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A Kimberley coast expedition
Ten days crewed along the Kimberley coast from Broome, where tides of ten metres set the schedule and there is no resupply.
The route
| Day | From | To | Distance | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broome | Offshore passage north | 60 to 90 nm | Overnight or long day north. Sets up the whole trip. |
| 2 | Passage | Montgomery Reef area | 40 to 60 nm | Arrival timed to the tide, not the clock. |
| 3 | Montgomery Reef | Talbot Bay | 30 to 45 nm | Horizontal Falls only at the right state of tide. |
| 4 | Talbot Bay | Raft Point area | 25 to 40 nm | Rock art ashore, weather and tide permitting. |
| 5 | Raft Point | Prince Regent area | 50 to 70 nm | Long leg. River entrances need water and light. |
| 6 | Prince Regent | King Cascade | 20 to 30 nm | Upstream on the tide. Do not linger past the turn. |
| 7 | King Cascade | Careening Bay area | 45 to 65 nm | Reposition. Anchorages are fewer than the chart suggests. |
| 8 | Careening Bay | Return passage south | 60 to 90 nm | Start home with days in hand. |
| 9 | Passage | Staging anchorage | 50 to 70 nm | Buffer day. Used more often than not. |
| 10 | Staging anchorage | Broome | 40 to 60 nm | Conservative arrival. Broome has its own tidal access limits. |
The Kimberley coast is the most demanding cruising ground in Australia and the most rewarding. Ten days gets you a genuine taste of it. This is crewed expedition sailing only, and the reason is not snobbery. It is tide.
Who this suits and who it does not
It suits people who want remote country, rock art, waterfalls and a coast with almost nobody on it. It suits photographers and walkers as much as sailors. It suits guests who are happy to be looked after by a crew who have done this route many times.
It does not suit bareboat charter in any form. Tides here run to around ten metres, the currents that go with them are ferocious, and much of the coast is charted at a level that requires local knowledge to use safely. No responsible operator hires a boat here to visitors, and a vessel's Survey: see glossary">Certificate of Survey would not allow it anyway. See safety and commercial vessel rules and charter types.
It does not suit anyone with tight travel connections at either end, or anyone who needs daily contact with the outside world.
The shape of the days
Legs of twenty to ninety nautical miles, all rounded planning estimates. The plan above is indicative only, and the real one is written each morning.
Day one is long, because you have to get north out of Broome before the interesting country starts. Day ten is conservative for the same reason in reverse, with a buffer day at day nine. Broome itself has tidal access limits, so your arrival time is set by the water, not the itinerary.
Everything in the middle moves. A river entrance that is straightforward at high water slack is impassable three hours later. Montgomery Reef only does the thing it is famous for on a falling tide. Horizontal Falls only runs at a particular state. The crew arrange the week around the tide table and you follow.
Decision points
Tide is the first, second and third decision. Timing an entrance wrong is not an inconvenience, it is the difference between going in and not going in at all that day.
The fourth is the season. May to October is the tropical dry season, dominated by south-east trade winds, and it is the only window. The official Australian tropical cyclone season runs 1 November to 30 April, with cyclones possible outside it, and the Kimberley in the wet is heat, humidity, thunderstorms and cyclone exposure with no shelter worth the name. See weather and seasons.
The fifth is the trades themselves. Strong south-easterlies through the middle of the dry can close some anchorages and make the offshore legs uncomfortable.
What to book ahead
Everything, a year or more ahead. There are a limited number of expedition vessels working this coast and they sell out early for the best months, which are generally the middle of the dry season.
Flights into Broome, and accommodation either side. Do not connect same day.
Permits for country you go ashore on are the operator's job. Confirm what is included. Provisioning is fully the crew's responsibility on a private crewed trip, but tell them about dietary needs at booking, because there is no shop for a thousand kilometres. See provisioning and costs, where the expedition premium is significant.
One honest warning
Crocodiles. Estuarine crocodiles are present throughout this coast and in the rivers you will visit, and they are large, common and genuinely dangerous. Do not swim. Do not dangle limbs over the side of the tender. Do not clean fish at the waterline. Follow every instruction the crew give you about getting into and out of the tender, even when the beach looks empty, because it often is not.
The second warning is the current. A tender engine failure in a tidal race here puts you somewhere very difficult very quickly. The crew will have a rule about carrying a radio and an anchor in the tender. It is a good rule.
The Broome and the Kimberley page has the regional detail, the operator directory lists who runs it, and the region directory covers the alternatives if this is too much boat for you.
- Is the vessel exclusively ours, with no shared passengers?
- How much guest space do skipper and crew occupy?
- What catering, beverage and wharf charges sit outside the headline price?
- What is the minimum charter duration on a weekend or public holiday?
- Does the vessel's certificate cover every leg of this route, or does one leg cross into a different operating area?
Keep planning
This is an editorial suggestion compiled from public sources, not navigational, safety or weather advice, and it can be wrong. Passage planning is the skipper's responsibility. Checked 11 September 2026. See the disclaimer.