Buenos Aires to Rio--rough seas?

[Chloe's mom]

I'm thinking about taking a cruise from Buenos Aires to Rio in December. Has anyone traveled this route? Please let me know if you encountered rough seas or if you have any information about whether rough seas are the norm. Does it matter if one does the route from Buenos Aires to Rio versus from Rio to Buenos Aires? Thanks.

[kitty9]

Regardless of which direction you cruise, the roughness isn't an issue. It's the weather that makes a difference in how the seas behave and f its rough it really doesnt matter if you're cruising north or south I've cruised that itinerary three times and the seas were fine. But, you ever know. The seas could be really rough if you hit a storm.

 

The only time you have to worry about rough seas in that area of the world, it's is you cruise to the Falklands or Drake's Passage. Those two areas are insanely rough.

[Barrick]

You can see in real time, current sea conditions by clicking on the link below, then clicking on the region you'll be sailing in. This will show you both wave hieght and direction. It's also updated every hour, 24 hours a day, and covers all the oceans and seas world wide.

 

I think in your sailing area it won't be too bad. If you went further south, then that's a whole different story, as the tip of South America can get quite hairy.

 

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

[Chloe's mom]

to both of you for the information. It's good to know that there's not a prevailing current for that route that causes a bumpy ride. Do you know whether there are likely to be strong winds in the first half of December that will cause a lot of rocking? I'm not a good sailor, so I try to choose cruises on routes and at times where I have the best chance of calm seas.

[kitty9]

Asking about winds is like asking how windy it will be in your city on November 3, 2014. There's really no way of knowing how strong winds will be from day to day.

[Chloe's mom]

I know my question could sound stupid, but in some areas certain months are known to be windy, like March on the East Coast of the U.S. So I was trying to find out if in that part of the South American coast the first half of December is known to be pretty windy with rough seas, or mild with calm seas.

[dabear]

We took this route in an r class ship in late Feb and early March and did not have a bad day at sea.

[Chloe's mom]

Thanks, dabear. That's very reassuring. Now if I could only find out how the seas are in early to mid December!

[Freecall]

I don't think that there is a special reason for it to be rough. It was fine when we went.

[Going Coastal]

We did this route in January and it was smooth.

[leonardofan]

Where are you planning to go, exactly? The interesting ports are from BA

south and around Cape Horn to Valpo/Santiago. BA to Rio doesn't make

any obvious sense.

 

Supposing you do want to go around Cape Horn, the only port with frequently rough seas is Stanley(Falkland Islands). It's a tender port

and it can happen that ship has to skip the port (A shame, its very

nice, but there's lots else to see on the Cape Horn itinerary.)

[Chloe's mom]

I was actually looking at this route for a Regent cruise. And I agree that the ports aren't particularly interesting. But I'll be spending time in Argentina before embarking, so the cruise is primarily for relaxing. I've been concerned about the sea conditions because if the ship is rocking a lot it won't be very relaxing for me!