Flying a Drone in the Kimberley: What the Ships, the Sky and the Country Allow

What the ships say

This is the first question to settle, because it decides whether anything else in this guide applies to you. Each line publishes its own rule, and on this coast they point the same way.

• Silversea. Silversea’s travel guide lists drones among the items prohibited on board, so on Silver Cloud a drone should stay at home.
• Ponant. Ponant’s voyage information states that drones may not be used aboard its ships, whether at sea, at anchor or in port. That covers Le Soléal and Le Jacques Cartier.
• Scenic. Scenic’s booking conditions prohibit drone use at all times during the journey, unless Scenic itself provides one as part of an organised activity, in which case guests follow the activity leader’s instructions to the letter. That applies on Scenic Eclipse II.
• Pearl Expeditions. The line keeps a no-drone policy for all guests on Paspaley Pearl, to preserve the quiet of the places it visits and to respect their wildlife.

Policies are revised from season to season, and the wording above is what each line published when we checked it in November 2026. Tell us your ship and departure and we will confirm the current rule before you pack.

Silversea ship at anchor off Freshwater Cove at sunset, Kimberley. © Silversea

What it is really like on board

The rules make more sense once you have stood on the deck of a small expedition ship in the Kimberley. It is a working vessel. Zodiacs are lowered and recovered, the expedition team moves between briefings and landings, and the open decks are shared by everyone who wants the view.

A drone needs the opposite of all that. It needs 30 clear metres from every person who is not flying it, and a ship at anchor here is rarely still: the tides are among the largest on Earth, and an anchored ship swings with them. Most consumer drones rely on a magnetic compass, and the steel of a ship is exactly what makes those compasses complain. Launching is the easy part. Bringing a drone back onto a moving deck over open water is the hard part, and a drone that misses comes down in the sea or the mangroves, where nobody will go after it.

Ashore, the picture is no simpler. Landings are made by Zodiac and timed to the tide, time on the beach is measured, guests move in small groups, and the team keeps watch on the water’s edge for crocodiles. To fly, someone would have to step away from the group, find 30 clear metres, keep the drone in sight, and be watched while doing it. Even where a line allows a drone as an organised activity, it happens at a time and a place the leader chooses, under their eye. In practice, on this coast, it very rarely happens at all.

The Scenic Discovery Team leading a Zodiac excursion. © Scenic

The rules in the air: CASA

For anyone flying for pleasure in Australia, CASA’s rules are short. One drone at a time. Daylight only, within your own visual line of sight, which means your eyes and not a screen or goggles, and clear of cloud, fog and smoke. No higher than 120 metres above the ground. At least 30 metres from anyone not helping you fly, and never over people at any height. Nowhere near emergency operations or in restricted airspace, which a CASA-verified drone safety app will show you. Recreational flyers need no registration or accreditation. Flying for work, which includes selling the footage, is a different category with requirements of its own.

In the Kimberley, four of those rules carry more weight than they would at home.

• Daylight. The sandstone is at its richest in the last hour before sunset, and the rule ends exactly where daylight ends.
• Line of sight. CASA is explicit that a drone flown behind trees, buildings or other obstacles has left your line of sight. In a river gorge, one headland is enough.
• People. A small cove with a full Zodiac ashore leaves little room for 30 clear metres.
• Helicopters. Scenic helicopter flights operate through the dry season at some of the most visited places on this coast, and the rules require you to keep clear of crewed aircraft.

A small drone under 250 grams changes less than people hope. CASA’s safety rules apply to every drone, and the ships’ policies make no exception for size.

Parks on land, parks at sea

In Western Australia’s national parks and conservation reserves, recreational flyers need no approval from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, but the department sets conditions. CASA’s rules apply. The drone must not disturb wildlife or become a nuisance to other visitors, and the department notes that its effect on feeding or breeding birds is not always obvious. Whales, dolphins, dugongs and seals are owed a separation of 60 metres. Flyers are asked to respect Aboriginal culture and heritage, to fly only over areas open to the public, to keep clear of prescribed burns and bushfires, and to contact the district office before each flight. Filming for profit needs a permit.

Further out, the rules change hands. Australian Marine Parks, managed by Parks Australia, typically begin three nautical miles offshore, and the Kimberley Marine Park is one of them. Operating a drone there needs a permit. It costs nothing, but it is an application made well in advance, never a decision taken on deck.

The whale rule matters here more than almost anywhere. The parks service describes Camden Sound as the most important humpback whale nursery in the Southern Hemisphere, with whales arriving in large numbers from around June. Sightings are never certain, and a drone inside 60 metres of a mother and calf is precisely the disturbance the rule exists to prevent. Our guide to the best time to cruise the Kimberley covers the whale months.

Country comes first

Much of this coast is native title land and sea, and its Traditional Owners decide who visits and where.

In the far north, the Wunambal Gaambera people call their Country Uunguu, ‘our living home’. Visitors need an Uunguu Visitor Pass, which gives Traditional Owner consent to visit approved Visitor Locations, among them Ngula, Jar Island, in Vansittart Bay. For cruise guests, the operator holds the registration and buys the passes. All other places on Wunambal Gaambera Country are closed to visitors.

Further south and west, on Dambeemangaddee Country, the Dambimangari Visitor Pass asks visitors to stay on access tracks and within 200 metres of an approved Visitor Location. The Dambimangari Visitor Code of Conduct asks visitors not to take photos, film or reproduce images for commercial purposes or for social media, and the pass terms require written permission for any commercial use.

A visitor pass is consent to visit. It is not consent to fly. Over rock art shelters, ceremonial places, or anywhere a guide asks you to lower the camera, the answer belongs to the Traditional Owners, and the expedition team will know who to ask.

