Getting close

We've got about 85 miles to go, so should arrive Santa Marta in the early hours of the morning. And we're happy with our position in the fleet, running second in Class B (but it's not a race apparently!). 

We had strong winds and big seas all day yesterday, then a bit of stress late yesterday afternoon when a gale warning was put out. So we spent a couple of hours changing our sail plan, securing everything and battening down the hatches. We already had winds going over 30 knots on occasion, and seas over 10 feet with breaking waves which were catching us from behind so the thought of gales to come was a bit tense!

But in the event the weather never got any worse - our preparations were wise, but not needed. And Dilema handled the weather we did have with ease, and is giving us a lot of confidence we could handle much worse without problem, if necessary. It was quite intimidating at first but now we're used to it, it's actually quite fun watching big breaking waves rearing up behind you blotting out the horizon, then the boat just gently riding up and over the crest with no issue at all.

We have had a couple of waves catch us side on, but just gives us a big splash!

But you'll just have to take our word for it - try as I might, I can't capture what the waves look like on camera, it just flattens everything out! 

The last run into Santa Marta is forecast for winds and seas to increase again - we are already surrounded by big white horses. But the leading boats have reported nothing too serious, so should all be fine, and this is potentially one of the most difficult seas of our whole trip. 

Santa Marta here we come!!