Tonight I have the sunset dinner cruise aboard the Charles Darwin.  Boarding starts at 5:45pm and the cruise is about 2-1/2 hours long.  It leaves from Stokes Hill Wharf which is located by the waterfront I was at Sunday.  I head down early for a light lunch at Fiddlers Green on the waterfront.  The wharf area is accessible with a few restaurants and an accessible bathroom.  The ramp down to the boat is steep but I manage this alone.  The steepness of this ramp changes with the tides.  I need help with a small steep ramp over a gap on the dock and the ramp onto the boat.  The stern area on the boat is flat.  There is a small lip on the doorway going into the eating area.  The restrooms are not accessible, they are down 5 steps.  The dinning area is accessible but it is very tight to maneuver around the tables and chairs.  They sit me at a table by myself for a sunset dinner cruise, great.  Everyone else is with a group of people or there are couples. There is an informative talk on the bow of the boat before dinner.  There is a big lip over the doorway and not enough room on the walkway to the bow for me to get out.  I stay in the dinning area and talk with Adam, who just moved back to Darwin with his wife and new born baby, from Vancouver, BC.  We talk about a few things including my travels. Dinner is served buffet style including salad, chicken, fish and desert.  After dinner, I spend the rest of the cruise on the stern of the boat taking photos of the sunset with a nice glass of merlot.  We arrive back in port and the tide has gone out and I need help up all the ramps because they are way too steep.

I wheel back up to the Melaleuca Bar and meet Richard for a few drinks.  After a late night Monday we decide to take it easy tonight, but that doesn’t happen.  We head back to Monsoon’s for another late light.

The cruise was good but not very accessible.  The entire staff was great and willing to help but I see no way to make it more accessible.  A couple of the ramps were narrow along with the doorway.  It would have been great to hear the talk the bow of the boat.  Don’t take the cruise by yourself, it would be much better with your girlfriend, wife or a group.

During the cruise I received an email from John in Perth, the guy I met in Alice Springs, and he fells bad he did not have the oppurtunity to show me around.  He has forwarded the email to his friend Rex in Cairns and asked him to show me around Cairns.