Bay of boabs

A nice easy day on the schedule. Elspeth began it by attending a talk entitled “Indigenous Astronomy” while the ever-cynical Brian decided that it was an oxymoron and chose to give it a miss. Elspeth found the talk interesting and was particularly intrigued with the concept of the ancient knowledge being seen as a cultural archive.
We then had free time until 1230 when we set off for a short ten-minute Zodiac ride to the shore of Careening Bay. It takes its name from an expedition led by Philip Parker King in 1820 which was forced to beach its ship, the Mermaid, for repairs. The Mermaid had suffered damage in North Queensland but those onboard didn’t realise the seriousness of the damage until they had reached the Kimberley coast and it started taking in water at an alarming rate. They were fortunate that the extreme tidal variation in the area allowed them to careen their ship on sand which was often dry while they made it seaworthy again. They were there for 17 days, during which the ship’s carpenter carved the ship’s name and the date into the trunk of a nearby boab tree. This tree now has a girth of 12m and the original inscription is still highly visible. Today’s graffiti vandals should be envious as the tree with its historic inscription is now officially part of our national heritage. Aside from the boab trees the area is known for its impressive cycads and the for the many varieties of mangroves which thrive there.
The day ended on an absolute high with a session of stargazing, held in total darkness on the uppermost level (Deck 7) of the ship. Our guides, using a laser pointer, were able to point to many stars and constellations in the night sky, The real revelation was in the number of stars which were visible, many times more than we ever manage to see in the skies above Brisbane. It was truly amazing to view the night sky in such detail and with such incredible clarity.Read more