Port Essington & Garig Gunak Barlu National Park

Two days of sailing later we arrived at Port Essington which is noted as the most picturesque and protected waters across the top and forms part of the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park. Just in the nick of time too as we have a strong wind warning in place so looks like we get a few days rest in beautiful surrounds. Our first night we spent at Black Point fishing and enjoying the gorgeous sunsets. Si managed to hook up what looks like a stone fish. The next few days were spent exploring, fishing, baking bread and relaxing.


We took a day trip down to the site of Victoria Settlement and got to appreciate how hard life must have been for the early settlers. We followed this off with a few drinks over sunset in the beautiful Seven Spirit Bay resort. The resort was most welcoming despite being quite exclusive (16 guests at the time we visited for 14 staff) and we thoroughly enjoyed the kindness of the staff and the luxurious surroundings. It’s a shame we didn’t give enough notice for dinner ashore and had to settle for prawns aboard Thyme. I would highly recommend this resort for anyone wanting the visit the top end – the staff are fantastic, the surrounds pretty spectacular with enough to do to keep people active if they want. As we sailed south we spotted their resort boat out and sailed past to see them hold up to show off some very good sized reef fish the guests had just caught. Sounds like dinner at the resort will be pretty special tonight!