We headed into the creek with enough water to make it to the rock bar where we tied up the dinghy and climbed ashore. The lower reaches of the creek are just rock, scoured by the water during the wet season.There were a few nice Kimberley Rose trees next to the watercourseFurther up you can really see how the water carves its path…The swimming hole was small, but fresh with spring water still flowing into it. It was also croc free. Very nice on a hot day.We’ve been debating whether we need a

We left Parry Harbour around 10:30am with a slight NW breeze of about 5 knots. Motor-sailed up to Hat Point, and the wind dropped off, so we ended up motor-sailing to Cape Bougainville. From there we could sail a bit, though sometimes we needed an engine. The current was mighty (up to 4 knots) and with 1 knot of wind at times, we lost steerage which is no fun at those speeds!Once around the cape, and heading SE, we could sail the rest of the way. The wind picked up a bit, and we ended up touchin

The full moon last night was stunning, and the low tide gave us some good photos.Today we left with a bit of tide against us. Balancing when the afternoon sea breeze kicks in with the counter current. The sea breeze is likely to shift onto the nose as it builds, so we wanted to make some progress before that happened. By 11am we had the current with us, and could sail, albeit at just 2 knots. The current increased and the wind went very tight on the nose, but still sailable. We had a nice sail a

The big draw here in the Osbourne Islands is Castle Rock, also known as the Apartments. Its a large series of tunnels that have been carved out of the rock by the weather and water. A great place to live back in history, and it also houses some rock art.The approach is up a drying creek, then you tie up to a sloping rock. A quick scramble and then a walk through some grasslands (very well marked with lots of cairns), and you get your first view…The channels are obvious from the start, but go v

Made good progress today. Motored up around Cape Voltaire, where the current turned with us. Caught a school mackeral on pink squid (2 for 2!) but the other lure let another fish go! It got benched…By 11am we were sailing downwind towards the Osbourne Islands, albeit slowly. The forecast was for it to build, and it did. By 3pm we were making very good progress under screecher alone.There’s lots of pearl farm activity around Middle Island, so we had to skirt around the edges of the channels t

We had a small amount of breeze this morning, so we left Wollaston Island, but within an hour it had died away so we were motoring again. We had both lines in, and pink squid delivered a nice sized trevally which was turned into a fish curry for lunch. We also had a hook up on the other lure as we went through some bird activity, but it got off. Dang.The anchorage at Murrangingi Island is in the passage between the island and the mainland. It makes it very sheltered from the swell, but we still

Having failed to find the rock art at 4 man creek, and along the escarpment, today we though we’d try another site, on the way out of the Winyalkan anchorage.With the strong SE winds no longer featuring in the forecast, we motored a few miles over to Wollaston Island and dropped the anchor. The guide said it was an easy walk after a bit of a scramble, but we’re doubting either our ability or the guides!However, this one wasn’t too bad at all! We dinghied to the beach, and then scrambled

Yesterday was pretty windy, and not conducive to long dinghy trips. Today was a bit better, so off we went on the 5nm trip to find 4 men in a canoe.The creek was pretty wide to begin with, and an easy dinghy ride. As it got narrower, we slowed and did the remaining 2nm at slow speed, looking out for crocs and rocks. We saw plenty of rocks, but fortunately no crocs.At the end of the creek, we moored the dinghy and with the details that it was just 200m along the bank we went hunting. Could we fin

Today we went for an explore in 5 man creek, named after a well known rock art picture. We needed a reasonable rise of tide, so a couple of hours before high water, we headed off in the dinghy.Usual deal, stern anchor the dinghy on an endless line out in the middle of the creek and then scramble ashore. The dinghy is then pulled out to safety whilst we explore the rocks.Its quite interesting to try and find the rock art. More people tracking than anything, as there are no sign posts. The usual d

