Darwin

The water was dead calm, and the sun was just rising as we started to pull the anchor on what would be our final anchorage in the Kimberley for 2024. The sun still had its early morning sting as Nicky methodically washed the mud off the anchor chain and we stowed everything securely for our big passage direct to Darwin.

The plan was to leave the river mouth following our track in, albeit this time we would have about another metre and a half of water underneath us so it should be a straightforward run out of about 6nm to clear the river and then the sandbar which sits out the front.

Before long, it was mainsail up, screecher up and we were heading for Darwin!!

We had good wind for the first 8 hours of the passage and managed some nice sailing, sitting in the 6 – 7 knot speed range. As forecast, the wind dropped out and we were back on one engine with mainsail.

Our first waypoint was a large gas platform about 40nm to our northeast and it wasn’t too far from there that we nailed a nice Spanish mackerel, somewhat of a rarity during our trip where we had trolled unsuccessfully most of the time. Funnily enough we were just about to stop and have a swim when we hooked up – a fish of about 6kgs so perfect for us.

With the fish filleted and the desks washed down we carried on for a few more miles before stopping to jump in and have a swim. It was about 65metres deep, and the water was a vivid deep blue – always a little unnerving but you relax a little once you are in – well I do anyway, not sure about Nicky!

The wind returned and by the early evening we were sailing with main and jib (don’t like running the screecher at night) and getting along between 6 and 8 knots, which we maintained until about 4am the next morning.

Day two greeted us with a completely glassy sea and hot conditions… man it was hot! With no breeze other than what we were generating by moving it was a little uncomfortable, but we were ticking off the miles slowly so little else you can do.

We watched the sun set as a vivid fireball to our west – truly spectacular the northern sunsets – and at this stage we were about 40nm to the northwest of Darwin. Before long we started hitting some shipping traffic, so it was time to get focused and alert – funnily enough the first ship was Le Jaques Cartier, the French cruise ship we had seen throughout the Kimberley and who had given us the champagne at King George River. Their Kimberley season had ended, and they were on their way to Dili and for the season up in the Raja Ampat area.

As we approached the entrance to Darwin we had more traffic – in the form of big oil rig tenders and so with all of the Darwin lights in the background I was busy trying to correlate what I was seeing to the chart plotter.

Before long we were entering the channel into Darwin – which after an initial marked route stretches for about 7nm before you veer off and then into Fannie Bay, where we were planning to spend the night. We were motoring and our speed wasn’t great as the tide was now outgoing so we were against the current and after two days sailing it seemed we may never arrive!  

We poked our way into Fannie Bay, dodging some moorings, reef and anchored boats before safely dropping anchor about 1 mile offshore from the Darwin Yacht Club. 1.30am and we were knackered so after putting the boat to bed we hit the sack for a well-earned sleep.

October 10th saw us waking to a still, humid morning and we were in Darwin!! We were pretty stoked to get here after leaving Fremantle in April and having a great season. After looking around we decided to move closer to shore – as we had arrived in the dark it was safer to anchor further out but now in the daylight we nudged in amongst a few other catamarans and prepared to go ashore and into civilisation!

Into the dinghy we went and after introducing ourselves to the yacht club and booking a table for dinner we were soon walking up the hill and to the Fannie Bay shops where we treated ourselves to a coffee before buying a few essentials at the local supermarket.

One of the formalities about going into a ‘lock’ marina at Darwin is that you need to complete a Biosecurity assessment. We had done this via email with the Dept of Fisheries, however we now needed to complete a Statutory declaration about our vessel – basically stating that we hadn’t been outside of Australian waters and that our boat was in a clean state etc. We weren’t allowed to enter Bayview Marina without this so after a bit of mucking around we got the form printed out at the yacht club and signed and scanned so we could proceed!

That night we had dinner at the Yacht club with Ted and Tina and some of their friends from Carnarvon who are now living in Darwin. I ordered a steak of course and it tasted pretty damn good I have to say! The Yacht Club was packed and what a great venue – everything set up outside of course to enjoy the climate.

I wanted to enter the lock at Bayview Marina at high tide, which was set for 9.05am so it was another early start for us as we had about 7nm to travel to get to the marina entrance. It was a pleasant motor sail with early glassy conditions and the route takes you right past the Cullen Bay Marina, Navy jetty, Darwin CBD and Stokes Hill Wharf (where the cruise ships tie off) before you turn into Sadgroves Creek and pass the commercial fishing boat harbour and a few other small marinas – all with tidal locks.

We were quite nervous about the lock at Bayview – it was going to be a tight fit and I wasn’t really sure what to expect but after sitting out the front for a few minutes they called us on the radio and opened the gates for us to enter. The lock is about 7.25m wide and we are 6.7m wide so not a lot of margin for error, especially with concrete and oysters on each side waiting to snarl you.

Moving very slowly we tapped our way in and secured Singularity on the starboard side with a couple of ropes. Before we knew it the lock had filled and the gate on the marina side was dropping, and we were free to enter. Another nervous moment leaving – trying to keep the boat straight in a short and confined distance - and then we were in.

We found our pen, backed her in and that was us!

Hello Darwin!