01 Aug 2023

Kicking off with The Kimberley's King George River

This morning Heritage Adventurer's guests woke to a gentle 0700 hours wakeup over the PA system from our Cruise Manager Suzanne, who reminded us that breakfast was being served in the dining room. Our first full day on our Kimberley Explorer expedition is at sea crossing the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf or, as it's colloquially known, the Blownapart Gulf for its often choppy seas. Not so this morning! Smooth sailing meant a chance to watch for seabirds or bait balls in the water from the large dining room windows during breakfast.

Following this was our first briefing in the lounge for a trip overview from our Expedition Leader Steve, our upcoming excursion this afternoon and an overview of the Kimberley from Tina - now our excitement was really building! She talked about everything from the geology to the pearling history, from early explorers to World War II, from crocs to birds and the different types of Indigenous Australian rock art we'll be seeing. What a fantastic place we are about to explore!

Steve finished off the morning giving a presentation on the history of Koolama Bay where we'll be this afternoon, and its connection to World War II.

After lunch we donned our life vests, boarded our Zodiacs and off we zoomed up the incredibly scenic King George River as our drivers shared all sorts of information to get us acquainted with the cliffs we were dwarfed by, the animals we encountered (from Sacred Kingfishers and Striated Herons to 3-4 Humpback dolphins with a very small calf!). We all had such a great time on the river that our short duration cruisers who chose to come out for only a couple hours ended up returning during a beautiful sunset and a bright full moon after three and a half hours! Time sure flies when you're having fun, and what an incredible location to start our exploration of the Kimberley. Back on board were introduced to the senior officers and management as we shared a great toast to fair weather and a safe voyage followed by an extraordinary dining experience.

Images (c) by Heritage Expeditions