Darwin - Harbor Cruise

I didn't get much chance to get out on the water while here in Darwin, so decided to go on a Sunset Harbour Cruise for my last night here.

We boarded the Spirit of Darwin about 5:00pm. By then, the temperatures weren't quite so high, and we were on the water and moving, which makes it much better. I sat on the upper (covered, but open) deck to give myself the best chance to get good pictures. The cruise went out along the Darwin coastline toward and into Beagle Gulf.

The Larrakia people are/were the traditional owners of Darwin Harbour, and used canoes to navigate the area for fishing, trading and cultural purposes. Darwin Harbour is named after Charles Darwin, but not because he visited here - instead by a friend and former shipmate of his.

The harbour is a drowned river valley that, according to our captain, covers approximately 1,000 sqkm. That's about 2 1/2 times the size of Sydney Harbour, although Sydney is much deeper. Again, according to the captain, Sydney Harbour holds about four times the water of Darwin Harbour.

On the way out of Dock 2 of the Stokes Hill Wharf. The third picture is the historic sailing ship and training vessel of the Italian Navy, the Amerigo Vespucci. It is on a 2-year tour and was leaving Darwin on this particular day. I have a video of it as it is moving away from the city (below).

The first picture below is the Charles Point Lighthouse. Since its settlement in 1870, the port at Darwin had always been difficult to navigate due to shallow waters, swift currents and many shoals, most of them uncharted. This lighthouse is 22m to the base of the lantern and 32 m to the top. Its lights have a range of 17 nautical miles. The second picture show the rectangular slanted roof of the back of the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Australia (that I spoke about in my last post).