Willie Pearl Lugger Cruises

Join us for an after­noon cruis­ing the crys­tal blue waters of beau­ti­ful Broome aboard one of Australia’s old­est oper­at­ing Pearl Lug­gers, ​‘Willie’. Learn about the pearling his­to­ry, which put Broome on the map, and get your feet wet as you board Willie for an after­noon of fun and relax­ation. You can jump in the boom nets, help pull up the sails or just take in the incred­i­ble sun­set with a drink in hand.

Willie Cruis­es and its expe­ri­enced crew offers peo­ple the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence the blue waters of Broome in Australia’s north west aboard ​‘Willie’, the last oper­at­ing pearl lug­ger in Aus­tralia. ​‘Willie’, a 67’ Gaff Rig Schooner mod­elled on the designs of ear­ly 1900 pearl lug­gers was built to fish for moth­er of pearl shell Pinc­ta­da Max­i­ma, the shell which put Broome on the map and shaped the his­to­ry of the region as it is today. 

Sail­ing between the beau­ti­ful waters of Broome, ​‘Willie’ allows you to see how a tra­di­tion­al gaff rigged sail­ing ves­sel oper­ates with all sails heaved up man­u­al­ly just as our fore­fa­thers did, whilst tak­ing in the beau­ti­ful sun­set. With plen­ty of com­fort­able seat­ing options aboard, any­one can enjoy the calm waters and nat­ur­al beau­ty of the coast­line sur­round­ing Broome. 

To make your cruise with us com­plete­ly stress free we will pick you up in our cour­tesy bus from your loca­tion and give you a brief tour and his­to­ry on route to the beach. Once there you will be able to kick off your shoes and feel the beau­ti­ful sand of Cable Beach, and wet your feet in the warm Indi­an Ocean as you make your way to our wait­ing ten­der which will trans­fer you to ​‘Willie’.

You can com­plete­ly relax hear­ing sto­ries of the rich his­to­ry and cul­ture of the area, and enjoy the delight­ful com­pli­men­ta­ry food served by our crew and chilled bev­er­ages of your choice from our well stocked open deck bar. Our crew will hap­pi­ly point out the abun­dance of marine life from tur­tles, seas snakes, dol­phins and the mighty hump­back whale, to dugongs, man­ta rays and the pletho­ra of pelag­ic fish – all in a day aboard Willie Cruises.