After a quick cup of coffee, we get on the zodiacs and start our trip around to an area called Cyclone Bay. The rock formations are all around – and the tide marks on the rocks show that we are around three metres from the high tide. The tides in this area are about the third biggest in the world – around ten metres. After travelling half an hour or so in beautiful calm waters, we get up close to the sheer face of the rocks, around 50 metres straight up. About twenty metres up, in a little cave overhang in the rocks, we find a rock wallaby. We are really lucky to see one at this time of day, as they are nocturnal creatures. They are medium sized animals, and live in the rocks in the shelter that the caves in the rocks provide, usually only coming out into the surrounding terrain at night to feed. They live in colonies, and are very territorial. They don’t usually travel any further than two kilometres from the caves that they have deemed their home. After posing for pictures for a good ten minutes – plenty of time to get one in focus, but it seems that my camera was more intent in getting the rocks to the side of it more in focus than the wallaby. One of the shots has a very clear nose though! Then we see two more – result! They are scampering up the sheer face of the rocks – well perhaps if I looked more closely it wouldn’t be a sheer face. I am sure there is something for their feet to cling on to!
We then travel around the bay, and in and out of little inlets that are perfectly calm, and then parts where the tide is coming in and the water is swirling around, causing vortexes in the water. I imagined the Pirates of the Caribbean film where the Black Pearl was swirled around and taken under in a large vortex – but it didn’t happen! “This is good crocodile country” says Max – the marine biologist that is driving our zodiac. They normally come out of the water and lay on the muddy banks at low tide to warm their bodies up in the sun. Nothing! No crocodiles sunning themselves today. We hear Harry (another Marine Biologist driving one of the other zodiacs) come over the radio saying nothing here today. Just after we heard that, Paul spots a croc swimming in the water on the right hand side. I actually manage to get a couple of good shots of it! It’s eyes came out of the water first, then it’s whole head, they the first part of its body, and then another part. It could only have been around twenty metres from the zodiac. It was probably about four to five metres long – I don’t think his whole tail came out of the water. Max got on the radio, and the other boats came zooming up. Mr Croc obviously wasn’t happy at being the centre of attention, as he went under the water and wasn’t seen again. “Yeah, yeah” says Harry “Sure you saw a crocodile!”. Yes we did, and I have the pictures to prove it!
We then made our way to the part of Talbot Bay that is the site of the Horizontal Waterfalls. The effect of the waterfalls is created by the rapid tidal fall on the ocean side of gaps in the sandstone cliffs. Waters on the inland side of the gaps cannot escape fast enough, and so a “horizontal waterfall” is created by the cascades, with water levels differing by a several metres on either side of the gaps. It flows both ways, depending on whether the tide is going in or out. The gaps have been made over millions of years by geological movement, with the rocks turned vertical and then the once layers of softer siltstone eroded away leaving gaps in the harder layers of rock. The main gap is about fourteen metres wide, and as the tide is coming in the water is pushed faster and faster through the gap, and the white foam of the water is more and more. We cannot go through the gap on the zodiacs, as the water is so fast that the engine would not be strong enough to get us back out again at this point in the tide. There is another gap further on beyond this one, but we are only able to see it from a distance from here.
There is a fast boat that takes passengers that does go through the gap at high speeds – we could have gone on this later this afternoon, but we weren’t quick enough to sign up for it so it was already full. We saw it with other passengers on go through several times, so I think that was good enough and it saved us $75 each! That is what I am telling myself anyway. There have been several sea planes land whilst we have been on the bay. These bring tourists from as far as Broome to go on to the fast boat. Apparently, a couple of young brothers live on a houseboat in the bay who own the two fast boats, and do trips several times a day for six months of the year – during the winter months as we are in now. During the summer it is too hot, humid and wet. We also see their pontoon which has a hammock and a sofa and not much else. Very peaceful place to live – no neighbours to complain about the noise!
We get back to Orion at around 9.30am – just in time for breakfast. What an exhilarating morning. Now it is time for relaxation after that early morning start. Too much relaxation – I fell asleep and missed lunch! Not too bothered though – I can do with missing a few meals. The announcement that there was to be a lecture in the Cosmos Theatre by Mick Fogg, the expedition leader, on the Kimberley Region woke me up – glad it did too! It was really interesting – slightly above my intellectual level. Far above it in fact. But absolutely fascinating. I hope I can remember all of it when I come home. We also found out that if we had been on Mick’s boat, we would have seen him arm wrestle a snake out of the water. Mick Fogg – no, it must be Mick Dundee!
Afternoon tea is then served – and very welcome it is too for those of us that missed lunch! Brie and grape sandwiches – delicious. Who would have thought of putting those two together? After a quick shower, the sail away was at 5pm – and there was a fantastic sunset at the front end of the ship, whilst the full moon was rising at the back of the ship. Wow – what photo opportunities!
There was then a lecture in the Cosmos Theatre by Harry on the Wandjina Rock Art called “Spirits in the Clouds”. This was all about the Aboriginal People in this part of the country, and what it means to them. It was really interesting, and gave us an insight into what we are going to see tomorrow.
There then was an announcement over the tannoy that the moon was in partial eclipse – so I had to grab the camera and go and take a few hundred more photos (that is an exaggeration, but not much!).
We then went into the Leda Lounge for a recap on what we had all seen today, and yesterday, and they showed photos of all the wildlife that we had seen, (or not!) along with photos of the whole day in one way or another. My crocodile photograph was displayed – Max had came and asked if he could have it on a memory stick, but I didn’t know what for. It was announced that this crocodile has been christened Bridget – don’t know what to think of that!
We then had a seafood barbeque on the deck outside. All the tables were laid, and the array of seafood was phenomenal! Prawns the size of a small lobster, snapper, trout, clams, Moreton Bay Bugs (lobster to you and me) crab, oysters, mussels and much more. And so tasty – everything was from the sea and not specifically farmed – and boy could you taste the difference. The weather was so warm as well – a lovely evening to sit outside. All the staff had their Caribbean shirts on – it was a really lovely evening. We found out that there was another couple of “foreigners” on the ship as well – from New Zealand. That makes six of us that are not Australian! There was a huge shooting star that went right across the back of the ship. “No it isn’t” said Paul. That was far too close to earth, and not a bit like a shooting star. The Captain is Irish, so I think he was having a bit of a game with everyone sitting on the back of the boat eating dinner. It still got some people fooled though! Me included if Paul hadn’t put me right.
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