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If you’re planning a cruise to the Kimberley in 2017, post a brief outline of your plans here to meet up with other vessels, ask questions, get info etc.
Roslyn and I will be launching our newly built 21M power cat “R&RII” around Feb/March 17 at the Gold Coast and plan to head north around April, to reach Darwin in June, then on to the Kimberley early July. I’ll post a photo of the new boat here when it gets out of the builders shed. If you spot us on the way north, say hello.
Ross
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Hi Ross,
We’re planning our adventure to the Kimberley for approximately the same time. Our home port is Port Stephens, we’ll leave there around Easter have a stop over in the Gold Coast for some maintenance, cruise on up to Cairns in May and set off in June for Darwin. Plan to be there in early July. We’ll lay over in Darwin for a few weeks and then head to the Kimberley for August and September. Making the return trip to have us home for Christmas 2017.
Halcyon VI is our Salthouse 65.
It would be great to meet you and share some of the anchorages and sights with you. I have enjoyed the web site and the info has been very useful.
Regards,
Don & Suzanne
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Hi All,
We have plans to head north into the Kimberley in 2017. This will be our fourth season of cruising the Kimberley. We have not enjoyed this cold Perth winter! Looking forward to returning to our favourite anchorages and exploring the rivers and bays we have yet to visit. The plan is to leave Mandurah early April and be in Broome by the end of May. We will have four months in the Kimberley then head for Darwin early October, reprovision and head east to Gove, then down to Groote Is. and follow the coast around the gulf to the east coast of Cape York. When the winds allow, we will sail southward down the east coast to Mooloolaba. In 2018 we will head back up the Qld coast, across the top and back to The Kimberley! We have completed a number of modifications to our Mahe 36 sailing cat ‘Sojourn’ and can’t wait to be back on the water!
Kevin and Janie
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Hi Kevin
Have aspirations to cruise the Kimberley this year. I am in Bouvard and would welcome a bit of constructive advice. If you have time, would love to meet.
John -
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Hi Ross & Co,
Julie and I are hoping to get to the Kimberley this year. I am trying to decide which part to focus on for our first time. The plan is to fly Julie in to join Sea Shell in an area that will provide spectacular but sheltered cruising (to ensure that Julie enjoys the holiday and will want to do it again)! Any suggestions regarding places we could do the crew change would be appreciated. Kalumbaru, Mitchell River or the Prince Regent are likely. The Horizontal Falls would be economical, however, you would quickly find yourself in the Montgomery Reef area and the whirlpools etc are probably more exciting than we need at this stage.
I have plenty of experience (Commercial Skipper) and Julie has done some good sailing on the trimaran we owned before Sea Shell. I just want to keep it fairly tame for this year. We will have a 3m Zodiac rib and 3.6m tinny in tow.
I plan to provision in Broome by late May, we have a daughter living there, so will have her car for loading from the beach at Gantheaume Pt. I hope we can meet up with some of the other boats along the way.
Dave-
Hi Dave and Julie,
If you want spectacular scenery with relatively sheltered anchorages and short to medium day sails between anchorages, I suggest the east Kimberley is the place to start. Depends how long Julie will be on board as to how far you want to go. But think about flying crew in/out of the Berkeley River Lodge airstrip, and/or Kalumburu.
Ros and I usually pick up friends at the Berkeley, then cruise west via the King George, Napier Broome Bay and Vansittart Bay, then drop them at Kalumburu to fly home. This works well for us – we can get them off the boat before the 2 week rule kicks in. But if you want people on board longer, you can get around the corner to the Osborne Islands, Mitchell River and Swift Bay/Palm Island area. Depends on how fast you cruise and how long you linger at anchorages, but allow 4 – 8 weeks to do all this area justice. The tides and currents in the east Kimberley are also less of a problem compared to the west Kimberley. But they are still an issue, particularly for sailing vessels, so factor this into your timetable.
