After the most surreal new year in the world, hugging people weīd only just met who didnīt speak english and watching the Chilean Navy flare display at midnight it was time to leave "el fin del mundo". Nell and Roger arrived in Jan and we waved goodbye to the patagonian cruising community, the waifs and strays of the ocean who had been our family for the past 6 weeks, and headed for the atlantic. As we came out of the Beagle channel we turned north. I looked to see if we could see Cape Horn appearing round the corner and felt a twinge of envy as I remembered that all the really cool people we had met went south at this point. Well next time. We sat out a gale in Staten Island, the most remote part of Argentina, and then pointed ourselves at the beach resort Mar del Plata. The 9 day passage went very smoothly apart from seasickness all round, mine is getting worse every time we go to sea, bog, and the mother of all electric storms. It was two days before we reached land and on a balmy night. There was a hot wind blowing off the land that smelt of the grassland 150 miles away. And there were hugh thunder clouds brewing in the distance. As it got dark the flashes became more and more frequent and the sky blackened. By midnight we were all on deck, the radar was on and we were playing cat and mouse with the clouds. It worked for a while, we twisted and turned anticipating their every move. But our luck ran out and eventually we were trapped by a hugh storm. All we could do was hope that the metal bog brush of a lightening deflector on the top of the mast did what the manufacturers claimed. As we stood around contemplating where the fires would start, what it would be like to be fried alive and if rubber boots would be a good idea etc.. bolts of lightening flashed down and struck the sea all around us. The wind suddenly went from almost nothing to gale force, the sea went white with spume and we couldnīt see for the rain. The boat healed right over and there was lots of shouting and scrambling around for ropes and general shitting of pants. Then as suddenly as it came it went. And we were left drenched looking out into the blackness wondering which way to go and where the next monster was waiting for us. Jonny came on deck and said "if we were really cool weīd have taken a photo of that". We arenīt that cool, so all the pictures are of happy people drinking G&T on deck. We didnīt get hit again so arrived in Mar del Plata and it is really nice and hot. The yacht club has a pool and tennis courts. Itīs back to the easy life.
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