Cruising the Atlantic Ocean (Friday, March 16)

There were too many variables to ever know with certainty if the captain's decision to leave Stanley an hour early yesterday made any significant difference in our passage to Punta del Este in Uruguay.  On the flip side, it was absolutely certain that today started out lumpy and got more so.  By  mid-day the ship was shuddering its way through 15-foot seas.  According to an announcement, closing the weather (i.e. exposed) decks, the apparent wind was 35-40 MPH gusting to 60 MPH. 

The only observed metric I can provide is that plowing through the trough of the occasional larger wave, I saw spray hit the front windows of the forward observation lounge where I was sitting.  The lounge is on the 10th deck of the ship.

Passenger presence at meals and participation in events was reduced today, but not severely.

Towards evening things started getting a bit calmer.

Although I neglected to get a weather forecast and historical data is not yet posted, it would appear fortuitous that our itinerary did not call for visiting the Falklands today.  Every year some cruise ships have to abort their port call to Stanley because of weather.  We could have been one of them.

In general, the weather in much of South America changes significantly at this time of year.  As a result, in a number of recent ports , SIRENA has been the last cruise ship that will be making port calls for the next few months.