Coral Expeditions new cruise ship embarks in Queensland
Even when borders snap shut, the show must go on for the maiden voyage of a new ship.
This is the historic realm of adventurous seafarers, northern Australia, from Indigenous people in dugout canoes, to traders from New Guinea and Makassar, pearl traders and early European explorers. And in our own way, all of us aboard Coral Geographer, sailing from Cairns, are pioneers. It’s a fair bet we are the only people in the world on the maiden voyage of a brand new expedition cruise ship. Quite where we’re headed, however, as we steer north into the Coral Sea, is a mystery, but all will be revealed.
If our destination is uncertain, what could be more powerful than the joy of being afloat again, embracing the freedom of the seas? Of the glorious moments to come, I will stand at the northernmost tip of continental Australia, Cape York, and catch the remains of the day — a startling ribbon of pink hemmed between bands of cloud above shimmering silver water; sit on the ship’s Vista deck late at night and contemplate sea all around and the densely starred night sky above; and explore another world in the coral gardens of the Great Barrier Reef with its pellucid waters, exotic fish, giant clams and green sea turtles. David Attenborough docos by night in the Bridge Deck lounge, the real deal by day.
It has been an adventure leading up to departure. A few days before the $75m Coral Geographer, operated by Cairns-based Coral Expeditions, is to be christened with a bottle of champagne against its bow and set sail on a 19-day voyage across the top of Australia to Broome, Greater Brisbane is snapped into lockdown after new COVID cases. Both the West Australian and Northern Territory governments impose quarantine restrictions on people arriving from anywhere in Queensland, ruling out planned itinerary stops, which include the Kimberley, and Broome as a disembarkation point.
The Coral Expeditions team has to reconfigure fast. It devises a 14-day Cairns round trip and all-Queensland destinations. Passengers from Brisbane are ineligible to sail and others are offered a refund if they cancel, but the truth is, most guests — from as far afield as Perth, Adelaide, Launceston, Melbourne, Bendigo, Sydney, Port Macquarie and the Gold and Sunshine coasts — are already in Cairns and reluctant to abandon ship.
Captain Jacopo Barchetti sets course with just under two-thirds of the 99 passengers the ship can carry. Although it is a work in progress, our itinerary will now include Lizard Island, Cape York and Torres Strait, the abandoned settlement of Somerset (once mooted as a second Singapore), the wild Jardine River, which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria, Piper Islands group, Stanley Island, Cooktown, Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge and Dunk Island. There will be snorkelling and diving opportunities at exotic Osprey, Holmes and Yamacutta reefs.
It’s impressive that Coral can turn around this alternative on a dime; a trip of discovery it truly becomes. Some of the destinations are offered on the company’s reef itineraries but others are exploratory and may be added to future routes.
It would be naive to pretend there is no disappointment but all cruising depends on natural forces. Add to unpredictable weather a virus, although what part of recent restrictions meets a medical imperative and what part political is up for lively debate among guests. Some ponder the absurdity of different lockdown rules decided by state boundaries drawn on the map in the 19th century; Cairns is as far from hotspot Brisbane as Melbourne is. All guests have complied with the company’s rigorous SailSafe health program (see More to the Story).
But there’s something remarkable about my fellow passengers: most are loyal Coral Expeditions guests, “repeat offenders” as one remarks. Do I hear 12 trips with two more in the pipeline, 17, more than 20? Disappointment ebbs as guests (who will receive a partial refund) catch up with friends and crew from other trips; it is like a family reunion. We have a beautiful new ship to explore, a sister to Coral Adventurer with a few modifications, and we are cruising again. By day three a rainy spell has passed and tropical sunrises herald perfect weather. In Dinah Washington’s words, what a difference a day makes.
Guests are “of an age”, but travel-wise and energetic, up for water activities and hikes, ranging from moderate to strenuous. It’s an affluent group, but not a crowd content to laze around the pool or rip through the loot in a casino. The small vessel with five public decks has neither. What it does offer is stylish comfort.
I feel instantly at home in my 21.4sq m Explorer Deck Balcony Stateroom with a junior king-size bed, swivel recliner armchair, desk, oodles of hanging space and thoughtfully designed bathroom. The cabin has a feature wall of handcrafted teak and cool marble, and a balcony setting for two, perfect for lingering longer as sunshine dazzles over turquoise water. There are 26 cabins in this category, six larger Bridge Deck Balcony Suites and 28 smaller staterooms with windows or portholes. Public spaces, including the dining room and bar areas, inside and out, have a similar stay-a-while appeal. It is a quiet ship with an impressive collection of Indigenous and photographic art, a small but not-bad library and a gym. The open bridge means passengers can talk navigation with captain and crew, and engine room tours are on offer. As a gripe, Wi-Fi is poor.
