01:45 bt 3-12-2022
49’44.8S 057’11.7W
8.0kn course 203′
Falkland Islands here we come
The winds have been favorable today! An increasing breeze during the night, turned into a strong breeze, force 6, during the day. This time there were no showers though, just blue sky and blue ocean. Under reefed sails we were doing 10 knots, so the mainsail went down and still we were heading to the Falkland Islands with 9 knots.
The water around us changed color during the morning. Making our way from 5000m depth to 2000 and now even 300 meters depth. It looked like we were sailing in the Mediterranean. Bright aqua blue, or almost turquoise water! Dolphins were spotted, possibly Commerson dolphins, but they did not stay very long. Ànd lots of birdlife flew with us all day long. Newly added to our list of spotted birds are the Prions, a small skittish bird, rushing from one wave crest to the next! The Giant Petrel made an appearance once or twice, as did some shearwaters and Cape petrels. A blackbrowed Albatross was there, just short enough, not to be able to take his picture.
We are expecting to loose the wind during this night, although it has been keeping up a lot better then we thought. GPS says we can arrive on Saturday in the evening, but we know this is unlikely. So Sunday morning is the most likely. I would also prefer to enter the Falklands with some daylight as there is so much to see. When entering Port William, the inlet with port Stanley at the end of, there are rocks with possibly seals, and most certainly shags and commorants. Then we pass a rockhopper colony when we enter, so there should be many of them jumping around as well. So either this breeze keeps up, or we sail through the night with a small breeze until the morning light shines upon the funky hairdo of the Rockhoppers!
