Calms and a final blow, as we into slip through the net into Darwin

It's 3am and we are 20 miles from Darwin. The last two days have been a mixture of calm motoring and light sailing. So yesterday I think we all thought that the trip was over and the last few miles would pass easily, but slowly in anticipation of arriving.

Sure....

Around 10pm the South East kicked in again and has built to be 25-30 knots and is right in our face. The six metre tide has been running out against us. So we are motoring with all sails down and punching and bouncing along, sometimes at 2.5 knots. Our ETA of 8am is slipping away...

But there is hope. The tide has just turned and soon the current will be with us, and we should start accelerating soon. On the earler 'flood tide' today we were doing 10 knots.

And it appears that if we hadn't told them we were coming, they wouldn't have known. On previous departure/arrivals into Aus we have been regularly buzzed by maritime surveillance aircraft who call us and request our details. This time we saw or heard no-one. But we know the rules and dutifully we emailed our arrival detail 4 days in advance and today called Customs and told one of the aircraft where we where and what time we'd get in.

We did hear other boats being called, and on one occasion, after asking "Do you have any plants or animals aboard?", the reply must have been no. Moments later the aircraft then asked "So I assume you are going to toss those pot plants on your stern over the side soon?". Best to tell the truth when someone's watching.

We've been pigging out on all the remaining food that we assume Customs will take off us. Our last experience with them was simple and no fuss. Let's hope Darwin is the same.