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Explore Australia’s Kimberley region on an unforgettable small ship expedition cruise. Visit Mitchell Falls, Swift Bay, Montgomery Reef, Doubtful Bay, Horizontal Falls and more on this 10 night all-inclusive adventure.
Cruises depart April 2025 - September 2025 & 2026
A Passion for Expedition Cruising
For over 30 years Coral Expeditions has had one purpose - taking small groups of likeminded explorers to the most remote parts of the world with expert guidance and warm Australian hospitality.
Coral Expeditions has over 24 years experience in the Kimberley, with an expert expedition team who love to share their passion and knowledge with you.
*Advertised price is per solo traveller based on 13 April 2025 departure in a promenade Deack Category B stateroom, correct as of 18 July 2024.
Seasonal Travel Time
Waterfall Season: At the end of the wet season, experience rushing waterfalls and creeks, with abundant wildlife and lush greenery. April to May
Peak Season: The most popular time to see the Kimberley. Enjoy optimum weather with cooler temperatures and no rain. The wildlife is abundant, and the landscape vibrant. May to July
Whale Season: Large pods of humpback whales migrate to Kimberley waters and are often spotted during these months. The weather is hot and dry, with beautiful sunsets. July to September
Inclusions & Highlights
Inclusions
10 nights aboard Coral Adventurer in your choice of cabin from Darwin to Broome (or V.V)
All shore excursions (with the exception of optional Mitchell Falls flight)
Use of Xplorer and Zodiacs
Daily lectures and briefings with Guest Lecturers
All meals, chef-prepared on board
Captain’s welcome and farewell events, and open bridge access
Selected wines, selected beers and house spirits, juices, and soft drinks served with lunch and dinner
24-hour barista-style coffee and tea station
All entrance fees to National Parks, ports, traditional owner fees and charges imposed by governing authorities
Tips and gratuities
Use of all onboard facilities, incl. a reference library
Your expedition photos captured during the voyage
Post-cruise transfers to CBD hotel or airport
Wi-Fi Access – Standard speed connectivity enabling email, social image sharing, web browsing and messaging
Expedition highlights
Experience the thrill of riding the Horizontal Falls in inflatable Zodiac tender vessels
Get up close to Montgomery Reef and discover the tidal reef’s diverse marine life
Experience King George River and 80m tall twin King George waterfalls
Cruise the Prince Regent River to the ‘hanging garden’ King Cascades waterfall
Visit Indigenous rock art galleries and learn about ancient Wandjina and Gwion Gwion art
Spot native wildlife and birdlife in their natural habitat
View the Kimberley landscape by air on a scenic helicopter flight to Mitchell Falls (additional cost)
Enjoy sunset canapés and drinks on the beach as dusk settles over the Kimberley
Itinerary
Day 1: Depart Darwin / Broome
Darwin Departures: Arrive at Darwin Fort Hill Wharf for boarding at 8:00am, with time to settle into your stateroom before our 9:00am departure. There will be a light breakfast available upon boarding before we cruise across Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and sail into Western Australian waters.
Broome Departures: Arrive at the Mangrove Hotel at 3:30pm before our transfer to Broome Deep Water Port for boarding at 4:00pm. Settle into your stateroom before our 5:00pm departure.
Take the time to become acquainted with the facilities onboard before joining the expedition team in the Bridge Deck Lounge for an introduction to the Kimberley. As dusk falls, mingle with fellow travellers, the Captain and crew at Captain’s Welcome Drinks.
King George River and Falls (Oomari Falls)
Fed by the King George River draining across the Gardner Plateau, 80m tall King George Falls are the most impressive Kimberley waterfalls and the highest twin falls in Western Australia. Before reaching the mist-like spray rising from the base of King George Falls, we cruise through steep-sided gorges carved by a flooded river system that carved a swathe through the Kimberley landscape 400 million years ago.
Early in the waterfall season, we may cruise around the base of impressive King George Falls while in later months we take the opportunity to view the honeycomb erosion patterns of sandstone cliffs up close.
Vansittart Bay (Banjal)
Vansittart Bay is home to many cultural and historically significant sites like the remarkable Gwion Gwion (Bradshaw) Aboriginal rock art galleries estimated to be up to 20,000 years old. Jar Island is so-named after the pot shards found here, brought to the island by Makassan fishermen harvesting sea cucumbers (also known as trepang).
Nearby, on the Anjo Peninsula lays the well-preserved wreckage of a US Airforce C-53 Skytrooper aircraft, the result of a pilot losing his bearings flying from Perth to Broome in 1942 and putting down on a salt pan near present-day Truscott Airbase.
Mitchell Falls, Winyalkan, & Swift Bay
Tumbling down the Mitchell Plateau in a series of tiered waterfalls and emerald green rock pools, the Mitchell Falls are the photogenic poster child for the Mitchell River National Park. Take a scenic helicopter flight (additional cost) to multi-tiered Mitchell Falls where emerald-hued rock pools cascade down the escarpment and ancient rock art galleries are concealed in caves behind curtains of water.
Mitchell River National Park is inhabited by significant numbers of mammals, amphibians, reptiles and bird species which are lured by a year-round water source. Sandstone terraces beside tiered rock pools make a terrific viewing platform from which to savor the serenity of this ancient landscape.
An alternative option to Mitchell Falls is exploring the sandstone caves of Wollaston Bay or Wollaston Creek. This mass of weathered tunnels, arches and columns form a labyrinth-like maze and was once an Aboriginal midden. Another option while anchored at Winyalkan Bay is a visit to a series Wandjina and Gwion Gwion rock art galleries at Swift Bay.
In the evening we will enjoy watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean while indulging in a gourmet BBQ.
