the people who worked this all out.

We were shown other footprints which were less elephant-like, and more like the prints left by a huge bird.

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This is the print of large carnivorous dinosaur, apparently.

Actually the boat tour was really good, as we learned all about the Roebuck Bay ecosystem and much about the way that this important area has been changed into a marine reserve and National Park.  There are lots of wading birds, kites, ospreys, ducks, geese and others.

Today was another day in Broome.  We had an introductory tour, but the main impression from today was going for a camel ride at Cable Beach.  For some reason this pristine beach is a focus for 4WD “enthusiasts”, who drive in large numbers around some rock to then spend hours in deckchairs on the sand next to their vehicles. 

An otherwise lovely beach looks like this:

Despite that, the camel ride was excellent.

… and the sunset beautiful