We awoke to sunshine after a settled night at anchor. Matt and I had a morning chat to work out a plan. Salt Lines secondary anchor was 40m chain and 80m of nylon rhode. With the rocky, reefy coast, the nylon rhode was at risk of chafing through. We decided to transfer Silver Fern’s secondary anchor to Salt Lines, as the 80m of chain was a better match to the anchoring conditions that lie ahead of us. Matt’s plan was to replace his anchor and chain in Perth.

The crew worked out the plan and successfully transferred 328kg of anchor and chain from bow to bow, using gravity and the Salt Lines windless to to the heavy lifting. Now it was time to pick where we left off the previous day and restart the trek upstream to the Horizontal Falls. This time we had incoming tide all of the way and enjoyed the rugged scenery as the inlet narrowed the further upstream we went.

We anchored opposite the Falls, where they flow out onto the harbour and were surprised to see no one else around us. Our original plan was to drop the crew ashore and hike to a hilltop lookout, where we could see the Falls in full flow. We soon realised the idea was flawed as we needed to be mountain goats to scale the steep slopes and get to the top. There was no track and in the 33 degree heat it would have been a tough 700m climb, with someone bound to slip, fall or injure themselves on the steep descent on return.

Due to the lag with the tide turning at least an hour after the published time at the inlet entrance, full flow was at least 3 hours away and that would not leave us enough time to get out, before the tide turned to come in again, 16nm down stream, impeding our departure later that day.

With an hour until high tide, we launched the RIB’s and decided to get as close the falls as we could safely do, while the flow was slowing. On the initial trips, the water through the first 20m wide gorge was flowing at an estimated 12-15 knots and sloping down 2-3 metres into the inland lake behind it. We sat off it in the RIB watching the flow, whirlpools and eddies, but it was far too dangerous to enter. If the engine stopped or we flooded or flipped the RIB, injury or death was highly likely as this accident last year shows.

By the time everyone had done an initial ‘reckie’, we were approaching high tide and flow was easing. I invited Ken Dobler (our 5-leg circumnavigator) to join me on an investigative, high speed RIB ride, to see if it was safe enough to go through the first 20m wide gorge, in an attempt to get to the fast flowing 7m wide gorge another 300m further inland. As we lined it up, flow was down to under 10 knots and the drop to the lake below, closer to 1 metre. “You ready to go for it?” I asked Ken. He replied “yes” with a big smile on his face. “Hold on!” I said and wound the outboard up to full throttle, as we shot through the narrow gorge, twisting and turning in the eddies, whirlpools and overflows. Within 30 seconds we were out the other side and onto flat water.

We shot out across the lake at high speed and it was just the smoothest ride. In the distance we could see the narrow and infamous, 7m wide gorge ahead of us that the Horizontal Falls reputation is built on. With another inland lake behind it, it simply cannot fill or empty fast enough to match the tidal flows, so the difference in height at either end of the gorge can be more than 5m with water flowing at more than 30 knots at the peak. Hence the name “Horizontal Falls”. It is literally a horizontal waterfall and an incredible natural wonder of this country.

We hung 40m off the narrow gorge entrance, bow into the current and sitting still, watching in amazement as thousands of litres of water per second, tried to shove us backwards. We returned through the first gorge, satisfied with our adventure and my next move was to take Matt Harvey on the same joy ride. Still not convinced it was safe enough to take the rest of the crew through, I thought it would be great for Matt to see up close and if it all went wrong, both yachts would be skipper-less, which was probably not the smartest strategy, but “hey” its our adventure too!

By the time I returned through the gorge with Matt, the flow had slowed noticeably. I dropped Matt back at Salt Lines and returned to Silver Fern. Ange asked if I was taking more boat rides, so I said “okay”. This time I decided to take 2 crew with me at a time, so we could plane (on top of the water) and go faster. On the off-chance I was happy with the flow at the gorge, I was going to surprise Ange and Freya and take them on the same adventure ride through and then 800m across the lake to check out the fast flowing, infamous crazy 7m gorge.

As we blasted across the bay from Silver Fern to the river entrance I looked at them with a blank face and asked “when you signed up for this adventure, did you choose the extreme thrills or no surprises package?” Confused they stared at me for a couple of seconds before replying “extreme thrills” with big smiles on their faces. “We’re going through” I replied, “are you okay with that"?”. “Yes”, they replied in unison.

The flow at the gorge was still a challenge, with crazy eddies, sideways overflows and big whirlpools, but at least it was reasonably level. Through we went, onto the narrow gorge and then back to Silver Fern. I repeated the trip 3 more times, with the flow noticeably increasing each time. The tide had turned and the flow was increasing with each 15 minute interval. By the time I did the last jaunt with Ken Thomas (Chief Mate) onboard we had reached a level of flow I was starting to get uncomfortable with. It was a relief to get safely back to Silver Fern, with all crew having safely experienced the Horizontal Falls up close. What a day! What life-long memories.

A stunning and remote place to visit, but well worth the effort. It’s somewhere I would love to return to one day. They say that earlier in the dry season, when there is more water around, the falls are bigger again.

We departed at 1615 hours for the port of Broome 200nm away.

David