If you pick up crew at Horizontal Falls, you either need to go back there to drop them off, or keep going to the Hunter River, them chopper out to the airstrip at Mitchell Falls. (Alternative is to charter a float plane to wherever you want, but expensive) There are plenty of spectacular anchorages and places to see out of HF, but if you are there for only a few weeks, you will probably be restricted to an area between Yampi Sound to Secure Bay area. If it was my choice between the HF area and the east Kimberley for a first time cruise, I would choose the east.
Hope this helps.
Ross
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Hi All,
Capricorn III is a Swanson 38 currently laying over in Darwin after sailing up the east coast in 2016. We will be cruising the Kimberley for about 10 to 12 weeks from mid May 2017 then heading to Perth around September/ October on the way home to the Gippsland Lakes. We are looking forward to catching up with any other boats along the way.
Cheers, Dick and Laurel
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Hi Ross,
Very sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you. Not sure if we are still on track to get north this year, but are continuing to work towards the trip.Your comment about the lesser tides and suggestion to start in the East is particularly interesting. I was starting to lean towards the western half, however, Kalumburu or the Berkley might be better. Kalumburu offers weeks of sheltered cruising, although the mono is a bit of a liability at the Drysdale.
Could you please advise how you have arranged to fly/drive crew in and out of Kalumburu/Honeymoon Bay?
Regards,
Dave -
Hi Dave, Contact Joy and Les at Honeymoon Bay Ph: 08 9161 4378. They will get you a to/from Kalumburu for about $200. You will need to charter a light plane out of Kununurra to Kalumburu. See the Napier Broome Bay Anchorage details in the Anchorage page for charter contacts. You may be able to share a ride with others if it’s only 1 person coming out.
The Drysdale is only accessible by tender for deep keel vessels. Except for the anchorage just inside the mouth at Curran Point.
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Hi All , Endless Summer and I will be leaving Exmouth the start of September and heading for Darwin and then to be in Sydney for Xmas , I have planned at stopping at King Georges River but would like to have another stop in the Kimberly , I know there are many places to choose and this being my first time there I’m hoping for some advise for one more stopping point , I will be stopping along the way at Port Headland and Broome to break the trip and hope to catch up with other members from here along the way .
Cheers Barry
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Hi Barry, It’s difficult to suggest just one place to visit. It appears you will be on a mission through the Kimberley, so an easy one to get into, which wont take you far off track, is the Palm Island and Swift Bay area.
If you’re going to the King George, you should go the extra 50 miles to also see the Berkeley River. It would be a shame to sail past it.
Ross
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Hi All, Ocean Road will leave Darwin at the beginning of May and return mid July 2017. I will probably go as far west ad Swifts Bay in May, June in Admiralty gulf – Vansittart Bay – Napier Broom Bay- Drysdale and King George and Berkley in July. I have crew flying in and out in June and July. They would be keen to chat with crew from other boats about the possibility of sharing flights. I can also be of assistance in Darwin before and after. rob.speirs@live.com.au Regards Rob
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Hi Ross et al,
We are in the early stages of planning a first time 4-5 week trip to Eastern Kimberley en route to Christmas & Coco Islands etc. and find your web site to be an excellent source of information.
Can anyone advise on how we could obtain a suitable tinnie tender for those weeks, don’t think the inflatable will be suitable….. ie pick up Darwin & drop off “somewhere.
We are sailing a Jeanneau 47′ and will be leaving Brisbane in May and Darwin in July (give or take). Any other advice is very welcome 🙂
Kind regards
Tricia -
Hi Everyone
We are planning to leave from Darwin at the end of April to see the Kimberleys for the first time. We are on a 48 ft motor cruiser “MV ARROW” and are looking forward to meeting other Kimberley travellers. Our plans are to spend the rest of this year seeing the Kimberley region, taking it casually. We’ve come up from the east coast of FNQ last year and have spend the wet season here in Bayview Marina. We would like to meet other people doing this and please feel free to contact us at mvarrow1@gmail.com. Thanks
Mark & Dee -
Hi Everyone,
We are leaving Freo Saturday 25th March for 2 weeks at the Abrohlis. Then heading up to the Montybellos for another week of so before going to the Kimberley’s for our second visit.
