We caught the tides just right, and arrived in Darwin in good order and good time.
The last miles along the coast were sailed in good style, with all plain sails set, a decent breeze and in comfortable seas. As we bowled along, we were able to catch up with our mates (Australian word meaning friends), several of whom pulled into the lee of the Wessel Islands to enjoy a day or so comfortably anchored after the maelstorm of the Gulf of Carpantaria. Sitting in Fannie Bay (no, that's its real name) in the bright early morning sunshine and the flattest of flat calms, the Skipper's assessment (and that of the crew) is that the Gulf of C remains will remain in memory as one of the most uncomfortable (if not the most uncomfortable) pieces of water we have ever sailed in.
In comparison, the rest of the trip to Darwin was a doddle! The key to the final hundred miles was to arrive at the mouth of the Dundas Straits, which lead into Van Diemen's Gulf, four hours before high water at Darwin. This empirically derived bit of yachtie folk lore was passed to us by the local guru at Horn Island, manager of the hotel and an experienced yachtsman. It proved to be correct. By a huge piece of luck, we arrived at said point just a little bit early, but unlike our friends in Chantelle, we carried the tide for most of the way into Darwin, with just a few hours of contra-flow on the final approach. The Gulf is huge and poorly charted, but there is a well-marked shipping route through it. We were warned it would be busy, and were not surpirsed to spot a ship coming towards us in the middle of the night. But that was the only one we saw. The many local people who have described to us the milk-run routes to Darwin and through the Great Barrier Reef as "very busy" have clearly never tried to sail across the English Channel! Apart from that, there was only the smoke from bush fires to contend with. At night the characteristic smell is particuarly pungent, and you can see an eerie glow hanging over the site of the fires. During the day, the smoke is sometimes thicker than fog, but happily the brisk breezes we experienced dispersed the smoke effectively before it reached us.
We made straight for the obvious bay ahead of the finish line, and there were Into the Blue, Andante, Windflower and Faraway all parked up with a convenient slot for Cleone in their midst. Into the nearby large and very hospitable yacht club for a big steak last night, and today we will try and sort out which of the packed marinas we might eventually end up in. This aint going to b easy; the Duck Pond marina chosen for us by World Cruising has trouble with its lock-gates and we cannot get in there at the moment. And reports of it are not very promising. So this morning we will catch a cab and go and investigate.
Meanwhile, there is the rest of the fleet to catch up with, shopping and sight-seeing
All well with us, and best wishes to everyone
James and Norfy (Chris)
Yacht Cleone
Fannie Bay
Darwin