Sunday 20th July, Congenial Cruising to Edeline Islands

We awoke to extremely calm seas and enjoyed a hearty breakfast before heading to the lounge for another briefing with our expedition team leader, Wayne. We were about to start when we were told that the briefing would start later than planned because there were whales, basking around the ship. We ventured outside and saw many whales although they did not come that close to the ship. The briefing was about the excursions and what to do as we move from the ship to the smaller boats. Wayne is extremely entertaining and reminds me of Scott Cam from The Block. A very laconic and knowledgeable Australian. Wayne’s talk was followed by an information session about the optional Mitchell Falls helicopter experience presented by Allan, another member of the expedition team. We decided to sign up for this as this is probably the one and only time, we will get to experience this. We have 107 passengers on the ship and two guest, expedition team lecturers, who assist the rest of the expedition team and have expertise in many areas. One these experts, Greg, did a fabulous presentation on many aspects of the Kimberly, including history, geology, endemic species to the area and other interesting topics about this region. His presentation was both informative and hilarious! Following lunch, we departed on the Kimberley Explorer 1, (a small boat that can hold about 60 passengers) to visit the nearby Edeline Islands. This was an interesting experience as the boat was loaded with passengers while still suspended up above the water level and then lowered into the sea. We had two expedition team members with us and we did a “wet-landing” (where your feet get wet) onto the beach of one of the islands. Here we viewed striking natural sculptures made from sandstone and a set of pearl diver graves located on the island. From here we enjoyed time, exploring the waterways around the islands, returning to the ship around 4.30pm. After freshening up, we enjoyed a Captain’s welcome in the lounge with drinks and canapes, followed by a delicious dinner. We met another lovely couple from Melbourne and enjoyed excellent conversation with them over dinner.