Sea Days

Days 34,35; 8,9 February

At Sea

Tearing along at 20 knots heading almost due North for Buenas Aires, Argentina. Scuttlebutt consensus is that we will be allowed into Argentina after having visited the Falklands. Some vessels have been turned away but we have already been to an Argentine port (Ushuaia) so the issue may not arise. We expect some 150 passengers to disembark and 40 new passengers to join us.

Noon report:

Total miles 7,997. Noon-noon 444nm. Air temp 18°c 64°f. Wind E11 (4). Humidity 87%. Sunrise 0557. Sunset 2206.

The weather is warmer now, the seas subsiding.

….......................................................

Second sea day............Back to short sleeved shirts. Sunny and warm. We are packing away the sweaters, gloves and jackets. Lunch today was a special Indonesian buffet in which our Indonesian crew put a lot of work into cooking, decorating and entertaining us.

Noon report:

Position: 36degrees 42.34'S by 055 degrees 38.77'W.

Course 011°. Speed 15.9 knots. Depth 20m. Sea state 2. Temp: Sea 20°C/68°F & Air 21°C/70°F. Humidity 88%. Sunrise 0607/set 1945. Total miles 9664, noon-noon 463nm.

The plan is to pick up our pilots at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata at 2100 (9pm) and join a convoy of three other ships to begin the 12 hour transit up the river to Buenas Aires. That means we should be tied up by 1000 tomorrow. (I can taste that Argentine beef already.) With 2 days in port it may be 3 days until this report is updated. At 2100 we were about 15 nautical miles SSE of Montevideo, Uruguay and heading up the Rio de la Plata turning 15 knots. Without charts, GPS and updates from the bridge I have no idea what is going on. Again, this is like flying blind.