Just after the last entry closed, things changed dramatically.
No-one was allowed to leave the ship, all excursions that had not started were cancelled, and the gangway was taken away, marooning those ashore on the quayside. The cause was increased wind speed. So much so, to allow the gangway to be reconnected, a tug and the pilot boat had to join the ship's bowthruster in holding the ship by the pier.
All the mooring ropes were stretched taught, and the wind kept on increasing. It steadied at 55mph, with occasional gusts of over 60mph. Because of the direction, it was fully onto the side of the ship, and it was this windage that was causing the difficulties.
We had a grandstand view of that was happening (or not for some time), as the quayside was directly below us. It steadily filled up with rather bemused people, as the tours returned, who had to stand and wait in the sun, with this wind blasting them.
Eventually, after about an hour, around 1.30pm, the gangway was re-rigged and people were slowly allowed aboard (two at a time).
When it came time to sail i.e once everyone was back on board, there was a further difficulty. The quay at Puerto Madryn is not that long. To moor ships, there is an artificial island off the end of the jetty, to take the stern ropes. Because of the waves, it proved not possible to land a man there to cast the hawsers off. The captain had the three of them cut, thus freeing the ship, and allowing us to sail.
Puerto Madryn is at the inside end of a very large bay, and it took some hours for us to get out into the Atlantic. Once we reached open water, we knew all about it. It was certainly lumpy!!
Things moved around during the night, though we were not affected, as we had taken some precautions, and made sure anything movable was secured. By this morning, the weather had calmed down, and it has been quite a pleasant day
The weather is still affecting us, as there has been a change of itinerary, and we are going into Port Stanley tomorrow, Thursday, rather than Friday. This is because the forecast is for westerlies on Thursday, and northerlies on Friday. Port Stanley is a sheltered achorage if the wind is from the west or south.