Talbot Bay, Western Australia

By Glen Bruels
This is part of a series called Oceania 2025
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We arrived in Talbot Bay at about 4:00 am in order to be there at high tide. Why, you say? It’s because today we were here to visit the Horizontal Waterfalls, a natural phenomenon that occurs when seawater rushes through a couple of short and narrow gorges, creating “waterfalls” that you can attempt to get through or, in our case, try to maintain in the extremely fast moving water. This all occurs because of the significant tidal differences (up to 33 feet) in the area. There is a rapid tidal fall on the ocean side of the gaps in the sandstone cliffs. Waters on the inland side of the gaps can’t escape fast enough so a “waterfall” is created, up to 13 feet in height. That flow is running at about 15 mph, with about 264,000 gallons passing through per second! Of course, the same thing happens with each change of the tide — going forwards or backwards. Anyway, each of the Zodiacs got to experience the force of the water, by driving directly into the flow. With our 100 hp engines we could barely maintain our position, much less move through it. That was left to the local concessionnaire who has jet boats with 4, 100 hp engines that roar through. But even they have challenges and are sometimes twisted away by the current. In fact, back in 2026, one of these jet boats collided with one of the rock walls with more than a dozen passengers and crew having to be rescued and flown to the hospital for treatment and/or surgery. The rescue was bit of a challenge because of the crocodiles in these waters! From there, we headed up Cyclone Creek, a narrow passage with cliffs on both sides that are said to be 1.7 billion years old. In addition to the brilliant red color, the vertical twisting and compression is stunning, occurring when two land masses collided. Amongst all this beauty, we even saw a rare Kimberley Rose (or Sticky Kurrajong) that is only found in this area and is named for the red, sticky flowers it displays during the dry season after it has lost all of its leaves. Truly an inspiring day!

Expedition Team Member Sue bringing us into position. It turns out that Sue races both sailboats and power boats. She’s got that gleam in her eye. This should be good!
All the Zodiacs gathering to wait their turn in the chute.
The current is very strong here. It ultimately creates whirlpools and eddies that get pretty exciting in a Zodiac.
First it’s time for the big guys with their 400 Hp combined engines to blow through in both directions.
And now our Zodiacs, with their puny 100 hp engines try to fight the current. Of course, it’s a losing proposition…
Around the corner is the floating hotel and deployment area for both the helicopters and “go fast” boats from the local Horizontal Falls purveyor. With the recent accident, there has been an effort to shut this operator down. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Entering Cyclone Creek. The rock formations are amazing.
At some points, the canyon gets very narrow.
Can you imagine the forces that created ripples like this. In some cases, layers were actually shifted 90 degrees!
From there the channel widened. Tidal shifts in this area are up to 30 feet.
As the channel opens, more wildlife becomes apparent, like this rock wallaby…
… and the beautiful Kimberley Rose.
This entry was posted in Australia, Cruising, Travel, West Australia
Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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