Set sail for Ancient Australia
Visiting the Kimberley without experiencing the astonishing drama of its coastline is like going to Athens and skipping the Acropolis.
“Country. It’s alive. It can feel you. It knows you,” says Old Jagamarra to his grandson Pete in 2012’s Satellite Boy, the first movie ever filmed in the Kimberley’s sacred Purnululu National Park.
Whether it’s young Pete and his pal crossing the staggering “beehive” domes of the Bungle Bungles in a quest to save their home; or Hugh Jackman’s stockman driving 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscapes in Australia, the Kimberley is shorthand for a special kind of transformative journey. The kind that brings you closer to what lies within.
But to think of Australia’s vast final frontier as only a place of unyielding desert and fire-red ranges, is to (literally) miss an essential element. Water. Visiting the Kimberley without experiencing the astonishing drama of its 12,000 kilometre coastline is like going to Athens and skipping the Acropolis.
Cue the new Kimberley sailing expeditions from French luxury expedition cruise operator Ponant. From 2023, Ponant is debuting intimate Kimberley crossings aboard its freshly-refitted, 88-metre three-master, Le Ponant. The dream yacht packages will celebrate the jaw-dropping seascapes and aquatic marvels of northernmost Western Australia, one of Earth’s most ancient terrains, inhabited for perhaps 40,000 years.
“This will be the first time anyone has offered a luxury sailing expedition along Australia’s iconic Kimberley coast,” says Mick Fogg, Ponant’s Asia Pacific Director of Expeditions. “It’s going to be an exceptional experience for guests, combining barefoot luxury and exploration in one of the world’s last wild frontiers.”
Forget crowded buffets and deck lounger lotto. With just 32 passengers (and one crew member to every guest), these five-star sailing expeditions will unite adventure-led travel and sustainable luxury, without a whiff of superyacht excess. Decked out in tranquil taupe, off-white and caviar grey tones, Le Ponant embodies understated sophistication. Guests can choose from 16 elegant staterooms and suites, spread out over three decks; to foster the sense of being on a private yacht. All quarters have large windows; with the prized Owner’s Suite and Grand Privilege Suite also sporting balconies and sitting areas. Meanwhile, Le Ponant’s chic new common areas offer passengers a sun lounge, panoramic restaurant and bar, wellness space, marina zone and four Zodiacs for excursions and landings.
On board Le Ponant, you can forget all about schedules, too, promises Mick Fogg. “Our Kimberley sailing expeditions will be fully flexible itineraries tailored to the tides and weather, with no predetermined destinations. We want to showcase the most remarkable features of this pristine environment, at a more relaxed pace, as they change throughout the season.”
That might mean sailing along the ochre and orange edifices of the soaring Gibb River Road gorges in April, after the Big Wet, while your chef prepares your local delicacy lunch: something like seasonal wild barramundi from Darwin drizzled with Australian lemon oil, tantalises Mick, or WA crayfish with ponzu gel inspired by the Japanese pearlers who came to Broome in the late 1800s.
Perhaps you’ll witness the hurtling twin waterfalls of King George River (male and female Rainbow Serpents to the Balanggarra People); gape at intricate 20,000-year-old Gwion Gwion cave art that opens a window onto our earliest civilisations; or take in rare tidal phenomena, such as the Horizontal Falls of Talbot Bay.
Come September, when the humpbacks migrate en masse from Antarctica to breed in warmer waters, you might spy a breaching whale, just before your on-board massage. Or during a shore excursion with fellow guests.
“I’ll never forget being out in the Buccaneer archipelago on a Zodiac when a humpback whale suddenly appeared directly beneath us,” recalls Mick, who’s been exploring the Kimberley since early 2000s. “It rose slowly out of the cloudy waters, dwarfing us; its pectoral fins spread out on either side of our Zodiac. We all held our breath tightly; wondering what was going to happen next…
“It rolled onto its side, looked directly at us and with one beat of its tail dove off back into the depths.”
Another extraordinary sight - one that never pales for Mick - is the tumbling waters of Montgomery Reef, the world’s largest inshore reef.
“Imagine almost 400 square kilometres of reef system covered by up to five metres of water at high tide. Then, as the tide rapidly recedes, the ocean seems to bend before your eyes and cascading waters appear upon the reef as far as you can see. It truly is one of nature’s greatest shows.”
Le Ponant passengers will also be treated to a memorable transfer flight over the ancient Kimberley landscape aboard a Grumman Mallard amphibious aircraft between Broome or Kununurra and Kuri Bay, thanks to an exclusive arrangement with the Paspaley Pearling Company.
Seaplane frolics aside, Le Ponant voyages are crafted with sustainable tourism front of mind and revolve around non-motorised, water-based activities, small-group disembarkations, SCR filter system technology to slash diesel emissions by 90%, and periods of sailing only to the rhythms of the wind. It all chimes with the origin charter of Ponant, created in 1988 by officers of the French Merchant Navy, to offer a new breed of cruising that splices an appetite for dramatic territories such as the Kimberley with French-inspired hospitality, aboard small capacity luxury vessels.
Unlike a regular cruise, on Le Ponant you can also sit ringside to the spectacle of sailing and soak up an enlivening behind the scenes vantage of navigation and crew manoeuvres. A journey within a journey, if you like. Just like Pete and Hugh, and countless others before them, reaching right back down through the millennia. All the way back until the original inhabitants greeted those first savagely beautiful Kimberley sunrises. Unless you’d prefer to simply sip on a cocktail and contemplate your next shore excursion.
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