A week through the Arafura Sea and crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria.

You guessed it , we are undertaking the next phase of the adventure in adverse conditions- well, who would have thought it?

Darwin to Seisia- note the course alteration in the Gulf- that was the Easterly we didn't want!

We departed at 0840, locking out as easily as we locked in.
A beautiful morning,but alas no wind. The forecast for the week was light with northerlies in the afternoon.The bonus being, it wasn't forecast to be on the nose.Only time would tell.

Having motored all the first day at our usual 2200 revs on one engine at a time, we managed 125nm. Then we managed to actually get that beautiful MPS up and setting  for five hours and ended up covering 134nm in the day.
The third day we experienced the wind backing 270degrees from the SW to the NW- extraordinary, and making the MPS useless as it backed around- more motoring. 121nm covered

Passing Cape Wessel, was a long drawn out affair as we were at times managing only 1.8kts, whilst motoring, against the current that was running westwards. On the positive side it wasn't at all lumpy, the sea being as flat as could be. Only 108 nm covered and definitely chewing through the diesel.

We also had some  free loaders hitching a ride. Three terns on the solar panels. That should actually read, three terns with diarrhoea!

The fifth day found us still motoring east .

O goody- on the nose and about to get wet.

The sixth morning found us at 0600 with three reefs in the mainsail heading into an Easterly- exactly not what we wanted, both in strength and direction.

https://youtu.be/uJr4zBDtFKo

It too passed and that afternoon just before sunset we were able to witness the most stunning display by a pod of dolphins so far. Approximately 20 dolphins, a couple of which had obviously had access to the red cordial, played around the bows for about 15 minutes. The youngsters on the red cordial were zigzagging in, under and  over the rest of the pod who were just playing around either bow. It's hard to describe and the video doesn't do it justice as its span of coverage doesn't effectively take in both bows due to the decreasing light as the evening drew in.

About lunch time on the seventh day the wind finally decided to play ball and came away beautifully from the south and then veered to the southwest. Decided not to worry about the MPS and trundled on under the full main and jib. This was great being able to sail at last , albeit only the last few hours. We decided to wait until the daylight the following morning to arrive at Seisia, as neither of  us have ever been there and it would not be until after dark that we would arrive. We anchored instead in 7.5m at 1750 west of Prince of Wales Island.

same photo with 24 hr progress denoted byflag