The Top End

Having sailed hard to catch the strong tides past Cape Don and down into the Van Diemen Gulf between Melville Island and the mainland we eventually motored, but were still three hours too late. Nonetheless we got the last half of the 5 knots going in our direction, and then kept motoring hard to try to beat the flood. In the hot morning we could see mangroves distantly on each side of the Howard Channel and, now making almost no headway, we used our shallow draught to creep in close where the current was weaker, and eventually turned the corner and headed for Darwin.

We arrived at Cullen Bay Marina at 14:00 on 11th September, and squeezed over the sandbanks at low water to tie up on their very substantial pontoon. Here we had to wait for Biosecurity to pump pink liquids into every pipe to kill foreign molluscs. The next morning we were allowed in, and were given a nice berth close to the facilities and cafes.

We were sad to say farewell to Toby after his 2,711 nautical miles sailing since coming on board in Port Vila, Vanuatu and best wishes go with him for picking up with career and life in London.

Our time in Darwin was was mostly occupied with repairs, but we did have 3 days exploring the Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks. However our priority was first to get the mainsail repaired, track down spare parts and to get help with electrical problems.
 

• Scott did a good job overhauling our mainsail, and reinforced the temporary patch from PNG
• The chandlery found people to machine a new spinnaker pole attachment for Au$600, and supplied new Genoa sheets
• After weeks of emailing beforehand, Rob at Wichard Australia put me in touch with Remi at Z-Spars, France who confirmed that they could supply the spinnaker part. In the end I got hold of the U.K. Subsidiary on the phone and it arrived on 19/9/17 by DHL for a total of £78!!! Luckily we just caught the chandlery in time as we found they had taken the initiative to get it manufactured without authorisation. 
• Unfortunately the shipyard electrician was so busy that he missed his appointment with us. 
• In desperation I took three batteries to Leila at Supercharge Batteries to be tested over the weekend. One turned out to be dead, so I bought another. This still left the problem of the bow thruster failure, but I found that the batteries were only reading 6.2volts. Clearly had not been charging! 
• A yacht surveyor recommended a company and the following morning we had Colin from Fronitier Marine Services identifying a failed diode which was blocking the charge circuit. This was bypassed and seems to work fine. So the bowthruster batteries I replaced in Tahiti have never been charged, but had enough oooomph to operate once in Tahiti and once in Port Moresby before dying. Maybe that's why we had to replace in Tahiti?!
• Meanwhile Justin hauled Mark up and down the mast dealing with replacement bulbs for navigation lights, and nylon sleeves for the Profurl swivelling mast track. Rob at Wichard had done a great job finding 4 of these discontinued parts and couriering them to us in time.
• Finally we did a big reprovisioning of the boat to cover the next 6,000 miles.
• However it wasn't all hard work, and I will make a separate blog about our impressions on Darwin and the Northern Territories.