Location 37° 45S, 56° 31W
Friday 12.14.2007

At noon on December 14th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 37° 45S, 56° 31W. We were under full sail, making 8.9 knots in a nice 20 knot southerly breeze. Buenos Aires is 187 NM away and we have come 1394 NM from Puerto Williams. The sky is a high overcast, but no rain as yet. We should arrive in Buenos Aires tomorrow afternoon. The computer says we will be at the Antipuerto Norte (northerly outer harbor) at 1423 on Saturday. We’ll see.

Last night when we were 25 NM off shore, we had thousands of dragonflies come aboard, perching everywhere. And lots of other bugs. Must have been a mating dance as all are gone or dead today. A flycatcher has been hanging out on our shrouds, probably having heard about our abundance.

We are now on a broad reach running up the Rio Plata estuary. Our entrance into this historic body of water was immeasurably improved by the accompaniment of a pod of False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens). They average about 18 feet long and were a bit of a shock after much smaller dolphin. They played in our bow wave, wake and right alongside. Only the appearance of cameras on deck made them leave us….

As sailors making landfall after a long, successful voyage, we are getting ready in traditional ways: braiding hair - Curtis; shaving (?) - Alden; reading the history of the place - Freddie; studying the charts of the complicated channel - the Captain; and airing out the Little Black Dress - the Bosun.

All is well.