Saturday 26th July Grand, Great, Gushing Mitchell Falls

We were very excited this morning as we were booked to visit the Mitchell Falls. This was an optional tour and an add on. Our group was not departing until 11:00 am so we spent the morning soaking up the beautiful scenery from the deck at the stern of the ship. There were about 40 of us who taken the option of going to Mithcell Falls so the rest of the group were heading out in the Explorers on excursions. Once they had left, we watched some dolphins swimming together just off from the ship. I was busy watching the dolphins when a large crocodile suddenly appeared from the depths of the sea, only a couple of metres from the ship! It stayed up for about 30 seconds before making a dive. From then on, I was on crocodile watch and the croc obliged with a few more appearances. Soon it was time for our group to board the zodiac that was to take us to a nearby beach, where we were to be picked up by two helicopters. I was a little concerned that the crocodile might still be hanging around, but we felt quite safe climbing into the zodiacs from the landing at the back of the ship. We landed safely on the beach and then walked to our helicopter, boarded and took off heading to Mitchell Falls. The flight took about twenty minutes and we flew over incredible scenery. I’ll let the photos do the talking. Rob was sitting in the front seat next to the pilot and I was directly behind him. There is no “door or window” for the rear seats in this helicopter. Once you have your seatbelt on, you get to enjoy the views and fresh air!  Once we had landed and disembarked from the helicopters, we walked to the two lookouts to observe the magnificent Mitchell Falls and they did not disappoint. Due to extra rain in April and June they were still flowing at a good rate with a large volume of water coming over the falls. Following our walks Rob and I had a swim in the large water pool. This was very refreshing as it was quite warm. As we were away from the ship for lunch, we had been provided with a packed lunch. We enjoyed sitting in the shade and eating our lunch while waiting for our helicopter to come and take us on the return trip. Everyone swapped seats for the return journey and once again our pilot gave us a wonderful view of this incredible landscape. We landed back on the beach just in time for one of the Explorer boats to come and pick us up from the beach, to take us on an afternoon scenic cruise around the waterways of Wollaston Bay, passing Palm Island. We enjoyed watching for more wild-life and the visually impressive Kimberley coast. Returning to the ship, we had just enough time for a quick shower and then we hopped back on the Explorer again this time for beach drinks and canapes on Veranda Beach. The crew had set up seating, and a bar and it was a very special way to complete the day, watching the sunset over Wollaston Bay.