Looking out between the rocks of Jar Island, Vansittart Bay, Kimberley. © Studio Ponant / Ophélie Bleunven

Where a drone does belong on a Kimberley journey

On land, before and after the voyage, and even there with care.

Broome is where many guests spend a night or two either side of the cruise, and its airport is a controlled airport with a control tower. CASA does not allow a drone over 250 grams within 5.5 kilometres of a controlled airport, and Broome International Airport repeats the point on its own site. The airport sits close to town and to Cable Beach, so open a CASA-verified app before every flight. A drone of 250 grams or less may fly up to 45 metres within that radius, but never in the approach and departure paths or inside the airport boundary. Cable Beach also fills at sunset, and the 30 metre rule decides where you stand. Our guide to Broome before and after your cruise suggests how to shape those days.

Extending into the east Kimberley around Kununurra brings more open country, with the parks service’s conditions in any national park and the Traditional Owners’ own conditions on their Country.

The coast at Broome from the air. © Ponant

The view from above, another way

The aerial view most people picture is Mitchell Falls, Punamii-Uunpuu, stepping down the plateau in tiers. On many voyages it is reached by an optional helicopter flight from near the mouth of the Hunter River. The flight follows the river’s cliffs inland, crosses the Mitchell Plateau and lands above the falls, with time on the ground before the return to the ship. These flights are run by specialist helicopter operators, are booked in advance and are usually priced separately, and Scenic Eclipse II carries helicopters of its own, also at an additional cost. Seats are limited, so the flight is worth deciding on early.

Our guide to helicopter and scenic flights in the Kimberley sets out every flight on the coast and how to book them.

Before or after a voyage, scenic flights from Broome and Derby cover the Buccaneer Archipelago and the Horizontal Falls in Talbot Bay, where the tide pushes the sea through two narrow gaps in the ranges faster than it can level out.

And some of the coast is best understood from the water. At Montgomery Reef, a Zodiac placed as the tide falls puts you level with the sea as it drains off the reef in sheets and channels. At Derby, on King Sound, the range between high and low water approaches 12 metres on the biggest tides. Our guide to Zodiac cruising in the Kimberley explains how those outings are timed.

If you travel with a drone anyway

• Check the ship first. On a line that lists drones as prohibited items, it should not come aboard at all.
• On the plane. Spare lithium batteries travel in cabin baggage, each protected against short circuit in its retail packaging, a pouch or with the terminals taped. Batteries between 100 and 160 watt-hours need your airline’s approval, and anything larger cannot be carried by passengers.
• In the heat. Dry-season days are warm and the light is strong. Keep batteries out of direct sun and let them cool before charging.
• Near the water. Mangroves and river edges are saltwater crocodile country. A drone that comes down there stays there.
• With the birds. Sea eagles and kites hunt along this coast, and the parks service’s note on unseen effects applies to them as much as to anything.

For the rest of the bag, see our Kimberley cruise packing guide, and for signal and Wi-Fi at sea, our guide to staying connected on the Kimberley coast.

Mangroves along the Hunter River, Kimberley. © Studio Ponant / Juliette Leclercq

Before you pack

By the time a drone question reaches us, most of the answer is already on the page in front of us: the line’s current terms, the itinerary, the days spent at the Hunter River and Montgomery Reef, the flights the voyage allows. We read them for your departure and tell you plainly what can travel with you.

Then we turn to what is worth more than any footage: the seat on the helicopter to Mitchell Falls, held well before the ship sails, the Zodiac placed at Montgomery Reef as the tide falls, and the lens that reaches the far bank of the Hunter. You board with the right kit in your bag and the aerial moments of the voyage already arranged.

Questions we are asked about drones in the Kimberley

Can I fly my drone on a Kimberley cruise?

Not on the ships we work with. Silversea lists drones as prohibited on board, Ponant forbids their use aboard, Scenic prohibits guest drones unless it runs one as an organised activity, and Pearl Expeditions has a no-drone policy for all guests.

Can I bring it on board and keep it in my suite?

It depends on the line. Where drones are listed as prohibited items, the answer is no. Ask us before you pack, and we will confirm the rule for your ship.

Does a drone under 250 grams change anything?

Very little. CASA’s safety rules apply to every drone, and the ships’ policies apply whatever its weight. Near a controlled airport such as Broome, a drone of 250 grams or less may fly up to 45 metres within 5.5 kilometres, outside the approach and departure paths and the airport boundary.

Do I need to register my drone in Australia?

Not for recreational flying, according to CASA. Flying for work, including selling footage, comes with separate requirements.

Can I post my footage on social media?

It depends on whose Country you filmed. On Dambeemangaddee Country, the Dambimangari Visitor Code of Conduct asks visitors not to take or reproduce images for social media or commercial purposes. Elsewhere, read the terms of the visitor pass for that Country, and remember that CASA and the parks service both ask you to respect other people’s privacy.

Can I fly near whales?

In Western Australian parks, the department asks for at least 60 metres from whales, dolphins, dugongs and seals. In an Australian Marine Park you need a permit before you fly at all.

Can I fly at Mitchell Falls?

Cruise guests reach the falls by helicopter for a set time on the ground, in a place where scenic flights operate through the season and where both the Uunguu Visitor Pass and the parks service’s conditions apply. In practice, this is a morning to leave the drone behind and give the falls your full attention.

This guide was checked against official sources in November 2026: the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Parks Australia, Broome International Airport, the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation, the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation and the published policies of Silversea, Ponant, Scenic and Pearl Expeditions. Rules and policies change. It is general information to help you plan, not legal advice, and before any flight the current rules of CASA, the land or sea manager, the Traditional Owners and your cruise line are the ones that apply.