A typical lively morning in Talbot Bay on the Kimberley Coast.
Our small (just large enough to seat the 44 passengers + 2 guides + driver) boat, the Explorer, positioning itself for the morning's excursion. When not in use it is hoisted onto a platform on the stern of our cruise ship, the Coral Expeditions I.
The ship's engineer, Syed, explaining the workings of the engine room.
Tawny nurse sharks awaiting their morning feeding. (The apparent roughness of their skin is due to ripples in the water.)
Expedition leader Mark feeding the sharks.
One of the major events of a Kimberley Cruise is the exploration of the Horizontal Waterfalls. From Wikipedia: "Horizontal Falls have been described by naturalist David Attenborough as 'one of the greatest wonders of the natural world'... They are formed from a break in-between the McLarty Ranges, reaching up to 25m in width. The natural phenomenon is created as seawater builds up faster on one side of the gaps than the other, creating a waterfall up to 5m high on a spring tide. Within each change of the tide the direction of the falls reverses, creating vast tidal whirlpools." The ride through the gaps in a zodiac is comparable to shooting the rapids in a rocky river.
Also note the bright, orange-red sandstone, of which we'll be seeing much more on this trip.
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