Position 53:10.4 S 070:54.6 W

Still moored in Punta Arenas and am sitting here rather soggy after a quick rib ride back from ashore.  Although the water is a little choppy today, it was not the waves that got me wet, but a small pod of about 6 dolphins which were swimming and jumping alongside the rib as we returned, apart from the soaking it was a fantastic experience – never a video camera when you need one!

A couple of days ago Jess and I went to the supermarket for a few victuals, where I found some chestnuts that we could roast.  Now on Pelagic we have a Reflex diesel heater which we can put things on to cook, so I thought wouldn’t it be great to have some roast chestnuts.  After eagerly buying about 2kg of the things we made our way back to the boat and quickly got to work in roasting the nuts, which at first was a time consuming process of turning each one in turn until they were done.  After we had had our fill, we planned our next nut roasting session, involving a pan, and a lid so we could shake them and turn them more quickly……

Yesterday morning seemed an ideal time to roast some more nuts and the plan went into action, and very soon the saloon began to smell of roasting chestnuts.  As I came down below Jess told me that they were done, so I went to remove the lid which was very hot, so I got a tea towel to help remove it. Standing there with the lid in one hand, the nuts were just too hot to pick up, so I was looking round the saloon for something to grab a nut with, when Jess shouted “Danger, Danger, Danger”….. it was too late for me as one of the nuts exploded, covering everything within a 3 ft blast range in a nut residue.  “You will have to get the hoover now” Jess said, so off I trundled to go and get it.  When I returned Jess was looking a little sheepish, and there seemed to be rather more nut residue, this time covering even more of the saloon … it seemed I wasn’t the only person to fall victim to exploding nuts that morning.

We are planning to be here until May 12 before heading off down the Magellan Strait towards the Beagle Channel.

Will keep you all posted as things go on,

Ian on Pelagic signing out