G’Day all.  It has been a few weeks since we last made an input but a lot has happened.  We were in Piriapolis, Uruguay, for a few days checking out yard facilities for our up-coming ‘yard period’ in preparation for the southern legs.  A nice little town with a good yard but unfortunately due to its popularity it was very full and had over 27 yachts on a waiting list to get lifted and worked on.  Apparently we could jump the cue if we greased a few palms, but that is sure not going to happen, though reminds me of the good old days when I had someone else’s credit card to do such things….. not anymore that’s for sure!!.   So after an overnight stay and a short look around we sailed for Buenos Aires, and not long after we lifted the anchor we were joined by several Southern Right Whales who came over for a closer look and hung about for a bit.  What a magic way to start the day… ;)

‘’Having a whale of a time………. ‘’

We eventually arrived in Buenos Aires after several days sailing the brown, wide and at times very shallow waters of the River Plate.  Initially we had some trouble finding a marina that was either not full or had a decent depth for us to enter.    We eventually settled in a great little marina called Port Naval Nuez that was conveniently close to the city and offered the first 5 days free, and one cannot complain about that.  A few days later we were joined by Sallie and Chris, two mates from Australia, who were on their holidays in Argentina.  Chris only stayed a few days but Sallie stayed onboard for another 10 days in which time we went sailing the River Plate and did some coastal cruising of Uruguay.

In Sallies words.. ‘’What a mental trip that was……’’ We spent the time cruising from BA to Uruguay seeing more of Piriapolis, Punta del Este and the very quaint and chilled out Colonia (highly recommended if you are in the area).  Not to bore you with the details but Sallie’s time onboard had seen weather conditions that changed from storms to sunny days in hours, some rather big nights out in Punta del Este, and an impromptu evening in Colonia with a lone Argentinian sailor who convinced us that we should help him drink his 3 bottles of Captains Morgan’s on his yacht until the wee hours of the morning.  Strangely enough we did not manage to do the winery tour we planned for the next morning.  Instead we sailed later in the day to Buenos Aires to continue our cultural tour there… ;)  So in 10 days Sallie managed to fit in all the major experiences that comes with cruising in the short time she was with us, and with bags full of souvenirs, animal skins and bruises she flew back to Australia, leaving us once again to our devices.

Since Sallie has left us we have had a few days to lick our wounds, do some work on the yacht, watch a little rugby in the city over the weekend, lick our wounds once again and move to a marina out of town to do some more work with a lot less distractions……. But more on later … ;)

….. Below are some pictures of our time above, with some great shots of Colonia with there chilled streets and very funky restaurant tables and pot plants…. ;)

Mmm, one of the quiet evenings onboard…….