Prince Frederick Harbour and Bigge Island (Wuuyuru)
Prince Frederick Harbour is one of the Kimberley’s most spectacular locations at the southern end of York Sound. The harbour is dotted with islands lined with mangroves and monsoon rainforests, set against a backdrop of ochre-hued escarpment.
White-bellied sea eagles and other birds of prey are often seen here, and at low tide, expansive mudflats reveal large populations of mudskippers and mangrove crabs. We will take our Xplorer tender vessels on a cruise up Porosus Creek to view some striking rock formations.
Bigge Island’s Indigenous name is Wuuyuru, and the Indigenous Group of the area is the Wunambal people.
Prince Regent River and Careening Bay (Wunbung-gu)
King Cascade is a classically beautiful terraced waterfall and is one of the most photographed waterfalls in the Kimberley. Falling from a considerable height and around 50m across, water tumbles down a staggered terrace of Kimberley sandstone. Layer upon layer of ochre-hued and blackened rock sprouts grasses, mosses and ferns in a sort of lushly vegetated hanging garden.
We reach King Cascade after cruising in our Xplorer tender vessels down the steep-sided Prince Regent River which is a remarkable anomaly as the river runs dead straight along a fault line.
Lt. Phillip Parker King named nearby Careening Bay after he beached his leaking vessel HMC Mermaid to effect repairs. While stranded on this remote coastline for 17 days the ship’s carpenter carved HMC Mermaid 1820 into the bottle-shaped trunk of a boab tree near the beach. 200 years later, the Mermaid Boab Tree has since split into two trunks and sports a mammoth girth of 12m. Significantly, the bulbous tree is listed on the National Register of Big Trees and the carpenter’s careful inscription now stands almost as tall as a person.
Montgomery Reef (Yowjab)
Montgomery Reef is a biologically diverse area covering over 300 sq km and was named by Phillip Parker King. Twice daily, as the sea recedes in mammoth 11m tides, Montgomery Reef rises from the Indian Ocean in a cascade of rushing water revealing a flat-topped reef pockmarked with rock pools and rivulets.
As the reef emerges, we get up close in our Xplorer and Zodiac inflatable tenders to witness the spectacle as our Expedition Team share their knowledge on the formation of the reef and the myriad wildlife. Opportunistic birds take advantage of the emerging reef, feeding on marine life left exposed in rock pools. Turtles, dolphins, dugongs and sawfish too are also attracted to feeding opportunities as the ocean recedes.
The ocean is awash in a swirl of eddies and whirlpools as the moon’s gravitational force takes hold. Then, a few hours later the entire water-borne drama is reversed as the tide comes in and Montgomery Reef disappears below sea level.
Doubtful Bay
Red Cone Creek flows gently downstream until it meets the small but impressive Ruby Falls. Named by local mariner Capt. Chris Trucker after his daughter, Red Cone Creek is carved through rock formations stacked atop each other like building blocks. These rock walls are great for climbing and clambering over before reaching a series of freshwater swimming holes and waterfalls. The falls may be a gurgling torrent or a gentle trickle, depending on the time of the year.
Other sites we aim to visit in Doubtful Bay include the mighty Steep Island and Ruby Falls at Red Cone Creek.
Horizontal Falls (Garaanngaddim) and Buccaneer Archipelago
The Horizontal Falls are one of the Kimberley’s biggest attractions and are a result of the mammoth 11m tides the Kimberley is renowned for. Naturalist David Attenborough described the Horizontal Falls as ‘one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.’
This natural phenomenon has been created as the ocean thunders through a narrow gorge in the McLarty Ranges. Water builds up on one side and is forcibly pushed through the bottleneck, creating a rushing horizontal waterfall of swiftly flowing seawater. Riding the rapids on our Zodiac inflatable tenders is one of the highlights of our Kimberley expedition cruises.
Talbot Bay is at the heart of the Buccaneer Archipelago, where rocks on the 800 or so islands are estimated at over 2 billion years old. At Cyclone Creek, you will see evidence of massive geological forces in the impressive rock formations and cruise through the Iron Islands, past Koolan Island, before enjoying sunset drinks at Nares Point.
The Lacepede Islands
The Lacepede Islands are a protected class-A nature reserve and are significant as a seabird nesting rookery for brown boobies and roseate terns. Other species often sighted at the Lacepedes include Australian Pelicans, frigate birds, egrets and gulls. The four low-lying islands are also an important breeding and nesting habitat for green turtles.
If weather and tide conditions are suitable, we will explore the lagoons by Xplorer and Zodiac tender vessels.
As our incredible Kimberley adventures draw to a close, on our last evening aboard we enjoy the Captain’s farewell drinks amongst new-found friends.
Day 11: Arrive in Broome / Darwin
Our incredible adventure along the Kimberley Coast concludes. Bid farewell to new-found friends, the Captain and crew. A post-cruise transfer to Broome CBD or Airport is included.
Broome Arrival: Arrive in Broome this morning at 8:00am. A post-cruise transfer to Broome CBD or Airport is included. If you’re not transferring directly to the airport why not spend the day visiting world-famous Cable Beach or stroll the historic streets of Chinatown in central Broome.
Darwin Arrival: Arrive and disembark at Darwin’s Fort Hill Wharf at 08:30am. Post cruise transfers to CBD hotels or the airport are included. If you’re not transferring directly to the airport why not spend the day enjoying the tropical city of Darwin with its landscaped waterfront and harbourside Wave Pool.
Booking terms and conditions apply.
*
Term and conditions apply: All pricing subject to change and availability. Advertised prices are per person twin share unless stated otherwise. Offers may be withdrawn at any time. Itineraries are subject to change. Booking Conditions and Phil Hoffmann Travel Schedule of Professionalism* applies. Please speak to your Phil Hoffmann Travel Consultant for more information.