Expedition cruising is the part of travel I get asked about most, and the questions are almost always the same. Is it like a regular cruise? Do I need to be fit? Will I be seasick? (Fair question, especially if Drake Passage is on the cards.) Am I too old for this, or too young? Neither, as it turns out. Expedition ships attract a wide age range, from young couples and families through to travellers well into their 70s and 80s, all sharing the same Zodiac.

The Kimberley does not announce itself gently. Some 1.8 billion years in the making, it's one of the oldest, least populated landscapes on Earth, built on extremes, extreme tides, extreme isolation, extreme age. I've spent years sending clients to some of the most remote corners of the planet, but nothing quite prepared me for ten nights on this coast aboard Paspaley Pearl, the flagship of the new Pearl Expeditions line.