Out first visit was last year. We had purchased Equinox 7 in Brisbane and came through the Kimberley’s in May. As it was such a dry season, there were no waterfalls (to talk of) but the gorges were awesome. Unfortunately, we had freezer, watermaker and genset problems which thrown in with the lack of waterfalls, enticed us to get the boat home and sort it out!
Hopefully that is all behind us now and we envisage being in the Kimberley’s in late April or by early May (depending on the weather) at the latest. We intend to have a much better look at the place this trip and hopefully be there until late June all going well.
Equinox 7 is a 50′ power cat that will be flying the KCCYC flag. Both my wife and myself (Leonie and Rod) would love to catch up with members for a sunset drink or 3 so please don’t hesitate to contact us on VHF 16 or come over if you see us?
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Hi there,
another possibility to get fuel is to make an appointment with SHOREBARGE, (The company is officially called Shoreland Group, I guess, if you look them up…it’s best to call them…)in Darwin…they have a barge going through the Kimberleys This worked very well and easy for us last year, 3 month Kimberleys on a Powerboat…..
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Hi Tony,
Not that I’m aware of.
Dog Leg Creek will be open for business.
McGowan Island is not selling fuel.
Honeymoon Bay Camping Ground will truck 200lt drums in for you if you arrange it with them. Alternatively, you can arrange to truck your own fuel to Honeymoon and they will store it for you for a fee.
Shorelands Barges from Darwin are still running a fortnightly service to Kalumburu. You can buy fuel from them.
If I get any updates on fuel availability, I’ll include it in the General Information Anchorage leaflet
Regards, Ross
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Gday again,
Is there other options for fuel at Kalumburu other than fuelling from Shorelands barge ??
Our dates don’t quite workout when they are thereRegards Tony Coral Lee
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<p class=”p1″>Hi everyone, this is Mike and Sally from “Tramp”. We’re a 52’ motor boat making our way from Indonesia to Darwin now. We will be in Darwin early May for a haul out and provision then into the Kimberley. Plans are loose. We will probably cruise the eastern Kimberley to start and see how things go. We’re hoping to get our 4WD up too so we can do some land-based travelling. Just need to work out the logistics and storage.</p>
<p class=”p1″>If you see us about be sure to say hi!</p>
<p class=”p1″>Any recommendations for a good shipwright and also someone who is be familiar with wesmar stabilisers would be great!</p>
<p class=”p1″>Cheers, the Tramps</p> -
Hi all. ‘Sengo’ didn’t make it to the Kimberley last year but did make it to Darwin. She is currently sitting at Cullen Bay waiting for her crew to return (who are currently (14th April)stuck in Mt Isa waiting for a caravan part). Our plans are to return to Darwin within the next couple of weeks (monsoon trough location pending), get Sengo ready for a few months in the Kimberley (and hopefully sell car (4wd) and caravan in minimal time) before heading off into the blue yonder. Our plan is to be in Perth for Christmas. We will then wait for the appropriate conditions to head east across the bight. Look forward to seeing you all on the water.
Cheers Trish
Sv Sengo
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Hi All
Honey Bee is currently in Tipperary Marina. We arrived in Darwin a couple of weeks ago from Indonesia after 2 1/2 years in SE Asia.
Plan to head for the Kimberleys in mid May and carry on south and maybe then east.
HB is a 12 m Van de Stadt mono hull. Home port is Hobart.
Peter & Chris McHugh
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Hi Mark,
Unfortunately, I have been held up in Qld finishing our new boat and at this point have no set date when we will get to the Kimberley this year. It’s likely that the beach party will be truly disorganised this year, and it may not happen at all, because I’m the person who organises it. My apologies.
There are new owners at the Berkeley Lodge this year, and as yet I haven’t approached them to see if they will still allow us to hold the party in their bar. We may need to change the venue next year.
