Position 54:24.75 S 071:15.15 W

Yesterday was breathtaking!  After an early start with everybody up at 0430, we headed off from Punta Arenas to start our journey towards Cape Town.  Our first stop would be Puerto King, a small, but well protected anchorage, at the start of the Cockburn Channel. 

As we set off at night, we were treated to a spectacular Patagonian sunrise, as we made our way down the Magellan Straits.  During the morning we did a theory session, which lasted about 4 hours, during which, we had an occasional cup of tea, whilst we admired the ever more interesting scenery.  The theory was hard work, with four of the six never having done tides, and problems with the language barrier, still, 40 days left, so we will see how we go.  At lunch time, we called it a day, and spent some time having an alfresco bread and soup on deck.  It was quite warm on deck in the sunshine, with a few of us wearing T shirts.  As we headed further south the mountains on either side of the straits, became steeper, with snow on the top, intermingled with glorious autumn colours.

 As we progressed further south we saw our first glacier, which was peering over one of the many fjords that we passed on either side.  The only shame with this trip, is that there is so much to see, with much of it still uncharted, an exciting prospect to tempt me back to this part of the world.

The most impressive glacier of the day, out of the 6 that we saw was the Contamaestra Glacier.  All I can say is that it was awe inspiring.

The anchorage in Puerto King was a tight alleyway, which the boat had to be backed into.  Stewart the skipper made it al look so easy, and Lawrence the Mate dashed around on the tender with Ken to attach the shore lines.  In the end, we were welded in place with an anchor, 2 stern shore lines and 2 bow shore lines.

Once secure, Ollie and I ventured ashore to climb one of the peaks to get a better view.  Now I should have guessed the pace of this “walk” as Ollie is training to row around Antarctica single handed, it was extremely hard work.  As we climbed to the top, we found it to be a false summit, in that there was more to climb, but I was done in by this point, so I suggested Ollie continue, and I would wait for his return.  He set off running! 

Anyway, we are underway now, and will poke our nose into the Pacific Ocean before heading into our anchorage for the night, so I had best get going,

Ian on Pelagic signing out