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Hi Indigo,
Anchor off Darwin Yacht Club in Fannie Bay. https://kccyc.org.au/darwin/
I wouldn’t call it easy compared to a marina. Bit of work getting your tender up and down the very tidal beach.
Cheers Ross
Hi Grith. If you want to explore the KC properly, you will definitely be heading up very narrow creeks and squeezing your way through overhanging mangroves in a tender. To turn your 28 ft boat around in a creek, it would need to be at least 30ft wide between the mangroves. I would call a 30 ft wide creek, big. You will miss many of the better creeks and not get anywhere near the rock bars and fresh water that are a feature of many places.
You will also be pulling your tender up against rocks to get ashore in many places. Much of the rock art is accessed from the rocky creeks or rocky coastline, not sandy beaches.
If you misjudge the tide in a tender and get it beached, you can at least drag a tender down to the water, but not your main boat.
My thoughts are that you would be wasting your trip to the KC without a decent, safe tender. Many smaller yachts tow their tenders around the KC, so its not difficult if you have a good tender.
If you are in any doubt about crocs and small or inflatable tenders, check out this video, from one of our Kimberley Member’s Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/870238784269713/?s=single_unit
Cheers,
Ross
Looks like there will be quite a few boats around the East Kimberley coast in May. This may be a good excuse for an impromptu KCCYC beach party around mid May.
Someone has already suggested the sand spit at the entrance to the King George River as a likely venue for a BarBQ.
If you have internet on board, I’ll send out an email and post it on the News and Events Page if we get enough interest from boats in the area. Or keep you ear on the scuttlebutt from other boats, as no doubt the word will get around.
Cheers Ross
Kalumburu is the only place. But you would need to get a lift into town from Honeymoon Bay or McGowan Island camps to pick it up.
Cheers
Ross
Hi Demise,
If you are using Austides app, you have a choice. Prince Fredrick Harbour around the Hunter River area, Cape Pond around the Rogers Straight area, or North Maret Island around the north of Bigge Island.
If you are using your chart plotter tides such as Navionics, North Maret Island may be your only choice.
I suggest you download the Austides app onto a laptop if you don’t already have it. It shows all tide stations for Australian waters with a map and in graphical format, along with moon phases, which is handy for predicting springs and neaps in the Kimberley. https://www.hydro.gov.au/prodserv/publications/ausTides/tides.htm
Cheers,
Ross
Hi Alan,
Looks like it will be busy around the east Kimberley in May. I know of at least 5 other Cullen Bay power boats heading over around then including Ros and I on R&R. All owned by experienced Kimberley sailors.
Might be an opportunity for an impromptu KCCYC Beach Party sometime in May. Many of the boats have Starlink internet on board, so keep an eye out for a post here if we decide to have a gathering somewhere.
Cheers
Ross
Hi Carol and Tony,
I will email it to you. But there are notes imbedded in the spreadsheet you can’t see in a pdf.
Cheers, Ross
Check with Paspayley in Darwin, but unless things have changed this year, you shouldn’t need to order or share diesel. They have a fuel dumb barge in the bay that you tie up to and Paspayley staff will come out to pump as much as you need on board. But its always a good idea to give them plenty of notice about when you are likely to be there and how many litres you think you will need.
Cheers
Ross
Hi Humdinger,
I’d rather not put Deans number up here on a public forum, but its in the KCCYC website under Dog Leg Creek in “Fuel In The Kimberley Coast” in the Anchorage pages. KCCYC Members can find it here https://kccyc.org.au/anchorages/
Cheers,
Ross
Hi Konjo,
Here are 2 that are well worth reading, with both historical significance and well written factual stories. Particularly “Dreaming of Diamonds”. Don’t be fooled by the reference to diamonds, it has little to do with diamond mining. I have no idea where you can buy them.
Cheers
Ross
Hi Richard,
Check with the operators of Hori Falls. I tried a few years back, and they stopped allowing one way trips on the seaplanes.
Other options
- Air Kimberley charter out of Broome to Cockatoo Island Resort. You will need to check that the resort will be open this year and that you can arrange a lift from the Cockatoo airstrip to the beach. This would be the best value and easiest to arrange.
- Getting a bit more pricy, but KAS helicopters out of Broome or Derby will drop you just about anywhere they can land a chopper in the west Kimberley.
- From about the Hunter River to most of the east Kimberley, try Kimberley Air Tours by float plane out of Kununurra. They often do crew transfers and will bring out supplies from Kununurra shops. We have used them several times. They get very busy in the dry season, so book well in advance.
- Chopper off the beach on Naturalist Island, near Hunter River mouth, to Mitchell Plateau airstrip (Mitchell Falls airstrip), then charter plane to Kununurra. HeliSpirit and Aviair.
- Paspayley Pearls will charter their Drummond float planes out of Darwin or Broome, but it will be expensive if its just for a few people.
Cheers,
Ross
Port a Boat is probably a little better than a similar size RIB, in that it wont deflate if a croc bites it. I have never been in one, so you will have to be the judge of how sturdy it is if a croc gets too friendly. My advice will always be that the biggest and toughest tender, with high sides, will be the best tender you can take to the Kimberley. Add a Kapten Boat Collar to it, will only improve its safety. https://boatcollar.com.au/
Cheers, Ross