We shared Shelter Bay with Exhale, another catamaran, last night. I’ve seen Exhale around quite a bit on the east coast last season, and we’ve also shared Deception Bay with them in the Kimberley. Not managed to meet them yet though!They left shelter bay before us and it looked quite tough sailing against the wind (judging by their AIS) which was staying determinedly east plus a strong counter-current! We left a bit earlier than planned because of that, but the wind was beautiful for us. We

Having spent the night, comfortably at anchor in a bay on the south side of Bigge Island, we thought we’d make an early start and head up the west coast. The goal was to get to Wary Bay to see some of the good rock art there.The problem was the current was not as expected, and it made it pretty slow going. The wind didn’t play ball either - so it was a very frustrating morning. That said, we arrived and anchored at Wary Bay. Another catamaran was already there and they were headed ashore. We

We left from Ivy Cove at dawn and motored out in very little wind. Slowly the wind picked up, and we were sailing under headsail alone at 2 knots. Slow and not quite enough to each Bigge Island in daylight but it was forecast to build.A short time later we had the main up and were flying along at 8knots. Then we furled the screecher and went to genoa as the wind continued to increase. Then reefed the genoa. Then reefed the main! Then the wind disappeared, but no worries - we were within 4 miles

Oops, something odd happened to the blog software - so I’ve restored the database from a few days ago. Not ideal timing when I’m on the end of what amounts to a piece of damp string (come on Elon - sort out mobile Starlink!).Hopefully normal service will be restored shortly…

Our last night in the river was spent back at Camp Creek. We met up with Matt on Kimberley Quest before lunch, then took the ebb tide down to Camp Creek where we anchored. We were soon joined by Hue Mungus (I kid you not) and it was quite noisy. I don’t suppose we can complain, its the first time in the river we’ve had to share an overnight anchorage. Its not the prettiest of ships, to my eyes.About mid-morning, the crew on Hue Mungus went out to lay what looked like a mooring, and soon enou

Just 2 cruise ships - the Kimberley Pearl and Julind. Both had relatively small groups, so it wasn’t too busy - and we had the pool to ourselves for a good while before they turned up.Both sets of tourists (and crew) were nice to chat to - they’re usually interested in where we’ve been and we’re interested in where they’ve been and what they liked, especially if they’ve been to places we’ve not yet reached.Then back to the boat for lunch, ginger beer bottling and a movie (with popc

Our dream of having it to ourselves was not to be. We were mobbed! But first, lets talk about tides. We’re using the White Island tide times, as the closest. However, the tide at Camp Creek last night was about 90 minutes later than the times for White Island. The guide says to leave about mid-tide and head up the 7nm to the falls - but if the reef part way along is more than 1m out of the water, you won’t have sufficient water to cross the shallows further up.When we passed the reef it w

Another wow…

We left Hanover inlet a couple of hours before low tide, to get the ebb out towards the pass around the top of Unwins Island, then the flood past Whirlpool Point and Strong Tide point. It worked pretty well, not a lot of tide anywhere - a bit against us getting through the top of Unwins, then neutral or slightly with down towards St George Basin. We managed to sail a lot of it which was good.We chose to anchor for the night in one of the mangrove inlets on the south side of the Marigui Promontor

A day spent in Hanover Inlet. We did laundry first off. Then it was anchor games. The morning breeze, afternoon sea breeze and tide conspire to spin us such that the sun is never fully on the solar panels, or so it seems!First, we got the engines going and moved the boat back into the wind and tide, and left it there with the engines engaged. Then into the dinghy and dropped the stern anchor. Now when the engines were off, we’d sit on that - but to help it, a quick rolling hitch and a line up

We took the falling tide to get through the narrow, unchartered section around Brecknock Harbour - and it worked well. We had some push from the tide and managed some sailing, mostly motor sailing though. The last little bit was motoring as the wind totally disappeared (well, down to 4knots from behind).Naturally this afternoon the sea breeze has kicked in, but that doesn’t help with the tide timings at the moment!There’s some creeks and the like to explore here so we may stay a day or two,