Kimberley Expedition: Day 7 (Afternoon)

Once we returned from our Prince Regent River cruise, we had about an hour of downtime before lunch. And another hour after lunch while the Coral Discoverer repositioned to Careening Bay. Bridge and engine room tours were conducted during that time, but we had already done both, so R&R was the name of the game for us.

Careening Bay is part of the Prince Regent Nature Reserve. The bay was so named because Philip Parker King, an Australian explorer, careened his vessel, the HMC Mermaid, here for repairs in 1820 … during his first expedition into the region. [HMC, by the way, stands for His Majesty’s Cutter.)

Apparently, this is a very popular site for expedition vessels of all sizes. Thus, great care is taken to ensure that ship visits do not overlap. In fact, Coral Discoverer arrived at its anchorage right around 2:30p to find Ponant’s Le Perouse leaving.

A short ride on the Xplorer took us ashore to see the historic Mermaid Tree, a National Heritage-listed boab. What makes the tree so important is the fact that the crew of the HMC Mermaid carved the ship’s name and the year of their visit on the boab. The tree has since split into two. Thus dividing the carving as well. But the deep inscriptions are still clearly visible.

We’d been split into two groups for this lading. Mui and I were in the first group going directly to the tree. Then, as the other group made its way to the tree, we took a roundabout trail back to the beach, stopping to search for — and find — not one, but two bowerbird bowers. Apparently the male bowerbird is quite an engineer, building a bachelor pad of sorts to attract females … using scavenged twigs, brightly colored stones, fresh flowers, iridescent insects, and more. There are two “courtyards” as well … for mating displays. Very interesting.

Back on the beach, we crossed to the far side to check out some vegetation unique to the area. The ancient cycads, we were told, exist on this Carson volcanic basalt site because it has more minerals and nutrients than sandstone, and allows for the growth of different vegetation.

Our outing was a fairly short one that we concluded with a cruise along the shoreline before returning to Coral Discoverer.Read more