If you’re considering ticking off a massive Australian bucket list by visiting the outstanding Horizontal Falls from Broome, find out whether it’s worth doing.
Having recently done the Horizontal Falls day trip cruise with Kimberley Day Cruise, I’m sharing what the day actually looks like to help you decide if the tour is right for you.
In this guide, you’ll also learn about things to know before you book and whether this experience is worth it.
What is Horizontal Falls?
If you’ve never heard of the Horizontal Falls, it is literally one of the worlds greatest natural wonders created by the highest tides in the world, which helps create a horizontal waterfall in the Buccaneer Archipelago off the coast in the North West Coast of Western Australia.
As one million litres of water flows through the narrow gorge per minute, the water creates a waterfall effect which is the only place in the world to have a horizontal waterfall.
David Attenborough declared Horizontal Falls as the 8th natural wonder of the world. It’s a huge bucket list for many Australians and attracts people from all over the world to see it in person.
Located in Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago, the unique phenomenon can only be seen by either a seaplane, helicopter or by boat currently. We jumped on the day cruise with Kimberley Day Cruise to share this review with you.
Will Horizontal Falls be closing?
It was announced in 2024 that boats passing through Horizontal Falls will close to the public by 2027, because it’s finally being handed back over to the traditional owners of the land.
If you’re wondering why boats won’t be able to pass through the falls anymore it’s because the traditional owners of the land believe that the falls represent a serpent which is giving the land life. When boats ride through the falls, it is cutting up the life of the land which is why they want to stop the tours from happening because it is such a scared site.
Our cruise boat launched in 2023 and is the only Horizontal Falls adventure that doesn’t go through the falls out of respect to the local Indigenous community, which I valued too.
If you’re wondering if you feel like you’d get a better experience going through the falls, I really don’t think you would. The falls are so powerful, that it looks pretty dangerous to me. On my boat cruise, we got up very close to the falls which in itself is an amazing experience.
If you want to go through the falls, you’ll need to book a Horizontal Falls seaplane scenic flight which offers a combination of numerous power boat cruises as well.
Our cruise with Kimberley Day Cruise is in fact the only Horizontal Waterfalls cruise which goes to the falls from Cygnet Bay (ie not in a seaplane). This means you have the whole day to really soak in the incredible archipelago and really enjoy a day of it on the water.
Scenic flight vs boat cruise
Firstly, I start by saying whichever tour you book, it will be a very long day. We were picked up at 4:30am and dropped off at 7:30pm on the same day. If you take the Horizontal Falls seaplane adventures, it won’t be much different. This is because if you’re booking the tour from Broome, you’ll be driven 2.5 hours up to Cygnet Bay which is Australia’s oldest pearl farm in Dampier Peninsula and where the boat cruise or scenic flight depart from. If you want to cut down on the time, simply stay in Cygnet Bay or Derby and do the tour from there (we only saw Cygnet Bay and there really isn’t anything there other than a hotel).
From Cygnet Bay it’s a 3 hour cruise to Horizontal Falls. If you take a scenic flight, it’s a two hour flight, with some tours including a quick boat ride through the falls and a shark feeding experience (the sharks did come up to the boat cruise we were on too because it’s all in the same location, we just didn’t feed them).
While I found it difficult to decide about which tour to go on, I think the boat cruise with Kimberley Day Cruise would be better because you’re able to spend the time immersed in the Buccaneer Archipelago and get up close to the Horizontal Falls.
I feel like a scenic flight would be very quick and you won’t get a lot of time to appreciate the natural beauty and natural phenomenon as much. You also won’t get the foodie experience as you would on the boat cruise if you go on a scenic flight.
What the boat cruise looked like
As mentioned above, we were picked up from our accommodation (Cable Beach Caravan Park which I highly recommend if you’re doing the Big Lap), at 4:30am. I highly, highly recommend trying to get some sleep as soon as you get on the bus as you’ll be pretty tired on the boat ride otherwise.
We arrived at Cygnet Bay at 7am before jumping on a small boat almost straight away for a few minutes to reach the cruise boat. As soon as we got on board, we were greeted by very friendly and professional crew. The skipper introduced the crew before we started a four course breakfast which was a muffin, a fruit platter, egg and bacon sandwich and a yoghurt and granola pot.
I was a little concerned how much food we were getting because a four course breakfast and seven course lunch seemed a lot. But, the portions are small enough to get you through the day without feeling too full. Because there are so many courses, we were literally served food almost the entire time we were on the boat.
The crew came to each table with an iPad of the route, highlighting different places we were going to pass by including a silica sand beach, called… you guessed it Silica Beach. Although we’ve seen all of the top silica beaches in Australia (Lucky Bay, Whitehaven Beach, Hyams Beach, Lake Mckenzie) this one surprised us as North Western Australia is more known for their unique red sand beaches.
Although you might think three hours is a long time to spend on a boat, the boat ride goes really fast and when you enter more through the achipelago, you realise how special this remote region really is. We started to see swirls of the high tides in the flat water which is something we hadn’t seen before on the way to the falls.
Getting to the Horizontal Falls
Before we knew it, we arrived at the incredible Horizontal Falls at 11:30am even though from the boat, you can’t see it and it looks flat. As we were put into groups, ten of us got into the smaller boat and within a few minutes we were metres from the famous waterfall. It was an incredible experience to see the natural phenomenon up close.
While we spent about 10 minutes at the falls, I was really blown away by it, simply because it felt so remote and so untouched, I wondered how many people will get to see this pristine beauty in their lifetime. The cliffs surrounding the waterfall in the gorge are spectacular and it literally takes your breath away.
We were told that we were really lucky and had seen the falls on a perfect day where the tides had timed it perfectly with our arrival. Our skipper couldn’t believe how much the falls had picked up, even within 10 minutes of us waitinng while some of the other guests were on the boat.
Seeing the water just dip down, like it’s literally going over an edge like you see on a waterfall just blew our minds.
It was around a 5 metre drop at the time of visiting which is hard to get your head around when the rest of the archipelago is completely flat.
There is another narrow gorge a little further down that creates a similar waterfall effect, but because it’s narrower, we were told it was too dangerous to see it.
We were told a story about how a crocodile went through the falls, only to be sucked under and somehow miraculously made it through the other side.
If I had to choose about whether I would want to go through the falls after seeing it, I would be more than happy not to. They are very powerful and I would prefer to respect the Indigenous community by not going through it.
Coming back from the falls
After we saw the falls, some nurse sharks came over to say hi to us which was cool to see, before the open bar opened. We were served up beers, Matso’s Ginger Beer, wine and cocktails to enjoy on the way back to Cygnet Bay.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon simply feeling grateful for the amazing surrounds and being able to witness one of the best natural wonders in the world on this exciting cruise boat. We returned back to our accommodation at 7:30pm ready for an early night.
Would we book this trip again?
While it is undoubtedly a long day, this tour really is a once in a lifetime experience. While we could have booked a Horizontal Falls seaplane or one of the helicopter flights, I’m glad we booked the Kimberley Day Cruise boat instead because it really did give us the whole day to enjoy the incredible Horizontal Falls and the stunning Buccaneer Archipelago. Being served up continuous amounts of food all day long and having access to a free bar also topped off a fantastic day out, and we wouldn’t hesitate to book this tour again.
If you’re interested to learn more about the Horizontal Falls fascinating tour we did, check out Kimberley Day Cruise for more information.
