Kimberley Expedition: Day 5 (Afternoon)

After lunch, we hopped in the Xplorer to visit a rock art gallery on Bigge Island.

But before seeing the art, we stood around some big indentations in the sand, which Steve explained were marine turtle nests … most empty, but a couple of others obviously active because they had been covered up.

The art we saw was of the Kaiara Sea Wandjina who came from the northwest … out of the clouds and sky. They are the creators and fertility spirits. This rock art continues to be fascinating. There were also some hand-stencil art, and what are thought to be Asian and European contact art … from when the Aboriginals encountered others from around the world.

The outing included beach combing and a walk along the top of an escarpment. But some of us opted to go back to the Xplorer instead as the broiling heat was really not conducive to either activity.

Corey, our Xplorer driver today, offered to return us to the Coral Discoverer. But we were all happy to just float and enjoy the shade and the breeze. So, he took us on a slow cruise instead, which yielded encounters with an osprey; a reef egret; and a wedge-tailed eagle.

The original plan called for a 4:00p return to the ship. Since we were aboard by 3:30p, Steve gave his “Croc” presentation this afternoon … very timely as we will be looking for crocodiles tomorrow. One of the takeaways was the comparison of the bite force in pounds per inch of the top ten animals … the top three being the American alligator (2,125 psi); salt water crocodile (3,700 psi); and the Nile crocodile (5,000 psi). By the way … the human bite is just 162 psi!

Another colorful sunset and a delicious dinner wrapped up our day … the halfway point of our expedition.Read more