The ship’s landing vessels are ingenious — two Xplorer tenders boarded on deck three and lowered by hydraulic lift to the water. The ship’s Zodiacs allow close-up missions in secluded waterways such as among the mangroves of the Jardine and Endeavour rivers.
Of course, we are not heading out willy-nilly. Expedition leader Jamie Anderson and guest lecturer Ian Morris have wit and wisdom and lifetimes of experiences in northern Australia, and younger generation team members Dawn Singleton, Joel Moore and dive leader Sally Richards are erudite and convivial. So too are professional photographers Juergen (Yogi) and Stella Freund, who have worked on commissions for the WWF and whose pictures of the natural world are stunning. The team, who keep us entertained and challenged in daily lectures, could spot a reef egret at a hundred paces. And they do, as well as two majestic white bellied sea eagles as we approach the flooded mangrove forests of Baird Island. My most touching wildlife moment is watching a young brown booby learning to take flight on a cay in Davie Reef.
The greatest thrill is snorkelling at Osprey Reef, the tip of an isolated sea mountain in the Coral Sea Marine Park. Don’t look down in that darker water over yonder: the sea floor is a 2000m drop. On our adventures we are in quest of crocodiles and spot their marks on isolated beaches but see none. Who knows, perhaps they see us?
Our travels allow us to thread together stories of human endeavour in these waters. In a cave on Stanley Island, Indigenous rock art depicts creatures of the air, land and sea, including dugongs and sailing vessels. These paintings in red ochre and white clay have been part of continuous story-telling by the Yiithuwarra people and the latest additions, says a sign, were made in 1940.
James Cook’s story is writ large in the far north. His bark, HMS Endeavour, came to grief on the reef and limped into what is now Cooktown, where a museum in a grand 19th-century convent tells the story of the 48 days he and his crew spent in repairs. On nearby Lizard Island, so named because of the “pretty plenty” yellow-spotted monitors Cook noted, he was able to plot a course through the treacherous waters. He claimed the east coast of Australia for George III on August 22, 1770, on Possession Island in Torres Strait, marked by a small monument.
On Lizard Island we walk to the (probable) stone ruins of the cottage of Mary Watson and her husband Robert, a trader in trepang, or sea cucumber, prized for its supposed aphrodisiac qualities. In October 1881 while Robert was away from the island, Indigenous owners, for whom the place was sacred, killed a Chinese servant of the Watsons. Mary, her baby son Ferrier and surviving servant Ah Sam set sail in a tank used for boiling trepang, but perished after nine days. “Heroine” Mary and her infant share a shell-encrusted grave in Cooktown cemetery.
William Bligh was in these waters in 1789 after Fletcher Christian and fellow mutineers banished him from the Bounty in a longboat. He navigated to the east coast, arriving first at a tiny island near Lockhart River, which he named Restoration Island. His faith in humanity had been restored, one assumes, besides which it was Oak Apple Day, celebrating restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660. The island is now home to recluse David Glasheen, who lost all in the GFC but found his soul as a latter-day Robinson Crusoe (who welcomes guests).
Maybe we, too, on this maiden voyage have been touched by the restorative powers of the sea.
More to the story
If Covid-19 has taught us anything it is to be adaptable to change, says group general manager of Coral Expeditions, Mike Fifield, who has been on Coral Geographer’s maiden voyage with his wife, Samantha. And really that’s the “ethos” of the expedition cruise business, he says, proud that “passionate” staff have risen to the challenges.
Coral ships Adventurer and Discoverer have been sailing incident-free for seven months now. The vessels are Australian registered and crewed and their itineraries local. Foreign flagged and crewed ships wait on federal approval to return to our waters.
Fifield says Coral Expeditions’ operations are being used “as a benchmark of how things can be done safely”.
Intending passengers are required to make health statements and visit a doctor, asked to self-isolate and have a Covid-19 test 24 hours before departure. A medical team conducts daily temperature checks of all on board and monitors their health.
In the know
Coral Geographer is now in Broome for Kimberley cruises. Coral Expeditions is offering a lively schedule of local itineraries for the rest of the year, including a 59-night circumnavigation of Australia from Darwin on Coral Adventurer, leaving October 30.
Ten-day Kimberley cruises from $8250 a person, twin-share.
Graham Erbacher was a guest of Coral Expeditions.