Kimberley Expedition: Day 7 (Morning)

Early start to our day once more … though not as early as yesterday. Breakfast was at 6:30a and we left on the Xplorer at 7:30a.

Our destination today was a ways up the Prince Regent River … a body of water that is 2 km wide at the mouth. The river follows an ancient fault-aligned valley that was flooded with sea water when the sea level rose after the end of the last ice age. As a result, unlike most rivers, it does not meander. Rather, it flows straight as an arrow from its headwaters … some 60+ miles.

We did indeed cruise much of the way in a straight line. But further up the river, we meandered left and right to avoid the sandbars that shift during the Wet. In fact, we were told that though the river is wide, the navigable channel is quite narrow.

We made a few stops for Steve and Anne to point out connections to an explorer named Philip Parker King, but aside from that there really wasn’t much to see along the way. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant high-speed cruise … and quite comfortable temperature-wise … even after the sun came broke through the clouds.

Our destination was Mambulbada — known to the white settlers of yore and most people today as King Cascade … for Phillip Parker King. By the way, he was the one to name the river for the Prince Regent at the time, but unbeknownst to him, the Prince Regent had already been crowned King George IV.

The cascade, situated in a small cove, was spectacular. Not a single waterfall, but several smaller ones plunging over terraced rocks. We were able to get into the plunge basin and take our photos. And then we were served tea/coffee and muffins. The carrot cake muffin, topped with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting, was especially delicious.

Once Sara arrived with our safety zodiac, the Xplorer nosed up to one of the smaller cascades. The front gangway was lowered onto a rock ledge and those who wanted to stepped out for a chilly shower. We didn’t partake of this activity, but our feet did get wet from the water flowing inside from the gangway. And there was plenty of mist swirling in the air to keep us “glistening.”

We were zooming back down the river to where Coral Discoverer was waiting for us in the St Georges Basin when Sara radioed about a couple of estuarine crocs in a side channel. So, Logan (our Xplorer driver) took us into the mangroves for a look-see.

The first croc was shy and didn’t stick around for long. But the bigger one — Steve said about 10 feet long if a female; about 12 feet long if a male — was curious and swam up to the Xplorer to check us out for a while before swimming away.

A thrilling morning adventure … which concluded with a sighting of a pod of snubfin dolphins, a species endemic to Australia, playing near the Coral Discoverer.Baca lagi