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The southern and the eastern sides of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the seasons that most visitors are there, have calmer seas in the afternoon than the morning. This is contrary to most other places.

The prevailing winds from May to October are from the southeast. The coast runs SE-NW with the ocean to the north. In the morning the land breeze adds to the prevailing wind, and in the afternoon it tends to reduce it.

Like everything in meteorology this is not infallible, but it is often the case.

Tides are very variable. For standard ports and secondary places you can rely on the tides in the tide books, but these are listed only for commercially significant places and you can be hundreds of kilometres away.

Tides can be diurnal, semi-diurnal, or a mixture. Neaps will sometimes produce a tide that hardly changes for 12 hours. When in a remote spot I find the best way is to observe for a few days, compare the observations with the nearest two or three listed ports, and use the one that matches the best.