Between Darwin and King George River, our first stop in the Kimberley, is this 220 nm of water we need to cross known as Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (Joseph was Napoleon’s brother). Not as wide as the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is 350 nm, but still a substantial hunk of water.

So a first light departure on Saturday morning has us under way to take advantage of favourable winds which are forecast to drop off on Sunday afternoon. We have used GRIB weather downloads which provide a seven day forecast for an area you can define yourself. We expect it to be an overnighter and arrive at dusk on Sunday if we can average 6.5 knots, which we did across the Gulf of Carpentaria. Cold this morning, 17 degrees,  Prof put a jumper on so must be acclimatising. Our last view of Darwin and a NT sunrise.

Prof cooked Thai green curry prawns with rice  vermicelli noodles last night which was absolutely delicious but took it’s vengeance on my body 4 hours later and subsequently throughout the night.

By midday Saturday we had covered 40 nm averaging 6.8 kts and making good time. Really enjoying some new music Prof brought onboard as well as some old stuff that reminded us of our times as academics at Tas Uni. Pic below of Prof chillin on Baly’s aft love seat

Wind dropped out in the afternoon so only managed 5 kts motorsailing. That gave us a 12 hour days run of 70 nm, just short of a third of the distance. 60 nm west of Darwin we saw a 2 m seasnake, it raised it’s head like a taipan to have a better look at us. Omelet for dinner tonight. Overnight watch keeping lost some enchantment with no moon.