Horizontal Falls - Part 2 - Maluexploringoz.com

I left you hanging, I’m sorry. I said a week and it took over a months, I do apologize and have not really an excuse, just life happening.

Anyway, here we are again – we are in Talbot Bay making our way to the Horizontal Falls after the croc scare at lunch.

To this day I am amazed that the croc smelt our cooking. I mean, he must have been under water at the time and we didn’t spill anything overboard or wash dishes yet.

After this impressive encounter we continued our journey to the bottom of Talbot Bay where the Horizontal Falls are.

The entrance to the Horizontal Falls is hidden…
…behind Slug Island.
Coming around the island you still can’t really see the gap, until you get closer.
There it is – right in front of the bow. So narrow that you can barely make it out.

There was not much tidal movement when we were there, which makes it safer to cruise through the gap than on big tides. As usual the photos and video do not do it justice.

Even though it was nothing compared to a 10m tide gushing in or out, there were still dangerous swirls and currents.
It looks so easy on the videos. You need to be there to feel the tugs of the whirls and the force of the current. The whirls are strong enough to change course of the boat and push you right into the rocks if you are not onto it.
With such a fabulous skipper I felt save. Thank you x

It was very exciting to get through the Horizontal Falls at last. We hang out in the bay between the two falls for a while, watching the second gap and contemplating if we could try to get through that one too. We decided the tide was gushing in too much to risk it. A bit disappointed to not have done the lot, but excited we got through the first we headed back out into Talbot Bay.

We flew the drone to get a good idea of the conditions
it looks smooth and calm from this side
you get an idea already from this perspective
yes, the tide is flowing hard

The tide only just started to come in, so it there wasn’t that much water pumping through the gap. By the time we would try to exit there would be more current and the exit hairier.

we decided to head back into the bay and find a camp for the night

Coming out of the falls we passed the pontoon where the planes and cruise boats dock to drop off their customers to do the Horizontal Falls trip in the dingys. We did our trip just in time before it was returned to traditional owners (Aboriginal peoples) and closed to tourism.

The pontoon, from where the customers used to catch the dingy. The area has been returned to its traditional owners by now. At the time of writing its not quite clear how the tourism here will continue – either by tours run by the traditional owners or original operators hired by the traditional owners. Either way, private vessels are not allowed anymore. You definitely can still book flights to see the falls from above though.

We camped in Cyclone creek.
and enjoyed the rest of the cod with some fried spuds (potatoes) for dinner.

The next morning, we did the falls again, just because it was so much fun! The tide was better too, so we went through the 2^nd one also!

crossing the bay from Cyclone Creek to Horizontal Falls
here we go again

here we go. the second gap is pretty narrow
it feels like you could reach out and touch the walls. Not quite, but its close.
what a pristine world
on the other side of the two falls / gaps

and back out of the gap

We headed back into Cyclone Creek to check it out, since it was already dark last night when we got there.

We had a look around the other half of Talbot Bay and stopped for a fish. I caught a fish and was not quick enough to get him up. A shark got my fish and wrapped himself around the anchor rope! What a chaos.

Talbot Bay
Shark took my fish and tangled himself around anchor rope

Then our dream to explore the Montgomery Reef shattered. We contacted one of the big cruise boats to get a weather forecast. It will be pretty rough seas for the next few days due to extremely strong winds and big tides. The area of the reef is very open with zero shelter options.

Disappointed we anchored up and spent the night in Talbot Bay. The next morning we had to backtrack through the channel near Koolan Island and give Montgomery a miss.

We went past Dogleg and stopped in the bay outside Silvergull Creek – remember, we explored that one in the blog about the Buccaneer Archipelago.

We were about to cook up a feed, when the fisheries paid us a visit. Turned out one of our fishing licences was expired! Good we didn’t have any fish on board!

It was quite impressive to watch them approach other boats. They got a little speedboat that shoots out from the back of the big boat and races to their victim while the big boat calmly catches up to them.

The boat to the left is the mothership of the fisheries. The small speedboat already docked and fisheries are on board the boat on the right.

After this entertainment we finally found Croc Creek! We tried to get there on our last trip but ran out of time. Perfect spot for a walk and swim.

