06 Horizontal Waterfall and Buchaneer Archipelago

Derby is located on flat land surrounded by mud flats that can be flooded at very high tides. 

The west Kimberley ranges continue into the sea north of Derby and make up a large group of islands, called the Buccaneer Archipelago. The extreme tidal range, about 10 metres, has created a very fast water flow between some of these islands, and created a tourist feature called the Horizontal Waterfall.

We took a flight in a small Cessna plane from Derby at high tide to look at this horizontal waterfall. 

Cockatoo Island and Koolan Island are in the Archipelago. They were mined by BHP for high grade iron ore. 

Koolan was flooded when the sea wall was collapsed. Mining was well below sea level

There are hundreds of islands and mangroves exposed at low tide

We flew over Cone Bay Barramundi Farm, where the fish were kept in large netted cages and fed by the farmers, but the fish were kept very lean and therefore tasty, because they were always swimming against the moving water from the large tides.

What a great flight, beautiful islands. Next blog, we finally make it to Broome. See you then.