Buccaneer Archipelago, Western Australia

Roughly 800 islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago surround and shelter the impressive spread of Yampi Sound (from the aboriginal word for water, “Yampee”). The area was named in 1821 by Captain Phillip Parker King, in commemoration of William Dampier’s visit in 1688. Pearlers began visiting the area in the late 1800s, and more recently mining operators established open-cut mines on Koolan Island on the east side of the Sound. Some of the richest iron ore in the world is extracted here to this day. The coastline of Yampi shows rock layers wildly twisted and contorted into great folds. White-bellied Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites, Ospreys, Common Sandpipers and Eastern Reef Egrets inhabit the archipelago and the area is rich in fish life, which in turn is an attraction for bottlenose dolphins that come here to feed. Yampi Sound is also occassionaly a calving ground for humpback whales and mothers and calves can sometimes be spotted in the relatively shallow turquoise waters.