The Kimberley
Ten-metre tides do the work here: reefs rise from the sea, rivers run backwards, and a gap in the McLarty Range turns into a waterfall twice a day. Between Broome and Darwin, the only other guests are crocodiles.
The Kimberley is the last coastline still run by the tide rather than the clock: spring tides of up to twelve metres rearrange reefs, reverse rivers, and turn a gap in the McLarty Range into a sideways waterfall twice a day. Between Broome and Darwin lie a thousand kilometres of uninterrupted wilderness — sandstone gorges, Gwion Gwion rock art galleries tens of thousands of years old, and a saltwater crocodile population with no natural predators and no reason to hide. There is no marina, no other yacht, and often no phone signal; only a support tender, a floatplane strip, and whichever anchorage the tide allows tonight. It is expedition cruising for owners who have already done the Mediterranean twice and want the version nobody else has seen.
“We anchored somewhere with a twelve-metre tide and watched the same waterfall run in both directions before breakfast.”
The gallery
Signature anchorages
The last coastline still run by the tide: a waterfall that flows sideways, a reef that rises from the sea, and rock art galleries older than the pyramids.
- Talbot BayTwo narrow sandstone gaps in the McLarty Range where spring tides force the sea sideways into standing rapids, forming Garaanngaddim — the Horizontal Falls; ride them by tender at the turn and anchor in the sheltered bay behind.
- Hunter River & Porosus CreekA deep, mangrove-walled river system holding the highest density of saltwater crocodiles in the Kimberley, around five per square kilometre; sundowners are best taken from the flybridge, not the swim platform.
- Careening BayA calm bay behind a heritage-listed boab tree carved 'HMC Mermaid 1820' by the crew of Phillip Parker King's survey cutter during a ten-day refit; the carving is still legible two centuries on.
- Prince Regent RiverAn arrow-straight gorge between 50-metre cliffs running to the tiered plunge pools of King Cascade — a rare, genuinely swimmable freshwater stop deep inside crocodile country.
- Vansittart BayWhite salt-flat beaches sheltering the wreck of a USAAF C-53 Skytrooper, belly-landed here on 26 February 1942 when its crew ran out of fuel and options; the airframe is still remarkably intact.
- Raft PointRed pindan cliffs opening onto a rock shelter of Wandjina figures — cloud-and-rain ancestral spirits repainted by custodians for generations, some panels estimated at 5,000 years old.
- Prince Frederick HarbourThe Kimberley's only true natural deep-water harbour, with a floatplane strip alongside; the point where many superyacht itineraries change crews or guests mid-charter.
The scene
Shinju Matsuri
Broome's Festival of the Pearl has run since 1970, honouring the Japanese, Malay and Chinese divers of the pearling fleet. The 2026 edition runs 21 August – 6 September, closing with fireworks over Roebuck Bay.
Staircase to the Moon
A rising full moon over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay throws a shimmering 'staircase' to the horizon on two or three nights a month; 2026 dates include 28 August.
Ord Valley Muster
Ten days of concerts, rodeo and Indigenous art and culture in Kununurra, opening the East Kimberley's dry-season calendar; the 2026 edition marks 25 years, running 15–24 May.
Camden Sound calving season
The Southern Hemisphere's largest humpback whale nursery, part of an estimated 22,000-strong population — the biggest on the planet — calving in the marine park's shallow bays.
Faraway Downs
Baz Luhrmann built Nicole Kidman's fictional cattle station near Kununurra for Australia (2008); El Questro and Home Valley Station still trade on the connection.
Table & stay ashore
The Aarli
A Broome institution for 15-plus years, running a Vietnamese-Thai-Singaporean-Chinese menu out of a converted shopfront; the chilli scrambled eggs are the reason locals queue.
Matso's Broome Brewery
Self-styled Australia's most remote brewery, pouring since 1997 from a verandah over Roebuck Bay; the Mango Beer is the souvenir everyone actually drinks.
Selene Brasserie
Pinctada Cable Beach Resort's open-air dining room, its Mediterranean and Middle Eastern menu designed by chef Greg Malouf using produce from the resort's own market garden.
Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa
Broome's original luxury address, spread through tropical gardens behind the dunes of Cable Beach, with its own spa, three restaurants and a sunset camel run out front.
El Questro Homestead
Ten clifftop suites above the Chamberlain River in the East Kimberley, all-inclusive and adults-only, set inside a 700,000-acre wilderness park — the region's benchmark for remote luxury.
A week, sketched
Broome
Board at the Kimberley Marine Support Base or by tender from the roads; clear Dambimangari and marine-park permits, watch the sun drop from Cable Beach, and slip out on the evening tide.
Buccaneer Archipelago
Thread the islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago north to Cygnet Bay, the Kimberley's own working pearl farm, for a look at the oyster lines that built Broome's fortune.
Talbot Bay
Time the tender run through Garaanngaddim — the Horizontal Falls — for slack water, then anchor in Talbot Bay to watch the same tide reverse the whole spectacle six hours later.
Montgomery Reef
Idle the tender over Montgomery Reef at first light as it sheds the falling tide in cascades, then go ashore at Raft Point to stand in front of 5,000-year-old Wandjina rock art.
Hunter River
Run deep into the Hunter River and Porosus Creek — the highest density of saltwater crocodiles anywhere in the Kimberley — for a mangrove drift best watched from the tender.
Prince Regent River
Swim the plunge pool above King Cascade, then anchor for the night in Careening Bay beside the boab tree carved by Phillip Parker King's crew in 1820.
Vansittart Bay
Walk the salt flats to the wreck of a 1942 USAAF C-53 before the final run to Prince Frederick Harbour, where floatplane transfers connect onward to Darwin or Kununurra.
Pair with
Plan this water
The Kimberley
Ten-metre tides, a waterfall that runs sideways, a reef that rises from the sea, and crocodiles that outnumber the visitors — cruising's last true wilderness coast.