WARNING - There are literally hundreds of uncharted or incorrectly charted rocks and reefs along the Kimberley Coast that expose at low spring tides and are therefore dangerous to cruising yachts when they are barely covered. This page provides information on a dozen or so of the more dangerous ones that are on or near the "cruising trail". Many of these dangers have already caused significant damage to yachts and charter boats, two of which have been the subject of detailed Australian Transport Safety Bureau Reports in the last 2 years. From south to north, these dangers include, but are certainly not limited to the following; Kyulgam River (AUS732 & 733) - There are two "whale sized" rocks at approx 16o 25.3' S, 123o 42.0' E. These rocks adjoin the mangroves on the northeast bank of this SW arm of the river at the mouth of a side creek and extend about half way across the river in a south-westerly direction. The rocks begin to dry at about 4 to 5 m above LWS. Whirlpool Pass (AUS732) - In the southern entrance to the pass there is a reef about mid-way between Dunvert Island and Hidden Island at approx. location 16o 16.8' S, 123o 30.7' E. This reef is relatively flat on top and dries approx 1 m at LWS. The reef can be clearly seen in the photo taken from an aircraft an hour or so before spring low tide. Conilurus Island (AUS 732) - Off the northern tip of Woodhouse Point the reef extends further north than shown on the chart and terminates at its northern extremity with a single sloping rock which dries about 3 to 4 m above LWS. Clear the end of the reef shown on the chart by at least 0.4 NM unless you can see the rock. A reef and rocks east of the Iron Islands (AUS 732) - At approx location 16o 10.5' S, 123o 50.1' E there is a 0.8 m patch shown on the chart. This area is a rocky reef which dries about 2 to 3 m above LWS. About 2.5 NM further east, at approx location 16o 10.1' S, 123o 52.6' E, there is a rock approximately 0.5 NM north-northwest of an unnamed point which also dries about 2 to 3 m above LWS. Brecknock Harbour (AUS 730) - There is a reef marked "Rep(1998)" in position 0.75 NM north east of Green Island. We have passed this location several times on our route into Camden Harbour and our observations place this reef approximately 0.2 NM north-northeast of this charted location. The reef consists of a pile of rounded rocks which dries about 3 to 4 m LWS and is usually spotted from the tidal eddies around the reef. Rogers Strait (AUS 730) - The reef at the western end of Rogers Strait marked "Rep(1994)" has been there for a long time. In September 1982, the 54 ft ferro ketch "Maralinga" stranded on the very top of this reef on a high tide while heading west and floated off on the subsequent high tide 12 hours later. For those of you from Perth, "Maralinga" was owned and sailed at the time by Geoff and Tanis Gosling who have also owned the Witch's Cauldron restaurant in Subiaco. "Maralinga" underwent repairs at Kuri Bay and continued her return voyage to Perth. Hanover Bay (AUS 730) - We had been anchoring off the eastern beach in Hanover Bay for four consecutive trips before we spotted this one. About 200 m due west of the rocky headland at the southern end of the beach and at approx location 15o 19.05' S, 124o 46.3' E there is a flat rocky reef which dries about 1 m above LWS. Strong Tide Point (AUS 730) - ATSB Marine Safety Investigation No.205
  At 11.04pm on 7 August 2004, the 34.56m passenger vessel "True North", with 38 people on board, ran aground at Strong Tide Point in the entrance passage to St. George Basin. At the time of the grounding, the master was alone on the bridge. The vessel was in automatic navigation mode with course adjustments initiated by means of a GPS navigation system linked to an Electronic Chart System (ECS), that transmitted course adjustment information to an autopilot.
 Several passengers received minor injuries during the initial impact, and the "True North" sustained significant damage to the bow section including a breach to the forward watertight bulkhead. She remained aground for about one hour and floated clear of the rock on the incoming tide and moved under its own power to an anchorage south of St Patrick Island in St. George Basin. The vessel was beached on the morning of 8 August. On 9 August, a repair team and equipment was flown to the vessel by float plane from Broome. The passengers and non-essential crew were then flown to Broome and temporary repairs were carried out while the vessel was beached. These repairs were completed by 11 August and "True North" departed St. George Basin for Darwin, where permanent repairs were effected.
The ATSB report concluded that:
• True North grounded near Strong Tide Point in unsurveyed waters while being navigated by an autopilot unit and
ECS receiving position information from GPS satellites;
• GPS derived positions plotted on the ECS differed from the vessel’s true position;
• Too much reliance was placed on the accuracy of GPS positions and the GPS positions plotted on the vessel’s ECS
were not adequately checked by other navigational means; and
• A proper lookout was not maintained by visual, radar and other means to ensure the vessel remained in safe water.  Camp Creek (AUS 730) - Most yachts visit the Prince Regent River on their cruise through the Kimberley as this river rates as one of the top three on this coast. Camp Creek and Kings Cascades are two reasons for visiting the Prince Regent and both of these trips require planning and vigilance to avoid the pitfalls associated with uncharted rocks and rapidly falling tides. This rock (right) is almost mid-stream in Camp Creek on the left hand bend 1.5 NM upstream from the mouth of the creek. Keep to the right hand (western) side of the bend and you will avoid it.
