horizontal falls

We were there last year but I can't help you with the GPS or selecting the best operator. What I can tell you is that if you want to ride the falls the best times are the times when the tidal movement is at its greatest - so max highs and min lows. These are also the most popular times with other tourists so are the ones booked out first as well as the dearest. Also it can be a lucky dip if the operator is underbooked then they may cancel.





Kind regards

We did it from Broome. $250 each. Any time should be alright as slack water is for only like 20 minutes then it starts to flow again.Most tour operators would take you there when its at its best. Its not in their interest to take you there when its not flowing. GPS co- ords are 16.22.33S 123.57.41E.

I did it last year and was a bit disappointed the sheila in the tourist joint in Derby didn't give us the full range of options.

We went out on the first flight to find there was people already out there waiting to go back on our plane.

They had stayed overnight on board the big boat they used for smokos and lunches. It is an ex whale watching boat from Hervey Bay. Great cabins, showers, etc. and used for staff accomodation as well. They had a ball watching sunset, crocs & turtles swimming around the boat, etc. It was only about $100 pp extra and made use of the first & last flights each day. I would have loved to have done that!

Trevor

We did the trip out to Horizontal Falls in June 2004. Left from Broome and hooked up with the Seaplane at Derby. Booked it through www.seairbroome.com.au. We had a great day, had morning tea on the Boat that is permanently in Talbot Bay, it wasn't quite finished for the overnight accomodation at that time. We would recommend you book your tour as early as possible. We had booked our's in the March of that year and had the time slot of the best time for viewing on the day we went. You are best to enquire about that through the tour operators. Well worth the money we spent and other people we recommended it to have done the tour as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. An experience not to be missed.

Try these

www.horizontalfalls.com.au/

Site Link

The first one provides a barbeque lunch on the afternoon flight. You have lunch on the slack tide so you may be fed first or second on the trip. On the return flight you fly back along the coast at 500 feet – excellent. They do not fly on days with a very slack tide.

PeterD

Hi darcla,

We did it in July 04, we booked it in Broome, then went to Derby (2 days later) and stayed overnight. Flew out early next day kids loved it we got to go through the first gap but water was flowing to fast on a low tide to go though the 2nd gap. would highly recomend it . They said the spring tide is the highest tide.
Regards
Col

Mate I lived at Koolan Island for 4 years and we used to go through "the gaps" as they were then called all the time in our 16' aluminium boat and I have fished in them as well. I don't want to put you off but they a really not that exciting. The horizontal waterfall is a term dreamed up by the tour operaters and given to the two small passages in the land masses between two large expanses of water which rise and fall with the tide and through which the water must pass to get in and out. As the tide on the oceanside drops faster than the water can escape through the gaps the water level is different from the inside to the outside and vice versa when the tide rises. All it is, is a bloody lot of water just passing through the narrow gap. To say it is horizontal is a misrepresentation to say the least. If you decide to go the best time (of the month) is on spring tides where the tide can vary up to 12 metres in 6 hours. On neap tides the variation is only about 2 metres over 6 hours so as you can imagine the water flow is far less. If you get a half reasonable map of the Buccaneer Archipelago in Yampi Sound you will see Cockatoo & Koolan Islands just off the mainland about 90 miles N-W of Derby. Then if you look East from Koolan Island you will see Dugong Bay and just East again of that Bay you will see two large expanses of water hemmed in by two masses of land that have two gaps in them and that is where it is. Sorry but they didn't have GPS's when I left there in 1983.

Hi all.
Thank you one & all for the helpful advice recieved.
Cheers Bungarra

.Blown4by says it all. Boss n Slave went there , full moon, August '05. Yawnish.
BUT
Greg, Tim, and their wee boat (White Lightning - takes 6 folk), will give you a look at the area, (in catered-for, but less than cosseted surrounds).
Horizontal Falls?
. Yep, good to see if time is short.
. So is Borobodur or Stone Henge: doesn't allow for much apart from a tick on the ' I've done that' sheet.
. That whole area is so bizzare/unique. One should spend a full year based in Derby,but for those of us who are limited, we "fluked" a 'White Lightning" cruise of 5 days, and it was BRILLIANT.
. Whole area is awesome; horries are good, but an overrated aspect.
. Just GO.