All the best,
Ross
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Hello,
The Southern Cross is anchored in Fannie Bay, Darwin. We were last in Darwin in mid 2008. Since then we have sailed around the world, arriving in Bundaberg late last year. Now we are sailing anti-clockwise around Australia back towards our home port of Adelaide.
We plan to leave for the Kimberley soon, hopefully in the next week (mid June). We are interested to hear from anyone cruising the Kimberley from June to late August 2017. Is anyone interested in participating in an SSB net?
The Southern Cross is a St Francis 44 catamaran
Catherine and Peter
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Hello to all members,
Intending to cruise West Kimberley area from Derby to Prince Regent river this July 2017
Leaving Perth on Monday 3 July towing my boat to Derby. I expect to take around a week to get there. Spend a few days arranging storage for the truck and trailer and any final prep.
I would be happy to hear from any others considering the same thing/same time.
regards
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Hi Ross,
Did you manage to get the new R&R in the water? Building a boat is always a massive undertaking, I hope it all turned out well.
We had an awesome but relaxing cruise through the West Kimberley during June and July. The weather was perfect most days. We did a lot more motor sailing than expected as the breeze seems to funnel along the waterways and as “Murphy” would have it, we were usually trying to go wherever the wind was coming from. The headwind did not detract from the experience. The Kimberley’s are spectacular and we enjoyed a beautiful and sheltered anchorage every night.
We used KCCYC’s documented anchorages and the FSC’s Western Australian Cruising guide. Both sources were very useful, and we certainly benefited from the sharing of information that you have facilitated through KCCYC. Thank you. I will be suggesting that The FSC guide should move towards having two or three decimal points on their Lat & Long’s for anchorages. Some of the anchorages are small and the bottom can be variable. Accurate Lat & Long’s can assist greatly, although I am very mindful of developing the blind reliance that tends to occur when we get too accustomed to having highly accurate electronic chart plotting. I met one skipper who had spent most of his time in the Whitsundays where the seabed has been very completely surveyed. He was struggling with the lack of accuracy in Western Australia.
Mindful of your suggestions regarding inflatables, we towed a 13ft tinny from Broome north and it was well worth the effort. We fished for Mangrove Jack, Spangles & cod etc. confident that the crocs watching us were not tempted to give us the taste test. We ate well thanks to the tinny. It also made exploring the various water falls a lot less intimidating & we did see plenty of crocs, the largest we saw slid down off his rock into the water very close to us as we departed the Sapphire Falls at Red Cone.
We slowly worked our way as far north as Hanover Bay. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do a good job of the Prince Regent, so we made our way back to Broome. To avoid the potentially bouncy trip from Cape Leveque to Broome, Julie did the trip by road, and did indeed miss out on some wind!
A great holiday, made all the better thanks to your efforts with KCCYC.
Best regards,
Dave & Julie -
Hi Dave and Julie,
The new R&R is in the water and currently sitting at Port Douglas for a few weeks while Ros and I are home for family stuff. Photo below. Still heading for Darwin before the wet season, but we’ve given up all hope of reaching the Kimberley this year. Back there next year for sure.
Looks like you had a great trip and its good to see you found the KCCYC anchorages helpful. I agree that a few of the FSC’s cruising guide details are a little out. I’ve found a couple of inaccuracies over the years, but by the time I get back to land, I forget to tell the FSC guys about them. Some I have pointed out in the KCCYC anchorage docs. The errors have been fairly obvious to see when we actually arrived at the places. Your comments reinforce the fact that skippers cannot rely on GPS plotters, the official paper charts, or any other published documents for navigating much of the Kimberley waters. There is no replacement for good seamanship and common sense.
You’ve still got lots of the KC to explore. Hope we see you out there in future years.
Cheers,
Ross
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Hi Matt and Bec
You’re correct about being late in the season. There’ll still be some boats out there, but by now they will be thin on the water. Not many cruising boats will have internet available in the Kimberley, so you’re unlikely to see a reply to your post from anyone still cruising between King Sound and Bonaparte Gulf.
All the best
Ross
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