Whales and mast high cross offshore goodness!!

So I haven’t written for a while as it’s been a bit quiet on the wind front. We had a couple of amazing mast high cross off days which I stupidly missed. I somehow managed to catch a horrible cold (must have brought it with me from the UK!), so the first big day I took pictures of Tom and Stef: (See Stef’s blog www.stefk782.co.uk). Then the next day we basically got up a bit late and as soon as we touched the beach the wind died, so another day missed-gutted! We have also had a bit of surfing, but lots of paddling to contend with! And a good float and ride day the other day.
Somehow we managed to have a 2 hour conversation with a stoned fisherman on the beach who didn’t speak any English… It involved a lot of Spanish, miming and drawing pictures in the sand! And we have also met some people who speak English!! Some Swiss, Swedish and Danish guys and an Argentinean (most of which are here for the same amount of time as us!).
We had the most amazing day yesterday - whale watching followed by a Churrasco. We were taken to nearby Garopaba, which is a really beautiful sea fishing town, and taken on a boat with about 15 people. There was massive swell yesterday and you could see the swell lines rolling in on the boat, so about 5 people were seasick! We felt fine though. We drove for about an hour up the coast then we saw lots of mother and baby whales, just outside of the breaking waves. They came so close to the boat! Mostly we saw their backs and tails, then when we were about to head back, one came and breached right by us 3 times! It was amazing! They are so huge it was really unreal! So we headed back after that and all of us were so happy, they said it was quite rare to see that! After we went for a buffet lunch which was amazing after our diet of rice, pasta, eggs and potatoes! (We are trying to live cheap!). In the evening we had our first proper Brazilian BBQ with some friends and it was one of the best BBQs I have ever had! This is what I imagined Brazil to be like. 
Today, it was mast high, cross-offshore, port tack, 4-15 knots. Difficult conditions to get out in but lots of fun and lots of swimming!! Tomorrow should be smaller and windier.