A late breakfast today ……. 7:30am.
We had Ian, the resident geologist guest lecturer join us for breakfast, he said we were elusive and wanted the opportunity to catch up with us. He is aiming for either a lunch or dinner.
It’s a LOT more humid today than it has been. As we move north that seems to be what’s happening.
We missed the first Explorer for the mornings excursion to Bigge Island by maybe 20 secs! It was full, so we had to wait for the 2nd.
Off the boat at 8:45am after a VERY slow run over to the island.
Once off the #xplorer, a dry landing, we went on to see an Art site, ceremonial site and a burial site.
Bigge Island is the biggest island in the Kimberley, named after a military leader of the time. Only been an island for 6000 years.
The area is all WM sandstone, it erodes very easily. High tides, monsoons and storms make the erosion worse.
The art site was close to the water and was degraded.
The art is a mix of Wangjina and contact art (English, Dutch, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc) The art was really interesting, very different from yesterday, and unfortunately had been damaged by visitors rubbing up against it. It showed Wandjina, hand prints,
a dog/dingo, crocodiles, western ships, western figures and more. Really worth the visit.
There was a drawing of a Very special Wandjira spirit figure. Its face has eyes and a nose but no mouth – so powerful they don’t need to speak, or if they did, they would never stop speaking.
We were told its name was Idjair, the father/first Wandjira spirit of this area (dad of all other spirits in the area.)
The art is no longer refreshed, so it is degrading. eg Eyes are no longer black as they should be.
The Ceremonial site was a male only site. It was where initiation rights were carried out. Boys were tested on the skills learnt from uncles – the test was to prove acquired skills and involved living alone for months in isolated areas to prove themselves.
The passage ceremony was conducted at this site and involved body scaring, circumcision, etc
The Burial site was interesting. It was only used for significant male elders. Their body was laid to rest covered in rocks. 
The bones removed to a protected significant site once stripped of flesh, wrapped in paperbark for permanent “burial”. This was often on rock shelves within caves.
We were back aboard the boat at 10:30am
We had a lecture given by Ray, about WWII and the Japanese attacks and their plan for the Kimberley region, as a precursor to an excursion tomorrow. Interesting…..
Ian joined us for lunch. He asked a lot of questions about us, and we asked the same of him. We enjoyed the lunch conversation with him, we found we shared many similar views and holiday interests. An enjoyable lunch.
The afternoon excursion was to Cathedral Cave. It’s a sea cave that is only accessible on a perfect low tide, our timing was impeccable. Great planning by Cara and the expedition staff.
We left the boat at 3:10pm for our afternoon Cathedral Cave excursion. We were told just as we were leaving that the tide is still a little high, so we are doing a bit of sight seeing cruise first. We saw an Osprey nest on top of a high isolated rock pillar.
We got dropped off on the beach and walked over a spit after doing a little beachcombing, We then got back on the explorer and headed over to the Cathedral Cave.
You need tides to be right to get over a rock shelf and then into the cave.
The cave was really interesting, from a very large rock that had fallen from the top of the headland that had amazing ripple marks over it, to a “hidden passage to the right of the Cathedral cave and the Cathedral cave itself. Beautiful rocks and light to show them at their best.
Luke. One of the expedition crew
We spent some time cruising the coast while the other Explorer was loaded aboard. Back on the ship at 4:40pm.
We had an enjoyable dinner with Colin & Carol, a couple from south Perth. It was very warm and friendly. We enjoy their company very much.
And that wrapped up our day.
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