Yesterday was a very busy first day back at work after holidays. We started at 8am with a quick RIB trip over to the Greene to check the rat boxes and rebait them. The wind was at the upper end of our limit so the beach landing was a little exciting. There was one rat to bring home with us so we have now caught 6 over there (14 to go). Then as we were exiting the fjord on the horizon we saw the Sill (fishing boat) that had our beaker (Katie) and another BAS beaker aboard. We dropped off the RIBs and jumped on the jet boats and went out to pick up 30 boxes of cargo, drop off Rob and Kieron to check the dimensions of a net (there are strict net size controls in the fisheries), pick up Sue and Katie and transfer everyone back ashore.

Next job was to quickly have lunch and walk 7km to Maiviken to catch 100 seal pups and weigh them as it was the 7th of the month. Some are now very large I think 16kg was the biggest, they are bitey and fast. We were all pretty knackered by the end of it. We then had a missing person (one of the museum staff) so we split into two groups of three. One group went and checked the 10 rat boxes on the beach at the other end of Maiviken and we went to the other end and then all 6 of us walked up the valley to the hut yelling the persons name. This wasn’t an exercise and it all went well with us finding the person at the hut without a radio. So by the time we got home it was 7pm and time for dinner and for me bed.

This morning I was on earlier so was up at 5:45am in time to see a beautiful sunrise. A day of maintenance on the boats, paperwork and cooking. I made a slow roast pork leg joint, roast potatoes, brocolli, onion gravy, roasted mixed veg, sausages, crackling and stuffing. Followed by steamed treacle sponge and custard.

Oh I forgot to mention the beautiful chocolate cupcakes that awaited me with candles made by Alastair and Sam yesterday morning. They were not only good loooking but extremely tasty for eggless cupcakes!