It is hard to explain why I love cruising so much.
Actually it’s easy to explain, but it’s hard to truly convey.
I know that sounds weird, but most people screw their noses up when I mention cruising.
They loathe the concept in principle.
For me it is the ultimate escape. I step onto the ship and everything that follows is someone else’s responsibility to manage, not mine.
I simply follow the daily program.
It is the most blissful escape from the real world.
The last few days have been filled with zodiac trips up remote waterways and delicious food and wine, a seaplane flight over the Kimberley and other wonderful treats.
DD reckons Saturday was one of his favourite days ever. We cruised into Talbot Bay at dawn (above is the view from my balcony) and anchored near the Horizontal Falls.
The Horizontal Falls are caused by extreme tidal currents forcing water through narrow gorges. This creates a unique “waterfall” effect, where the water appears to flow horizontally.
The direction of the flow reverses with each change of tide, creating a back-and-forth water movement.
We were lucky enough to experience both tides, seeing it pulling inwards in the morning and pushing outwards in the late afternoon.
The tides have a 10-metre variation that occurs over six and a half hours from low tide to high tide and vice versa.
The afternoon tide was quite the ride – we were swept around by the whirlpools as millions of litres of water flowed through the narrow gorge every second.
In between the wild tides, we enjoyed a seaplane ride with Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, which was a spectacular way to see the region from a completely different perspective.
The colours were out of this world.
The excitement continued on Sunday with a dawn trip to Montgomery Reef. Montgomery Reef is a large inshore reef system that is also known for its dramatic tidal changes. The reef emerges from the sea at low tide, creating spectacular waterfalls and channels.
It is home to a variety of marine life, including sea turtles, dugongs, reef sharks, dolphins and various bird species.
The reef been described by Sir David Attenborough as one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.
Le Soleal anchored with a view of the reef, which lies around 20km off the coast.
We jumped into zodiacs and spent more than an hour exploring one of the many inlets, spotting turtles and birds and marvelling at the huge spring tide that was sending magnificent cascades of water down the reef as it rose.
Afterwards, the crew pitched umbrellas on a sand spit that had also risen at low tide. We went ashore for orange juice and iced coffee from a drink station, then wandered the temporary shores.
Loved every minute of it.
In the afternoon we went on a hike to see rock art in Freshwater Cove. It was outrageously hot, but worth the trek, although I could have done without a fellow passenger being shocked that our Aboriginal guide didn’t know another Aboriginal bloke he’d met once in Cooktown.
He even started agitated about it, insisting the guide must know Bob.
Mate, we are a loooong way from Cooktown right now.
Anyways, apart from that and a few other culturally insensitive remarks along the way, it was a great afternoon, which ended with a glass of bubbles on deck seven watching whales frolic in Collier Bay.
Such an amazing, unforgettable weekend.
And there are still four days of fun to go!
OK, gotta run, aqua aerobics kicks off at 8.30am.
Song of the day: Daryl Hall and John Oates “You make my dreams come true”
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