Prince Regent River (AUS 730) - On p.23 of the Feb 1993 "Cruising Helmsman" you will find Joan Sartori's Kimberley Cruise story entitled "WILD WEST". Part of Joan's story describes the rescue of Chris Russell's steel ketch "September Song" from a reef in the upper Prince Regent River. In a scene somewhat similar to the grounding of "Maralinga", "September Song" had hit the reef shortly before the tide peaked. The impact punched a 15 cm hole in the bow of the yacht and she was taking water. As the tide fell she heeled over and was then stranded 5 metres or so above the receding water. On the low tide the hole was patched with plywood and silastic. The next high tide at night floated the yacht free and she also motored around to Kuri Bay to effect repairs. The rocks that caused the drama are almost mid-stream in the Prince Regent River and about 1.5 NM upstream from Camp Creek. Prince Frederick Harbour (Aus 730) - ATSB Marine Safety Investigation No.217 - This is a CLASSIC!!
  At approx. 1528 on 22 July 2005, the lookout positioned on the bow of the "LEEUWIN" (left) noticed a line of disturbed water to port. This sighting was brought to the attention of the watch officer who conferred with the mate and they considered that the disturbed water was a tide line. The second mate, who was carrying out repairs in the rigging, noted that the disturbed water looked like an overflow of water across a shoal or reef. He expected the ship to clear it and as he did not think it important, he did not bring this to the attention of the officer or the master.
At 1530 the watch officer noticed the ship was not making headway. Thinking that the speed of the tidal flow had increased, he brought the engines to stop. He thought that the ship would now move astern with the tidal flow. However, this was not the case. The ship had grounded so gently that no one on board had felt it. Realising that the ship was aground, the watch officer informed the master. The master put the engines astern in an attempt to free the ship. However, this proved ineffective.
The stern mounted rescue boat was lowered into the water and the second mate and the off duty watch officer started taking soundings of the water depths around the ship. The ship’s freeboard was increasing quickly, and it was apparent that it would remain aground until the next high tide. The master made a transmission on VHF channel 16 alerting vessels in the vicinity of his predicament. However, he received no reply. There were no other vessels in sight at the time.
 After about 20 minutes, when it was clear the ship would remain aground, the master discussed the situation with the officers. The consensus was that the ship would heel over as the tide went out. A decision was made to use the rescue boat to land the passengers on the nearest shoal,  which was becoming more exposed (right) as the tide ebbed. The master informed the passengers that the ship would begin to heel over and that they would be landed with the crew on the shoal for their own safety. Just after making the announcement the ship started to list to port. All passengers, except two, were landed on the shoal. These two did not believe that they would be safer on the reef (and neither would I with all the crocodiles in this area at dusk). After a discussion with the master the two passengers were allowed to stay on board the ship.
  The ship listed further to port (left) as the tide continued to ebb. It eventually stabilised with the mast at an angle of approximately 26 degrees from the vertical when the shoal was approximately two metres clear of the water (right). The passengers and crew had a barbeque while waiting for the tide to turn. This proved to be a useful distraction as it kept everyone busy while waiting for the ship to refloat. When the flood tide started, the passengers and crew were returned to the ship. By 7pm everyone was back on board. At 8pm the ship was afloat. The master decided not to continue into Hunter River, and set a reciprocal course for Port Nelson, and by 2300 the ship was at anchor to the north of Hardy Point. At 0730 on 23 July, Leeuwin II resumed her voyage to Darwin, arriving there at 0830 on 29 July. SW tip of Bigge Island (AUS 729) - About 1.6 NM off the south west tip of Bigge Island there is a 25 m high island. Between this island and Bigge Island, there is an unsurveyed area and inside this area at approx location 14o 38.65' S, 125o 04.50' E there is an uncharted rock that dries about 2 m LWS. Keep a good lookout for this one if you intend cruising up the west coast of Bigge Island inside the unnamed island and Queen Island further north. SW side of Jar Island (AUS 728) - The area on the south west side of Jar Island is marked as "unsurveyed" on AUS 728. However, this are two isolated rocks marked on the chart in this area. The rock close off the south west tip of Jar Is is incorrectly charted and lies about 400 m SSE of its charted position at approx 14o 09.62' S, 126o 13.71' E. The catamaran "Maverick Dream" spent a few hours on this rock in early July 2006 and was repaired on the nearby beach with the aid of yachties from several other cats. Keep a good look out for this one if you intend exploring the excellent rock art on Jar Island.  Middle Rock (AUS 728) - The charts are confusing. I am referring to my editions of AUS 728, dated 6 April 1987 and 21 Mar 2003 respectively. The 1987 chart has Middle Rock on the north west side of the channel and the 2003 chart has the rock on the south east side of the channel.  An approximate waypoint for Middle Rock is 13o 58.1' S, 126o 20.8' E.
Notwithstanding where the rock and the channel are shown on the charts, if travelling NE out of Vansittart Bay, leave the rock about 100 to 200m on your port side and if travelling SW into Vansittart Bay, leave the rock 100 to 200m on your starboard side. There should be 15 to 25m depth all the way through on this track (left). This photo of Middle Rock (right) was taken from the centre of the channel looking north-west and shows Long Is in the background.
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