Found Croc Creek
At the end of the creek is a deep hole that doesn’t drain out even on king tides. There you can anchor the boat and climb up a ladder to a nice pool.
tied up, up we go for a swim
Thanks to Danny, from Roebuck Bay Trimming in Broome – he made our shadesail we can put up on the back of the fix shade
the lower pool with waterfall coming from the upper pool – We were a bit sceptical regarding crocs. I mean, when the tide is fully up, they can access that pool, so there might be one hiding…
we hiked up to the second pool for a swim. Which provides a fantastic view of the lower pool and the creek, a bit like an infinity pool.
view from the upper pool
the upper pool
and down we go again
time to leave, because the next low tide will be even lower and then we are stuck

We headed out of the creek so we wouldn’t be trapped by the tide in the morning and found a beautiful beach with a fantastic sunset view a little north of croc creek. That night, there was no sign of the change in weather that was coming, and we second guessed our decision.

A lovely beach for a camp
and a stunning sunset
the weather looked stormy the next morning
Right in front of us was the most spectacular rock
with an Osprey nest on top.
We were so focussed on getting a good shot of the nest and bird that we forgot to take a drone shot from actual camp, haha.

We woke to a very stormy looking sky and were glad we decided to head back early. We headed south to Cone Bay and had a smooth trip with quite nice weather and clear sky. The wind started to pick up just as we were about to reach the protection of the bay.

It was a rough night anchored in front of one of our previous camps. Cold and windy, but in the morning the sky was blue again.

Within Cone Bay the water was navigable, so we decided to head across to the other side where there is another abandoned camp. The tale says it used to be a hippie camp with a marihuana plantation.

Its quite simple to find the way to the camp, you just follow the pipe – water supply for the Barra Farm in Cone Bay.
It brings you right up to the top where you’ll find a very overgrown flat.
You can barely see the building until you stand right in front of it.
bedroom with mozzie nets on every window
Lounge room
kitchen
pool
alternative pool just a stroll downhill from camp
the Barra Farm

Back at camp the tide was out a looong way. A good example of how big the tides are up here. On the positive side (I mean the mud is not great, haha), you can walk to the oysters!! So, we went on an oyster hunt and gorged ourselves. Straight off the rocks is definitely my favourite.

some other remains of previous visitors
stunning rocks not far out, but they are submerged on big tides!
a big mudflat on low tide
after the wet season you get a waterfall on the left hand side of the beach

We got some oysters to cook for dinner as well. We came across an anchor made of stone, wonder how old that one is!

ancient (?) stone anchor
where we got the oysters from
sizzling away on the hotplate

The next day we thought we give it a go to head back to mainland. It’s so hard to imagine a rough sea when you hang out in the calm bay. The waves got bigger and bigger and by the time we left the bay we regretted trying to cross today. It was too late to turn around as going against the tide and waves would have been even worse – so we thought.

Not long and I had to stop videoing as I was holding on tight with both hands. We stopped talking and just prayed we’d get to the islands out of the Dampier Peninsula without turning turtle (flipping over) the boat. We were already soaking wet from the spray of the waves but couldn’t feel the cold because of the adrenalin.

Closer to the islands the swell got insane. When we went down the dip of one wave, the wave next to it was higher than the shade sail of the boat! I am so impressed with my partners skippering skills, avoiding hitting a wave and sinking us, I sure would have sunk us! He got us across to the islands. The entrance between the islands was a washing machine with waves coming from at least three directions. Somehow, he managed to manoeuvre us through and we took shelter behind Sunday Island in a section that is called ‘the pool’.

We didn’t get much of a break as there were bommies (rocks, usually submerged and covered in corals etc) started popping up all around us. Soon there were so many we didn’t know where to go. If the boat would end up stuck on top of a bommie it would tip the boat with the outgoing tide.

We ended up finding the proper pool in ‘the pool’ where the sounder couldn’t see anything on the bottom. Within two hours the whole area was covered in bommies with us sitting in the middle of it. The tide was still going out as the sun was setting. As stunning as the sunset was, the fear we could end up on top of an emerging bommie kept us awake most of the night.

As the sun went down, we saw why entering the pool was a washing machine. There is a rock wall where we came in and over!

you can see the rocks exposed in front of the land to the right, thats where we boated over, the water must have been shallow and causing the water to turn into violent waves.

Waking up in the morning, all the bommies were gone. The water was so calm, and we had a proper glass off where we had a washing machine the day before. We were on tenderhooks, it felt like it can’t be right. Leaving the protection of the islands we got decent waves, not as bad as the day before, you still wouldn’t go out fishing in this though. We clung to the coast and made our way back to where we’d left the Ute.