Winkali: Leaving Darwin - and coming back

We did leave - temporarily. Time is marching on and we should have been well and truly in the Kimberleys by now. We need to be out of there by October as it will be getting close to cyclone season and we want to be in safe waters in south W.A. before that happens.

We had a light breeze blowing and the weather-man promised a window of 2 - 3 days of south-easterly winds - just enough to get us across the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

By mid-morning the breeze had stopped so we motored for a couple of hours. Ian was concerned, the sea breeze should be making us smile by now. We decided to drop anchor off Charles Point which is about 12nm from Darwin.

We had to re-assess our actions. We had enough fuel to get us there but we needed more to cover us in case of emergencies. We decided the best thing to do was to go back and wait for better wind or go back and buy more jerry-cans for extra fuel. It meant going back :(

Charles Point isn't a place where one would normally anchor because it's not sheltered, but in the calm conditions, it was fine. . . . and we got to go ashore and get a closer look at the beautiful red cliffs.

Cliffs tapered away to this grove of mangroves at the end.

Crab Artwork

Charles Point Lighthouse

An Osprey patrols the cliff edges

The following morning it was 'back to Darwin'. Radio announcement from Port of Darwin was to stay at least 500m from this huge bulk gas tanker.

We had seen the outline of the huge white gas tanks from a distance while in Darwin and wondered what it was.

We got back and cheered Clive up - we know he missed us :))

His friend, Jim, had to go to hospital for eye surgery the following day, so he lent us his car after we took him to the hospital - thanks Jim.