Montgomery Reef, in the Lalang-garram/Camden Sound Marine Park on the Kimberley Coast, is one of the most spectacular places in the Kimberley. Covering some 300 square kilometres across the Indian Ocean, Montgomery Reef, or Yowjab in the Dambimangari language seems to rise from the water as the 10 metre tide recedes.
Navigable channels through the reef let us tour the area and view the sea water cascading down the walls of the exposed reef and the lagoons and islets created by the receding waters. The reef was named in 1818 by Philip Parker King after the ship surgeon aboard the Mermaid, Andrew Montgomery.
The marine park is also home to six species of threatened marine turtles, Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, dugongs, saltwater crocodiles and several species of sawfish.
Our poor naturalist, Dayne, got marooned on the reef this morning and could only return to get the zodiac in the afternoon when the tide came in again!! Needless to say, we all teased him endlessly.
