A nice relaxing sea day after our two days of exploring Montevideo. The weather has been hot and sunny again, hardly any wind to speak of, so a dead calm sea. We are back on a south-south westerly course heading for the very bottom of South America and the Straits of Magellan, the day after tomorrow. At lunchtime today we were about 800 km off Port Stanley, somewhere out there in the South Atlantic. We went to a 2 hour bridge class this morning in playi...

A funny show last night. It opened with a multimedia display about the artist, a Gaucho dancer who has been in show business since he was a child. Then a lot of pictures of him with massive perm, open satin shirts and mustachios back in the 80s and 90s. There was a flash of pyrotechnics and this chap burst onto the stage in a white satin bare-chested gaucho suit and hat, looking very much like Antonio Banderas as Zorro after Zorro had maybe spent too long at ...

An absolutely brilliant day! Probably the best day of all so far. Montevideo has been a delightful surprise and our visit to La Rabida estancia was just so special, we shall always remember it. Firstly, Montevideo, on the River Plate, or Rio del Plata as it is called here is a lovely city of about 2 million people. When you realise that in the whole country of Uruguay there are only about 3.5 million people, which is less than London, you get an idea th...

Glorious day cruising south just off the coast of southern Brazil, heading towards Montevideo, Uruguay where we arrive tomorrow morning. Hot again and the sea has levelled right off to a flat calm. Bridge, painting, talks on the Great Train Robbers and the Krays by an ex policeman. Really interesting and amusing. Painting today was a wintry sun over hills and fields with a little house…. I think one of our best. Maybe we are getting better after all!...

Woke up a few times in the night conscious that the ship was moving about quite a bit and giving the odd "groan" as it flexed. So not a surprise to find we were in a fairish swell most of the day. Not windy at all, so probably a residue from the storm last night or just the norm in these parts. Temperature wise, it was about 27C today and patchy sun/cloud/showers. Nice to sit out and read in under cover. So our first day as Bridge Improvers! Bit scary, m...