Falling horizontally

Travelling overnight we arrived in the early morning at Talbot Bay. Many of the passengers were up on deck to see our ship squeeze through the narrow entrance passage at the scheduled time of 0811hrs. The bay itself is very scenic, being filled with many small rocky islands. As our geologist guide Brett told us, the area is a geologist’s paradise. Even to our untrained eyes the granite cliffs topped with sandstone appear complex and interesting with the distorted and folded layers indicating a complex and violent history. At around 1.8 million years these are among the oldest rocks in the Kimberley.
Two zodiac tours were on the schedule. Our first, leaving at 0940hrs was for two hours, initially taking in a tour of the coastline within the bay and finishing with a visit to Horizontal Falls to view the incoming tide.
As we moved around the bay, Brett took great delight in showing us the features and fine details of the rock structures. We were also on the lookout for the very agile rock wallabies which inhabit the area but we didn’t see any. Evidently they are very hard to spot except when they are moving.
The area is renowned for its extreme tidal range which can exceed 14m, this being among the biggest in the world. Horizontal Falls is a gap about 30m wide between two cliffs through which the tides flow at an extremely rapid rate.
This first visit to the falls was for us to experience the incoming tide. Apart from one crazy adventure company, boats generally don’t go through the gap as it is much too dangerous. In fact the traditional owners are banning all transits through the falls from next year. Our zodiacs definitely can’t get too close as they would get sucked into the gap and have nowhere near enough power to fight against it. We approached within about 30m of the gap and even there it was a wild and bumpy ride. We then returned to the ship in time for Elspeth to have a swim before our usual giant buffet lunch.
After lunch Elspeth watched a documentary film, “The Kimberley; land of the Wandjina” which she thoroughly enjoyed while Brian enjoyed a less active doze next to the pool.
At 1710hrs we were off again in the zodiacs, this time to experience the outgoing tide at Horizontal Falls. This was far less hazardous as the tidal flow was pushing us away rather than sucking us into the gap but it was an even wilder and more exciting ride. We witnessed one of the adventure company’s boats power through the gap and it was bouncing all over the place. It must have been a scary ride for those onboard.
An unexpected bonus came early in the evening when a school of sharks visited, apparently chasing fish which were attracted to the lights from our ship.Leer más