Montgomery Reef and Raft Point - the water needs to flow

 This morning we left our anchorage beside Montgomery Reef at 05:30 and headed up a channel into the reef known as The Gutter.  The tide was dropping and the sailing guide said we should be anchored by mid ebb tide to watch the water flowing off of the reef into The Gutter.  The 34 foot tide drop leaves the reef about 10 feet above the ocean level at low tide.  Our trip up The Gutter started before dawn but soon we experienced a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise at Montgomery Reef

By the time we anchored there was already a lot of water flowing off the reef.

Note the reef height is already several feet above the ocean level

It didn’t take long before the water became a torrent 

Paul and I took the dinghy up The Gutter further to experience the flow of the water.  A short video is here

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zaj5DTrpae3k36ZH7

When we came back down The Gutter we continued out to the sandbar which we had anchored behind yesterday.  Although we knew it was there we had not seen the sandbar before because it was underwater during the high tide when we dropped anchor.  Now the sandbar was 12 feet above water level.  We took a walk on the sandbar and had a swim in the shallow pool it created with a hook at its south end.

The sandbar looking south

We departed Montgomery Reef at around 11:00 with the water level of the ocean almost level with the reef top and headed to Raft Point about 15 miles to the east.  The cruising guide said there was aboriginal rock art on a cliff at Raft Point which we intended to see.

We anchored at Raft Point around 13:00 and after a quick lunch headed out in the dinghy to a nearby beach where the trail up to the rock art was supposed to be found.  Unfortunately the trail was very hard to find and we bushwhacked up and down the hill looking at the cliff face to find the art for several hours with no success.  We were not alone as others were also searching without success.  Finally on one of our trips back to the beach we ran into another group who gave u\us better directions to find the trail.  It turns out we had been close to the rock art site several times but needed the directions to get close enough to find it.

The view out to the bay while searching for the trail to the rock art

Aboriginal rock art at Raft Point, The Kimberly 

Closeup of the rock art

After our strenuous hike and long day we headed back to True North for a quick dinner of quiche, carrots and cauliflower.  The late afternoon sun on the cliffs surrounding our anchorage was beautiful.

The red rock cliffs of The Kimberly 




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