29 Jul 2023

Up Close and Personal Encounters with WWII History at Vansittart Bay

The cloud cover this morning was deceiving as we arrived ashore in our Zodiacs at Vansittart Bay. It was easy to imagine how it must have felt to be marooned here in this environment-as was the tale for the 6 survivors who crash landed here during WWII at wreckage of the Douglas DC-3 (C-53) Skytrooper which we would soon visit.

We took a trip into our WWII history books and the story surrounding this crashed aircraft, now lying peacefully amid the wildflowers. The site was frequented by Black Cockatoo flying above, and a Blue-winged Kookaburra resting on a nearby eucalypt tree. On the salt pan, tiny Mudskippers appeared out of their burrows as the tide came in, sucking in their eyes to gather moisture and popping them up again to stare back at us.

During the afternoon we enjoyed the opportunity to view and learn more about the Aboriginal Art at Jar Island and finish with sunset cocktails on the beach before it was time to return to Heritage Adventurer for another gourmet dinner and nightly recap.

Image (c) by: C.Finch