We have cruised the Kimberley Coast seven times over the past 25 years for an aggregate cruising time of nearly 24 months.  Each cruise has been exciting and different. 

In 1982 we felt like pioneers.  Cruising along the coast for 3 months in our little 9.2m yacht Spindrift III, we used binoculars and an echo sounder for navigation.  Our only chart for this extensive coastal area was BA1047 - Cape Fourcroy to Cape Leveque - at a very small scale of 1 : 1,000,000.  Even with a shallow 1.5m draft, we sat on the bottom in several places at low tide.

In August 1990, we cruised from Darwin to Bigge Island on the Adams 11.9m yacht, Rattle 'N' Hum.  Navigation instruments had not advanced much since 1982, and did not include radar, Sat Nav, GPS or any AUS700 series charts.  Auxiliary power was a two-stroke 15hp Yamaha outboard.  With a 2.1m draft, care was required when rounding headlands and approaching river entrances. 

In September 1998, we returned for another cruise to the Berkeley and King George Rivers on our own Farr 11.6m cruiser, Farr Star (right). Still with a deep 2.1m draft, but with the aid of a GPS, we were now able to "backtrack" along the deepest approaches into a river.

From 2002 to 2006 we cruised the Kimberley on Second Innings.  With a 1m draft, and equipped with many charts, a GPS, notebook computer and CMap, we were in a much better position to avoid reefs and sandbars.  An Aquapro dinghy also equipped with echo-sounder and GPS was used extensively for shallow water surveys, so we had sufficient information and confidence to enter and exit most rivers in safety in either daylight or darkness.

Spindrift III 1982 Cruise | Kimberley Cruises '90 & '98 | Second Innings Cruises '02 to '06

This page was last updated 07 April, 2008  -  download Kimberley Cruises.pdf