Tuesday was genset day, it is imperative that we have a means of charging our batteries  if sailing and not motoring or the solar panels are ineffective because the sky is overcast. Our Gen Trax worked for about 12 hours since Brisbane, it doesn’t work now and also had some other issues with the starting mechanism. It is under warranty but the supplier is giving me the run around. So I bought another from BCF. Pic below shows both gensets, the one that works is the black one.

Prof arrived Wednesday afternoon, coming from 3 degrees in Hobart to Darwin’s steamy 35 degrees.  We were joined by my nephew Glenno for sundowners and dinner at the sailing club. Thursday we had a hire car to victual, bunker, gas bottle refill and water. Was a large day doing doing all of that in the heat. Prof likes his beer twice as much as Jim, based on the volume we purchased. He is seen below loading up our red Hyundai fire engine hire car. There was no room for hitch hikers once loaded.

  Also received some replacement deck hardware airfreighted from Sydney. We met two more vessels headed to the Kimberley. Sublime, with Len and John is a clipper bridge deck cruiser from Port Stephens whom we were aware of via the forum on Kimberley Coast Cruising Yacht Club. They arrived today and are staying at Cullen Bay. While bunkering at Cullen Bay we met Kevin and Janie on Sojourn, a Fontaine Pajot catamaran from Perth. Baly and Sojourn are pictured below.

There will be limited internet after we leave Darwin until Cape Leveque, 2 days North of Broome, unless we find some remote communities that have recently been given internet infrastructure,  as was the case at Elcho Island and South Goulburn Island in Arnhem Land.