The next stop on our way south into Collier Bay was Deception Bay, where we were able to take a 3 mile trip across the bay in the dinghy and through the gorge country up to the head of another relatively dry freshwater creek.  The next day we tacked south past Langii, Freshwater Cove and the High Cliffy Islands to take up anchorage at Raft Point.

The spectacular red cliffs on the headland east of Raft Point were made even more ruddy by the sunset (left).  Less than a mile north of this headland is the equally spectacular Steep Island as seen from the air (right).  Next morning we visited another charter yacht, the 30m steel schooner "Oceanic," with a 10 person spa on the foredeck full of freshwater! You can guess what the interior was like.  What a life for the 8 guests.

Two days later we departed Raft Point at midnight to catch the 6am low tide at the entrance to Talbot Bay, some 40 miles to the west.  As usual, the forecast was for W to NW winds at 10 – 15 knots.  The first few hours we made good progress hard on the wind on starboard tack, and with a little tidal assistance.  However, by 4am we were being squeezed into the 2 mile wide Caesar Channel between Melomys Island and the Wonjimba Islands where we encountered an increasing 18 to 20 knot westerly wind opposing a 3 to 4 knot easterly current.

Under the bright moon, all we could see for miles around were the white-caps of the tidal overfalls, and all we could feel was the boat bucking into 1 to 2m high breaking waves.  We tried tacking to the north but it wasn’t any better.  Finally we gave up on heading west, and reached off southwest across the waves on a wild 20 minute "wave walking" ride.  As daybreak approached, we found smoother waters closer to the coast. The next couple of hours we tacked northwest along the edge of the fringing reefs, before turning south then southwest, to motor to an anchorage near the Horizontal Waterfalls (above) in Talbot Bay.

Derby Seaplanes (left) were running four scenic flights a day into Cyclone Creek near the Horizontal Waterfalls, so we arranged for Annette to fly to Derby on the empty early morning flight, and return on the empty late afternoon flight.  Annette had a "touristy" day in Derby and stocked up on the available fresh fruit and veggies, before returning over the Horizontal Waterfalls in the floatplane and landing through the gorge (right) into Cyclone Creek.

The next day Annette completed her "tour" by surfing through the Horizontal Waterfalls in the 8m shark cat powered by two 225hp outboards (left).  Dennis was nearby taking photos from the inflatable dinghy powered by a 5hp outboard.  After three days of excitement watching tourists come and go through the falls, we motored out of Talbot Bay, through the "gutter" at the southern tip of Koolan Island and across Yampi Sound to take up anchorage and refuel in Dog Leg Creek.

Next door, at Silver Gull Creek, we caught up with all the gossip on yachts and charter boats from Julian and Jenny who were house sitting the "Squatters Arms" while Phil and Marion were on six months "leave".  The sad news from our visit to Silver Gull Creek was that the charter boat Seal had hit a reef off Gagg Islands and spent a couple of tides underwater.  The latest we heard was that the Seal had been refloated and towed to Broome to be repaired.

After a few pleasant days in Yampi Sound we carefully sailed past Gagg Islands and down through Whirlpool Pass (right) into King Sound.  The first night was spent at The Graveyard – so named because of the many pearl divers killed there in the 1890’s from the bends, or by drowning in the strong currents. Unfortunately, the winds blew quite fresh from the NW for a few days, limiting our cruise in King Sound to Strickland Bay and environs.

Kyulgam River at the head of Strickland Bay has a waterfall running into a rocky gorge (left) with a croc-free swimming hole further upstream.  Cruisers beware! Less than half a mile inside the southern branch of the river leading to the waterfall, there is a rock bar extending more than half way across the river from the eastern side.  This rock bar begins to dry at about half tide.  Fortunately, we had kept to the west on the way into the river in Second Innings, and had anchored in a clear area 100m upstream from the rocks .

After heading back through Whirlpool Pass and safely passing Gagg Islands and the nasty rock off Woodhouse Point on the northern end of Conilurus Island, we stopped off at Crocodile Creek before proceeding on to Silver Gull Creek.  Here we relaxed for a few days before tackling the return trip to Darwin. At Silver Gull the freshwater spring runs year round, the facilities are unequalled on the WA coast, and the view down the creek at high tide (above right) is as stunning as ever.

It was now time to head back east and tackle Viney Passage between the Kingfisher Islands and the southern fringe of Montgomery Reef.  Fortunately, a light easterly was blowing across Collier Bay, so we were able to motor-sail through the passage with the assistance of the 5 to 6 knot current, before picking up the seabreeze to complete the 60 mile trip to Red Cone Inlet in Doubtful Bay.  After celebrating our 34^th wedding anniversary with a barra feast on 30^th August, and spending a quiet half day at Ruby Falls (left), we reluctantly departed Red Cone Inlet for our first attempt at exploring the Sale River.

We travelled nervously across the mudflats between Red Cone Inlet and the Sale River for 2 hours in 2 to 3 m of water.  We then encountered a 50m deep hole outside the mouth of the Sale, followed immediately by a shallow sandbank with overfalls and whirlpools, followed by a 30m hole inside the mouth of the river. By then we were past the point of no return.

The river narrowed from 500m to less than 100m over the next 5 miles, depths varied sharply from 4m to 25m, and the flooding tide was pushing us upstream at 4 to 5 knots.  We spent a week at the upper anchorage over a neap tide period (right) and did not see another boat until we were about to leave.  There were plenty of flies to keep us company though. This week of solitude was really the highlight of our 2003 cruise to the Kimberley.

During the next week the light to moderate south westerlies continued to provide ideal sailing conditions each day.  After brief stops at Sampson Inlet, Port George IV, Hanover Bay and Ivy Bay we skirted the reefs and rocks through Scott Strait on the ebbing tide to anchor once again in Swifts Bay.  The spring in the western cove had all but dried up, but we were able to do washing and relax for a few days in this pleasant anchorage before heading around to the Mitchell River for a week of fishing.

With the weather warming up, the larger barra were appearing around the creek mouths in the outer Mitchell, and the mangrove jacks were on the bite around the rocky outcrops.  All good times are finite. So, as the winds were still favourable we sailed across Port Warrender to the Osborne Islands, then out around Parry Harbour and across Vansittart Bay to spend a couple of days in Anjo Cove.  We rounded Cape Londonderry, then headed into the King George River for a well earned break (just joking).