The Central Kimberley 2 - Sharks, a changing landscape, and a difficult passage

After the beauty of the Hunter River and Palm/Winyalkan Island area, we continued on through the central Kimberley to round Cape Voltaire and reach Parry Harbour,  Cape Bougainville and Freshwater Bay, where we saw some very different landscapes and scenery.    

We sailed from Swift Bay, passing Cape Voltaire and anchored for the night in the sheltered and very picturesque Krait Bay.  We then crossed over the Admiralty Gulf to Parry Harbour, on the western side of the Bougainville Peninsula, for another night anchorage.    The following day, we rounded Cape Bougainville to Freshwater Bay, on the eastern side of the Peninsula. 

Cape Voltaire marked the beginning of the dark basalt rocks, dark soils and greener lush vegetation, which continued on the Bougainville Peninsula.  This was a change from the reddish weathered quartzite, granite and sandstone country we had seen until then. 


Freshwater Bay was S2ee's favourite spot, with a series of freshwater rock pools cascading down a creekline, where we spent several hours sitting in the cool freshwater, beyond the reach of the local crocs.   We motored the dinghy through a narrow channel in the mangroves to the rockbar, from which we could explore about 500 meters up the creek. 




Freshwater Bay was also our best encounter with some harmless tawny sharks, which we had first seen at Winyalkan Island.    The two sharks would come up to the boat at the sound of a motor, or when I splashed the water.  Being harmless, I had no concerns about putting the gopro, and my hand, in the water as they passed nearby (checking there were no crocs around first, of course!). 



We departed Freshwater Bay to cross directly to Cape Talbot, the kick off point to round Cape Londonderry, the northern tip of Western Australia.  But out trip was rather eventful.  

The shortest route was through a narrow gap between Middle Rock and Mary Island, in Vansittart Bay.   We knew the tide would not be ideal for this passage, but we needed to leave early in the day to make the 10 hour trip to Cape Talbot during daylight.  As it was neap tides, with a lower tidal range, we hoped that we would not be hit by strong head currents through the passage. 

How wrong we were.  As the channel narrow, the head currents got stronger and stronger, eventually reaching 6 knots.  We were under full motor, and at the worst point were making only 0.8 knots speed over ground before we eventually aborted and took the longer route around the north of the island chain.   I took this photo of the chart plotter shortly before we hit the worst of the current in the narrow channel.    The video shows the sea full of whirlpools and upwellings created by the current - thankfully there was little wind to stir things up further.



Cape Talbot was our last anchorage in the central Kimberley, and in the next blog I will include photos and stories of rounding Cape Londonderry, and the wonderful Glycosmis Bay and King George River in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

Love to all
Naomi and S2ee











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