Careening Bay & the Large Boab

Saturday, 22 July 2023: Careening Bay & the Large Boab

Having seen the sun rise over the surrounding cliffs and mangroves, we were in the tenders for a pre-breakfast cruise along Porosus Creek – a beautiful start to the day. Massive rocks rose above the mangroves, some looking precarious.

In the afternoon, we reached Careening Bay, home of a very large boab tree. The story behind the naming of this location is that in 1820, Captain Phillip Parker King, on an order issued by the King, had been exploring the coast on his ship, “The Mermaid”. He realised that it was in bad shape and needed repairs.

Sailing along the coast, he found a bay that had chunks of basalt stones along either side – they are still there today and look very much like huge retaining walls. This was a good place to bring the ship onto the shore because he could careen it – deliberately grounding it on the basalt stones so that it could be repaired. Brook explained that although the crew did not meet any of the local Wunambal people, they each knew the others were there.

We came in on the falling tide, and walked across the soft wet sand to the shoreline before finding the path to a very large boab tree that sits among other trees. The crew of The Mermaid carved the year they were there, 1820, into the boab – this remains today, and as the boab has grown and split, the carved date lies across the two parts of the tree.

It was soon time to walk back to the tenders through the shallow water, and although the crew are always looking out for crocs, we were advised to shuffle in single file to keep any lurking stingrays away.

Well after dinner, we arrived and anchored in a protected cove. I managed to stay awake until the anchor was dropped at around 9:15pm - my intention was to try to photograph the night sky. With my trusty little tripod, I was soon out on the bow watching the stars appear together with the Milky Way and Black Emu. Simon & Leo joined me, each enjoying a well-earned beer after a very long sail.

The photos on the back of the camera looked pretty good, but I knew that we’d been swinging slowly on the anchor. Unfortunately, this caused streaks during the 8 second – so although I have photos to remind me of this magnificent sky, they’re just not good enough to share with you.

Sunday, 23 July 2023: The Cascades & “Simon’s Secret”

We woke at St Patrick’s Island, and then took a leisurely cruise around the Island before heading towards the Cascades waterfall. A major climb was on offer here – but definitely not for me. For the six of us who were not climbing, a scenic option was provided, skippered by Capt Simon and Jackson.

We started at Cascades Falls. This a wide and reasonably high set of falls, and Simon took us along one side that’s surrounded by trees, with grasses growing between the cracks in the rocks. The fresh water splashing on us was deliciously cool and refreshing.

[This particular spot has a tragic story associated with it . It involved a croc and a young woman, and knowing there were crocs there, we were definitely not going to see this repeated].

Simon had said that he would take us to one of his favourite areas. So having stopped to let those wanting to climb to step off onto the rocks high above the water, we turned around, leaving the Cascades behind us and then turned left into the Prince Regent River. This is a fault line that runs from here about 80 kms south east (or as Brook said: “from here to Melbourne creating 2 continents”).

A short while later made a another left turn, now out of the main river into a small inlet. A beautiful white crane took off from a branch on our right, flying down the inlet and stopping on another tree. As we approached it took off again flying further into the inlet. It did this a few more times – it felt as if it was leading us down this narrow, treed waterway. Thick mangroves and bush were on each side. We stopped for a while at a large wall of rock that loomed up on our left. To our right the characteristic Kimberley rocks rose high behind the bush.

It was so peaceful and beautiful – when we spoke, it was in whispers.

On the way back out to the main river, Judy saw a “Kimberley Rose” tree in the background – a beautiful plant with large pinkish-orange flowers.

As we exited this place that we now call “Simon’s Secret”, we turned left once more, traveling further downstream, away from Reef Prince. Coming close to some mangrove trees an acrid smell filled the air – fruit bats – hundreds and hundreds of these hung in the trees along the edge, squawking loudly and occasionally spreading their wings to fly from branch to branch.

As well as seeing the bats, Simon had brought us here to find crocs. Young ones are known to float below the trees, waiting for that moment when a bat falls out of a tree. And there they were, three small crocs biding their time.

Our next stop was Cathedral Falls at the end of another inlet accessed from the other side of the Prince Regent River. These Falls are in the centre of a huge amphitheatre of rock at the end of the inlet. With cameras in dry-bags, the cool clean waters of the Falls were raining down upon us. Very cooling on a hot day.

Then it was back to the Reef Prince where the climbers had returned, and to weigh anchor on the high tide.

As the sun was starting to set, and we were all enjoying evening drinks on the top deck and celebrating Topaz’ birthday, there was a sudden gasp of delight. A whale had been spotted. I knocked on the door of the Bridge and Simon changed course so that we could take a closer look. A mother with her young calf.

A wonderful way to end a great day.