Wednesday 18th May 2022 - Darwin - Bay View Marina

At 08:00 Wayne took me to the boat where Luke was waiting. Shortly after we motored around to Bay View Marina with a strong head current all the way taking in all the sights to see around Darwin harbour along the way.

When we entered the estuary, I took it nice and slow and checked out all the boats and broken dreams anchored or abandoned along the channel and among them was a nice old wooden sailing boat owned by Denice, the old man we met in the restaurant at Nemberela and a Wharram catamaran that I had sailed with in the Kimberly over two years ago.

Wharram catamaran that I had sailed with in the Kimberly two years ago

Denise's boat

We waited outside the lock for a short time arriving a little before at 10:00, the time I had booked the lock for yesterday and after a boat came out, I slowly maneuvered Sirocco into the close confine while the large gate closed behind us.

After a few minutes, the water raised high enough to enter the marina. The inner lock gate opened and I was able to carefully motor through the narrow gate and maneuver around to my new pen that I had arranged a couple of months ago.

Initially, I tried bow first into the pen but I wasn’t really happy with this arrangement, so I reversed in stern first and we messed around with the mooring lines for an hour or so until I got them how I wanted, then Wayne & Luke went home and I started the mammoth job of cleaning the boat on my own.

 

All the beds had to be stripped and dirty cloths taken off to be washed. All perishable food had to go and both fridges and freezers switched off and cleaned.

Basically, I started at one end of each hull, first vacuuming then wiping down all surfaces from one end to the other and sorting every thing out and placing everything into its permanent position. While cleaning, I also removed all items that I didn’t want on the boat any more or that hadn’t been used or wasn’t required. I also removed all Putu’s clothing and personal possessions to be brought back to Perth.

My whole day was pretty much spent cleaning the inside of Sirocco and around 17:00 Luke showed up to take me to the Dinah Beach Yacht Club for a few beers and a feed. I slept very well that night.

The next two days were spent cleaning the outside of the boat, cleaning all the Kimberly mud out of the anchor locker and making repairs. I removed the genoa and tied up the main sail in the sail bag very tightly to making the boat safe for the cyclone season. I cleaned the dinghy as best I could and flushed the outboard with fresh water. Luke took a heap of jerry cans to the service station to get diesel for me and I topped up the main tank till it was full.

On Friday 21st May, after staying at Wayne’s place, I went to the boat around 10:00 bringing back all the washing and I made up all the beds, then I cleaned the cockpit and saloon until Sirocco was spotless and looking as beautiful as ever.

I brought all the clothing and other unwanted items back to Wayne's apartment and boxed it all up ready to take back home to Perth. My flight left Darwin at 17:30 and I couldn’t wait to get back home for a hard earnt rest.

Track Sirocco's progress

 https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco