Explore the wonders of Western Australia's Kimberley coast, where extraordinary marine life and dramatic tidal changes create unforgettable experiences.
We’re drifting through turquoise water, rays of sunlight creating marbled mosaics on the reef below, while overhead, a white heron forms a paper cut-out against a cerulean sky. It’s tempting to trail a hand over the edge of the Zodiac, but this is Western Australia ’s Kimberley coast, and crocs, or snappy handbags, rule. A trail of bubbles is the first sign we have company, followed by a scaly head and pair of large, unblinking eyes.
Within moments, we spot a dozen or more of these ancient reptiles.“Green sea turtles,” says expedition guide Rod Eime, as one beaked snout after another comes up for air. “Six of the world’s seven species of marine turtles are found in the Kimberley, and Montgomery Reef is one of the best places to see them.” Today is the midway point of our 10-day Kimberley Expedition: Waterfalls and Wandjinas cruise aboard Seabourn Pursuit, and every day there’s a surprise. But if there’s one constant along this convoluted coastline, it’s the 10-metre tides the Kimberley is renowned for. From our Zodiac we watch in wide-eyed wonder as the receding tide exposes the flat-topped Montgomery Reef, its coral surface rising like a freshly minted island. Unless you have a private yacht, an expedition cruise is the only way to score front-row seats to this twice daily “now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t” performance that plays out on the world’s largest inshore reef.Nudging closer we are buffeted by the draining water as hundreds of waterfalls pour down its sides, the frothy rapids taking the turtles back to the open ocean. We learn that the Yawijibaya people also used these tidal currents, plying their mangrove rafts from their home on the nearby High Cliffy Islands. A lecture by onboard marine biologist Emily Fosbery introduces us to the mystery of the Yawijibaya people, who had thrived on a small sliver of land for some 7000 years but disappeared in the 1930s without trac
Kimberley Australia Montgomery Reef Marine Turtles Tides Yawijibaya
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