Arafura Coast Forecast: Cape Don to Cape Wessel
Forecast issued at 4:45 am CST on Thursday 16 March 2017.
Weather Situation
A weak monsoon trough is developing in the Arafura Sea, just off the north coast of the Top End.Bad news for us on a full day of sailing as this is exactly where we're sailing. It will be a bottom of the ship, low energy day for me assuming I can keep from knocking myself out with Dramamine. We had breakfast in the GDR for the first time and I got my Swedish Pancakes for the cruise, so there is that.
Today they delivered an info sheet on Darwin. It says we'll dock at Fort Hill Wharf which we won't so presumably Oceania onboard staff were really surprised by the Bulk Liquid Cargo Wharf location since they just went with this printout. There is nothing of interest within walking distance there anyway. Just bars, restaurants and shops. I guess that may be all some people would be looking for though. Since we only have 4 hours it isn't like we can plan to go too far anyway. We'll see what happens tomorrow.. After today, I'll be thankful to be docked and on land at all!
Well, we managed to stay low through a rough sailing day. The good news is that we are traveling west and the trough is traveling east so we are passing one another fairly quickly. It is clearer than this morning this afternoon and while rough not getting any rougher. We sat at the same back of the dining room window table that we sat at the first night leaving Sydney. That night we could see the swells over our heads. Today was nothing close to that, so we know it could be worse!
That's all good news. The bad news is that we have our first Tuscan Steak House reservation at dinner tonight. It is aft on deck 10! I hope conditions continue to improve.
The Captain said at noon that he expects to reach the Darwin pilot station around 6am and be alongside our dock no later than 8:15am. Since we are in either the first or second group to clear immigration, we'll have an early morning tomorrow.
Conditions did improve so it was rocky but tolerable going to dinner at Tuscan Steak House. The steaks were good. My pasta appetizer was ok. Desserts were good. I missed the Turkish Delights they used to serve at the Polo Grill on Marina. We had a revised Darwin Port info sheet when we got back to the room regarding the dock at East Arm Wharf. The Currents now says that immigration clearance may begin as early as 8am. It also says that people with our 8:55am tickets will be some of the first called.
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