Crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria on the Maasdam way from Dili East Timor to Cairns. Still the wet season with plenty of storms and a cyclone brewing. Some leaking into the ship after heavy downpours.
The Gulf of Carpentaria is allow rectangular inlet of the Arafura Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean), indenting the northern coast of Australia. Neglected for centuries, the gulf became internationally significant in the late 20th and early 21st centuries with the exploitation of its bauxite, manganese, and prawn (shrimp) resources.
The gulf has an area of 120,000 square miles (310,000 square km) and a maximum depth of 230 feet (70 metres). It is a rare modern example of an epicontinental sea (a shallow sea on top of a continent), a feature much commoner at earlier times in the Earth’s geologic history.