29 Aug 2023

New Adventures Experiencing Adele Island's Rhapsody of Birdlife

The grand finale of our Kimberley Explorer expedition cruise kicked off with an exciting new adventure as we Zodiac cruised out to the remote Adele Island. This huge sand cay has extensive shallow sand banks that make it difficult to get close to, but today the weather gods were smiling down on us with with calm seas and crystal-clear water. We slowly cruised close to the island spotting lots of sharks, rays, turtles and many species of fish.

Entering an inlet provided great views of all the nesting and migratory birds that use this island as a home and refuge. Species included Brown and Masked Boobies, Turnstones, Curlews, Oystercatchers, Silver Gulls, Frigatebirds, Pelicans, Godwits, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Caspian, Bridled and Little Terns, Oriental Pratincole and Egrets. On our way back to the ship Boobies soared overhead and some of us observed a ray leap out of the water.

During the afternoon we returned to Heritage Adventurer to relax and enjoy one last day at the Bar & Lounge. A quiz was put on to test our knowledge and our final evening ended with a wonderful slide show of all the destinations we had explored together followed by Captain's Cocktails and fittingly decadent farewell dinner.

Image (c) by: C.Finch