Explore the Buccaneer Archipelago on a three to eight day fishing trips. Go mudcrabbing or snorkelling, collect oysters for the evening and then sleep under the stars of the Kimberley.
One Tide Charters commenced operations in April 1997, initially doing one day fishing & crabbing tours from Derby. In September 1998, owner / operator Greg Prouse purchased their original charter vessel “White Lightning’ to offer extended cruises to the Buccaneer Archipelago. In addition to eleven years experience as a charter boat operator, Greg has had in excess of 30 years boating experience, previously owning his own private boat called ‘Yellow Boat”.
The naming of the Charter business ‘Onetide Charters’ came about when Greg was doing his ‘Charter Boat Operator’s Apprenticeship’ with his good friend Joe on ‘Yellow Boat’ when in 1987 they spent 3 months cruising the Kimberley coastline. Not fully appreciating the significance of the extreme tidal variations they ended up a river system and had to wait ‘for one tide’ to be able to get out of there. It was during this trip that Greg & Joe where the first people to visit Mike & Susan Cusack during their Australian Geographic sponsored ‘Year in the Wilderness’.
Our original vessel ‘White Lightning’ has served the business admirably and with distinction over the past 10 years. However the time came to make the hard decision to retire a much loved vessel, and in February 2008 One Tide Charters took delivery of their new charter vessel Kimberley Explorer. Undoubtedly, 'White Lightning's famous toilet will be sadly missed by those who did a trip on 'White Lightning'.
Over a 25 year period, Greg made several extended trips to the Kimberley of 3 – 12 months duration, where a significant amount of his time was spent exploring the Kimberley coast line. During this 25 year period, Greg spent 3 months working with Malcolm Douglas to produce a documentary titled ‘One Wet Season’. He also spent 12 months living with an Aboriginal Community in the northeast Kimberley, learning about Aboriginal culture and bush survival.
Prior to commencing the Charter business in Derby, Greg owned and operated his own roof plumbing business in Perth for 20 years. This business was sold in 1997, prior to coming to Derby to commence preparatory work to establish the charter business in April 1997.
Wayne, Alex and Sue make up the highly regarded and very capable crew. With a reputation for being very considerate of passengers’ every need and their attention to detail, they are highly commended in the visitors book.
AnnaGreg is assisted in the charter business by his partner Anna. Whilst Anna’s professional qualifications are not entirely relevant to the charter business, her domestic skills seem to be appreciated by the passengers and crew. In addition to doing some of the catering, keeping the books up to date, doing GST returns and maintaining tourism accreditation, Anna co-ordinates the advertising, responds to customer enquiries, helps with client’s travel logistics and makes sure the swags are clean and fresh for each trip. When time and opportunity permits Anna is always a willing deckhand / cook.