Australia - 17 - Sydney to Broome and the Indian Ocean

Saturday, 15 April, and Sunday, 16 April 2023

On Thursday, 13 April, Cyclone Ilsa made landfall on the Western Australia coast near Pardoo, between Port Hedlund and Broome, as a Category 5 storm. We were scheduled to depart Broome on the Caledonian Sky on 15 April - and there was some speculation that the schedule might need to be rearranged to avoid the cyclone. Fortunately, the cyclone had passed inland by Saturday, so we were able to get to Broome and depart as planned.

The Western Australia outback as seen from 39,000 ft. The straight lines are dunes. The darker areas are burn scars.

Approaching Broome. The Broome airstrip can be seen in the middle distance, and our ship is docked on the pier in the lower right corner.

Our cruise is on the Caledonian Sky, a mega-yacht outfitted for "expedition" travel. The tour organizer is Criterion Travel, and the travel group is composed of astronomy lovers from four schools: Carleton College (my alma mater), Harvard University, M.I.T., and Yale University. Each school also brought along a professor (three astronomers, one sociologist), each of whom gave three lectures during the cruise. The itinerary is centered on a total solar eclipse on 20 April, where the centerline of totality brushes the west coast of Australia at Exmouth.

Our first sunset at sea.

Overnight and most of the day on Sunday, the seas were quite rough. Waves were breaking over the portholes of our cabin. We were supposed to spend the day in Rowley Shoals Marine Park, but the atolls were damaged by the cyclone, and seas this rough meant it would not be possible to have a snorkeling session.

Even without clouds, sunsets were special. We looked for the "green flash" at every sunset, but to no avail.