It’s dawn on the Indian Ocean when we board Zodiacs and zoom off into the Lalang-gaddam Marine Park on northeastern Australia’s remote Kimberley coast. Timing is everything; the tides in this part of the planet are swift and huge, rising and falling more than 30 feet twice a day. We need to catch them on the ebb.
We zoom across the ocean to an unremarkable patch of water and wait in silence as, around us, a world slowly takes shape at sunrise. An ancient stone plateau, the two-billion-year-old Yowjab (Montgomery Reef), rises on either side of us in the receding tide. It’s like finding Atlantis or, in this case, the world’s largest inshore reef, a 150-square-mile, rapidly materializing mass.
Waterfalls and rivulets stream off its flanks. Seabirds stand sentry on stone ledges ready to feast on fleeing fish. Green turtle heads periscope above the water and vanish as quickly. All is noise, movement, life.
Dambimangari man and ranger Adrian Lane is, literally, in his element. Yowjab is his traditional country. As a member of Seabourn Pursuit’s inaugural expedition team, he is uniquely qualified to interpret this place and share his culture. He tells us the story of a boy who came out here to fish one day and disappeared. His grief-stricken mother searched fruitlessly for her son and, in her despair, jabbed a stick into the ocean, creating the whirlpools we see eddying around us. The waters rushing off the rocks are her tears, he says.
The Kimberley, comparable in size to California but with a population of 40,000 people, has long been regarded and sold by cruise lines as a “wilderness” destination. This despite encompassing the traditional homelands of five First Nations people, who first settled these lands at least 50,000 years ago, on the 889-nautical-mile voyage between Broome and Darwin.
Cruise companies have been plying these waters for 30 years but Lane says it is only recently that First Nations people were offered a hand to say, “Come along with us on this journey in tourism.” When Seabourn approached him to join their team, for the first time giving him the opportunity to share his country and culture with cruise passengers, “That really lit the flame in my soul to say, ‘Let’s go now’.”
A day-long naming ceremony on Ngula, or Jar Island, where the Seabourn Pursuit naming ceremony set out to honor Wunambal Gaambera people, culture, and history.
Courtesy of Seabourn
Seabourn’s inaugural voyage this June set out to redress some of the historical neglect of Indigenous voices. Besides reaching out to Dambimangari rangers, the Seattle-based cruise line named another tribe, the Wunambal-Gaambera, as godparents—or garrangarru, a word that describes a mother or listener—of its latest expedition ship, the 132-suite Pursuit.
Seabourn, along with the West Australian Government, has also provided funding to build long-overdue visitor facilities on Ngula (Jar Island) and kindle a commercial art industry there by supplying materials such as pearl shells, a traditional trade item, on which Wunambal artists paint Gwion and Wandjina figures. They’ll sell these (rather beautiful) artworks to passengers who stop at Ngula (Jar Island).
The 264-passenger Pursuit is the line’s second purpose-built expedition ship, furnished with high-tech toys (two 6-person submarines, 24 Zodiacs, and a high-definition camera that transmits live feeds from up to two miles away) and unrivaled deck space for easy wildlife encounters.
Its plush, tactile accommodations range in size from 355 square feet to the almost 2,000-square-foot signature suites with outdoor hot tubs. All are equipped with balconies, personalized bars (passengers can preselect what will be included in their minibar), and Swarovski binoculars.
There’s 24/7 in-room dining, including a call-up caviar service and endless champagne. Elsewhere the catering aboard extends to eight restaurants and bars. With everything except premium wines included in the ticket price, passengers need never be hungry or thirsty. There’s also a well-equipped spa and fitness center with panoramic saunas and daily Pilates.
On the stylish Seabourn Pursuit, passengers are far from roughing it.
Courtesy of John Shedwick/Seabourn
The Kimberley—like the Arctic and Antarctic, both also staples of the luxury expedition calendar—is remarkable for its lack of people and abundance of natural wonders. At times we travel through waters that, even in the 21st century, remain uncharted. There’s so much to discover in these frontier lands.
The 10-day itinerary takes in saltwater crocodiles, birds of prey, turtles, dolphins, orcas, whales, reef sharks, and the ever-so-faint chance of spotting a dugong. Natural highlights include Yowjab (Montgomery Reef) and the Horizontal Falls, the thunderous twin waterfalls within the King George River gorge, and fabulous snorkeling at Ashmore Reef, more than 125 miles off the mainland coast.
At the Kuri Bay pearl farm, some of us board Mallard seaplanes for scenic flights over the marine park, an optional paid excursion, while others drop huge sums (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars) at the pop-up Paspaley Pearls boutique.
While at Freshwater Cove on the Kimberley coast, Worrorra man Neil Maru leads us to a rock overhang painted with wandjina creator spirits at least as old as the pyramids. “Have a seat, like my people have been doing here for thousands of years,” he says before pointing out an image of the little boy lost on Montgomery Reef and the whirlpool that swallowed him.
On Ngula (Jar Island), where Pursuit is christened, we’re all cleansed in a traditional smoking ceremony and treated to a story-telling junba dance performance by painted Wunambal-Gaambera men. After, we explore 16,000-year-old Gwion rock art depicting human figures. It’s all so inconceivable.
Saltwater crocodiles are among the vast array of wildlife visitors to the region will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of.
Courtesy of John Shedwick/Seabourn
Sailing under a full moon, truly spectacular sunsets (often accompanied by live operatic arias), and a shark-feeding frenzy under the ship’s lights are added bonuses. So, too, are the floating bars that pop up everywhere thanks to the hard-working crew, from a sandbank where breakfast mimosas and Bloody Marys are served, to Zodiacs dispensing champagne beside waterfalls, reefs, and rivers.
The Aboriginal elders I consult say they are monitoring the rapid growth of cruise tourism in the Kimberley—where passenger numbers are set to jump from 22,000 this dry season (May–October) to 32,000 next. But for now, after being forcibly displaced from their traditional homelands in the past century by government policies and mining interests, they’re glad tourism gives them the chance to return to their country and restore ties to culture and homeland.
Lane says it’s important for him and other Dambimangari leaders to feel they are doing everything they can to protect their children’s future, culture, and nature.
“We’re slowly coming back to our homeland to take care of it, to keep the country fresh and alive,” he says. “We can never dwell on the past. We can only look forward and make it brighter.”
Maru jokes that opportunities in cruise tourism “might get the young ones off Facebook.” The option of returning to their homeland could “teach them the things that they’ve missed out on—stories about where they come from, and their tribe—so they don’t walk around lost.”
Seabourn Pursuit will sail the Kimberley coast between Darwin and Broome from May 30 until September 4, 2025. Prices for the 10-day expedition start from $9,900 per person, based on double occupancy in a veranda suite.