At first, all I could see was what looked like a light gray stick. But as our Zodiac boat slowly approached a mud bank in 's Kimberley region, a thick, scaly tail and a mouth that appeared to be curled in a jagged smirk came into view. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a crocodile,” said Robin West, General Manager and VP of Expedition Operations and Planning for Seabourn, who was driving.
The reptile was the first of six or seven saltwater crocodiles we saw during a tour of Hunter River and Porosus Creek in late June (there was some debate about the final tally among my companions). The area, also home to mangroves, mudskippers and other wildlife was one of the stops on our 10-day trip through the Kimberley aboard Seabourn Pursuit, the cruise line’s newest expedition vessel. After about two hours in the roughly 90-degree heat, I was beat by the time we got back to the ship.
I took a cue from some of the crocodiles we’d seen lounging in the sun and spent much of the rest of the day reading and admiring the view from the vessel’s shaded open decks. Cold-weather destinations like and get a lot of love among expedition cruises, but there are perks to exploring a warmer locale. My Kimberley itinerary combined the kinds of educational and immersive activities nature lovers expect from an expedition with elements that felt like a pleasure cruise.
“It can definitely be very relaxing,” said Claire Maguire, a travel agent and franchise owner at Cruise Planners. The temperat.