The time had come to go from Argentina, even if it was difficult to leave our friends from the “Vito Dumas Club” in Quequen, to let behind us the “assados”, the kindless and the good mood of these people, always ready to help you, to talk with you or to share a “Quimes”, the national beer. We go full of memories and we know that we will come back. A last call in Mar del Plata, taking the time to visit the clipper “Libertad”, newly escaped from her lengthy call in Tema, Ghana, victim of vultures fonds, to go to the museum, this time, Vito Dumas, to enjoy the pampa’s skyies.

This time the sea was kind, perhaps too much, and we entered again Uruguay. Here in La Paloma, the sea is so hard that we could think that we are in Britany. Dunes, rocks, pine and eucalyptus woods, birds, the lighthouse, boundless and almost deserted beaches, lagoons, and of course “lobos”, but more reserved.

Brazil is only sixty miles from here, we will wait a little for good winds, and then we will sail to the north, to Panama and the Pacific ocean.We think we have made the good choice, and we can’t regret to have discovered this Argentina where we feel so good.

Hola amigos ! We are in Puerto Quequen (Necochea ), 38°33′,77 S / 58°42′,87 W , were we came back after an attempt to sail to Puerto Madryn. But the winds had decided for us. After 4 days of fight we went back to Quequen, at the very good “Club de yate Vito Dumas”. It seems to us we are already late in the season, we had planed to sail early in November, but a quick stay in the clinic ( for the Captain) put us one month late. The weather is very changing, with a lot of head winds. We had never  been heaving to for such a long time, we never sailed with such reduced sails, and we knew that it will not improve, it wil be worse in South. Then, to spare our boat, who is nearly 100 years old, we have decided to sail to the North, at the begining of May, trough Brazil, Tobago, Panama and Costa Rica at the end of 2013, then  Marquesas, and then depending on our schedule, Chile and the Patagonian canals in 2016, but this time with wind and currents with us, that makes the difference . Our schedule don’t change, just a little in desorder, we don’t give up sailing in this part of the world which ocupy our minds since so long.

Skøiern and crew are well.

San Fernando, Tigre, Buenos Aires, all these places are full of birds, of boats, of flowering trees. It’s Argentina as we love it already. Here it’s the old Europe changed by the magic of the continent, the luxuriant nature, the latin temper of the immigrants. We thought we will find coolness, it’s summer which harass us, with 35°, thunderstorms and tropical rain. Our marina is full of nesting birds, of horses who come here grazing peacefully, dogs of all parts accompanying us. Our prolonged stay permit us to thrive of Buenos Aires, the ” Capital federal”, wandering around museums,  bookstores, alleys, all what we make provisions before leaving the civilisation for the great South  : San Telmo and its antiquaries, its Tango bars, the Plaza de Mayo, where marks of pain are still here, “madwomen of May” or abandoned veterans of the Falklands war. Our growing understanding of spanish make us closer, every day more, of these people whose kindness, delicacy, proximity always surprise us. Soon, if the weather in the Rio permit it, we will put the heading on Mar del Plata the “porteños” start to invade, summer is coming ! We stock for six months as we will be short of groceries.

C’est toujours dur de partir, ça encore été le cas à Piriapolis, on s’était habitués, on laisse des amis là bas, mais bon, c’est la vie de nomade ! Le vent d’est nous à poussé jusqu’à Colonia del Sacramento, ultime étape uruguayenne, puis traversée du Rio de la Plata, navigation dans les chenaux réservés aux gros bateaux (notre tirant d’eau de 2,70m ne nous permet pas trop de fantaisies dans cet immense embouchure où les fonds sont bien souvent inférieurs à 2 mètres, et ça sur des centaines de milles…) puis le delta, mélange d’Afrique et de Louisiane, sillonné par les lanchas en bois vernis. Skoiern est amarré bien sagement pour deux mois à San Fernando, dans le rio Lujan, entre El Tigre et Buenos Aires. C’est très vert (il y a de l’eau partout), bourré d’oiseaux de toutes sortes, l’eau est couleur café au lait, de l’eau ferrugineuse comme l’expliquent les guides touristiques, mais il doit y avoir bien d’autres choses…L’Argentine nous plait. Comme en Uruguay il y a des chiens partout, qui sont libres et pas agressifs. Il est rare qu’on rentre au bateau seuls, on a toujours un compagnon à quatres pattes en plus, quand il n’essaie pas de monter à bord…El Tigre est très beau, San Fernando aussi, mais il ne faut pas marcher longtemps pour voir la misère et la pauvreté. Les “cartoneros” sont à tous les coins de rue, la vie est chère, et pourtant les gens sont gentils, accueillants, seules les voitures sont agressives. On a enfin retrouvé de vrais cafés où il fait bon prendre son temps, on retrouve de vraies librairies et on achète les fleurs dans la rue.