Cruising the Kimberley – Osborne, Prudhoe and Bigge Islands

I was a little unsure about the tidal streams and currents we were going to encounter rounding Cape Bougainville on our way to the Osborne Islands. The wind was off and on, fluctuating from 1 to 10 knots, making for a frustrating sail as we put sails up and down and the engine on and off. And although the water was a bit choppy and swelly around the Cape, even in 50 metres of depth, we made good progress. Then the winds gods decided to play nice and we had a steady 15 knots of breeze to fill our sails.

Deciding to pass a possible anchorage in Parry Harbour, we continued on to the Osborne Islands, motor sailing to gain time and it was just approaching sunset as we anchored at the north of Middle Osborne Island. Pretty much straight away the resident croc came out to greet us. We named him Kevin and he hung around the boat for a while.

The following morning we set off to negotiate our way south through the pearl farms. With me steering and Matt standing on the bow with binoculars, we manoeuvred our way around the buoys, which were actually charted quite accurately. The water was satiny smooth and we could clearly see the fascinating little fish that leap out of the water, skipping along on top, often for metres at a time. Matt had his long lens out and managed to capture a few pictures.

We anchored in the still waters just below Cliffy Point, marvelling at the incredible colour of the aqua waters surrounding us. On the mainland just opposite the yacht, were the main attractions of this area; aboriginal rock art, caves and rock formations. We started with ‘the Arches,’ a series of huge natural rock arches that we put the drone up to photograph.

Then we scrambled up to ‘the Apartments,’ an incredible cave system that contained heaps of rock art drawings. We wound our way in and around through the maze of caves, finally arriving at a large cave with a high overhang and covered with drawings. It was like a treasure hunt as we darted about, spotting pictures here and there.

‘The Birds’ is a painting of 24 creatures stretching across the ceiling of a little cave. The pictures could be fish or birds, but I think they look most like penguins.

Venturing to the end of the creek past ‘the Birds’ we tied the tender up at the edge of the rock bar and set off to try and find Buzzard Falls. Walking up the creek we came across several large billabongs that looked like croc heaven so we contented ourselves with splashing in the very shallow and quite warm waters of the rock pools instead. We never found the falls, but we did spot some stork-like birds who unfortunately took off when they saw us approaching.

We had timed it perfectly and motored out of the creek right on high tide, and just as the winds were starting to pick up out in the bay. Unfortunately the winds turned our lovely calm anchorage into a bouncy castle and I was not a happy chappy for the rest of the afternoon. As tends to happen in the Kimberley, however, the winds disappeared in the evening and by 7pm all was well on our boat again.

On the high tide the following morning we were back on the mainland searching for more caves and art. Although we found some intriguing caves that reminded me of cows legs and hooves, we didn’t find any rock art where we were looking. We did find ‘the Snake’ site and discovered quite a few paintings there, including the 7 metre long snake, which is apparently quite an unusual piece of art.

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We motor sailed south to Crystal Head at Port Warrender and found a very pretty anchorage; a large shoaling bay with several white sandy beaches and rocky creek beds. Heading straight for shore, we wandered along the beaches and through the rocks searching for crystals. We found crystals growing on the rocks and a few little pieces lying loose; it was like searching for treasure and I was having a ball. All too soon the sun was setting and the tide going out and we had to high tail it back to the yacht.

Crystal Head, Port Warrender:

Up early, we watched a beautiful sunrise over super glassy water as we motored north and through the Voltaire Passage. Matt reeled in a huge mackerel right in the middle of the passage, and we ate fresh fillets for lunch as we slowly sailed into Montague Sound.

Just as we were wondering if Adam and Monita from The Big Kahuna might be in this area, we heard ‘Cool Change, Cool Change, Cool Change….’ on the radio. It was them and they had just spotted our sails. Talk about spooky timing! They had been down in Swift Bay and were now anchored at Murrangingi Island on their way back east. We’d been hoping to catch up with them once more, so we altered course to join them and had a lovely afternoon and evening on Cool Change together, including a surf and turf dinner with their steaks and our fresh mackerel. It was a lovely way to farewell our new friends and we hope to see them somewhere else on our journey.

On our way to Prudhoe Island we came across some whales, the first we have seen on the west coast. It was a mother and a baby and they seemed entirely unworried by us, as we drifted next to them for about half an hour. These whales looked and acted very differently to the humpbacks we had previously encountered up close, and I am pretty sure they were southern right whales. It’s always a very special experience and I felt privileged to be able to see these magnificent animals up so close.

At Prudhoe Island we anchored in Shelter Bay for two nights and explored the surrounding islands. We took the tinny around to the little beach on the north of Prudhoe Island where Matt had seen a hut marked on the chart. The hut was no longer, but the views from the top of the hill there were spectacular.

There were caves high up on the hill overlooking the yacht, and Matt decided we should see if they had anything interesting in them. We bush bashed our way up and around and over rocks and through the spiky, scratchy spinifex grass. Although empty, the caves were lovely and cool and afforded a great view of Cool Change floating down in the bay, framed by the entrance to the cave. Although I had worn hiking boots and gaiters, my thighs were covered in scratches from wading through the spinifex.

On nearby Quoy Island, we attempted another hike as the guidebook very succinctly noted it as ‘good for hiking.’ Of this, we could see no evidence as we once again clambered and scrambled over rocks and through the horrible scratchy spinifex. Having had more than enough scratches already, we abandoned that attempt and went to the rockpools on the other side of the island. No scratchy spinifex there and we even managed to have a very quick dip in a rock pool before the tide came back in. We put the drone up to get some overall views of the area.

One evening we put down the squid light to see what was out there in the water and was amazed to see a school of sharks swarming around the boat. There were dozens and dozens of them, all around a metre long. We were anchored in shark infested waters!! This was also the bay in which a crocodile had attacked a tender recently. We never spotted him, but I’m sure he probably had a good look at us.

The weather over these days was very, very hot and with no wind, the still conditions were stifling. With the water full of sharks and crocs, going for a swim was a no-no, but we came up with several ways of cooling off. The easiest was what we dubbed our ‘Kimberley swim,’ where a bucket is filled with seawater and one person slowly pours it over the head of the other. Very refreshing! Our other method was only for when we were on passage, out in the deep water. We would slow the boat right down and drift along, and then jump in and hang onto the ladder. One person would remain on the boat and be on watch, but it was highly unlikely we’d be attacked in the short time we were in the water. Since there wasn’t another soul around we usually jumped in naked. Here’s Matt demonstrating.

Wary Bay at Bigge Island was our next stop, for the rock art. This was some of the best rock art paintings that we had seen, and very easy to find and access, just off the beach that we landed on. These paintings were of the Wandjina and had a lot more of a spiritual feel to them than many of the etchings we had seen previously.

Feeling quite satisfied with our rock art discoveries on Bigge Island, we sailed south. Some strong winds were forecast for the next few days, so we were heading for the shelter of Prince Frederick Harbour and the Hunter River.

The more you know, the less you need.

Aboriginal saying