Racing the tides of King Sound
The highlight of our Kimberley Wild trip to Cape Leveque was the tide race we saw from One Arm Point. Tour leader James Weeding took us to a cliff-top viewpoint to show us the rising tide swirling round the reefs and islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago, and making trains of white water southward. We could hear the noise of the racing sea. As the tide range in King Sound is about 9 metres a huge quantity of sea water must flow in from the Indian Ocean and back out again twice daily. At high tide off One Arm Point the current weakens, and then reverses, so that during the ebb there is an equally strong outflow northward, with white water bubbling past the reefs and islands in that direction.James told us that in 1822 Captain Philip Parker King sailed past Cape Leveque on the brig Bathurst, and found himself swept southward by these strong tidal currents. He navigated his ship between the islands and reefs, and came ashore on a headland that he named Point Cunningham, after the famous botanist Allan Cunningham, who was on board. Subsequently Captain John Lort Stokes named King Sound after the captain of the Bathurst.
- Richard Wilson travelled on Kimberley Wild’s 1 Day Cape Leveque Adventure
