[password] rachel25
[position] 54 46.472s 064 03.001w
[status] Anchored in Puerto Cook, Isla de los Estados
We moved about 12 miles east this morning to Puerto Cook. Captain Cook visited this bay on two occasions in Endeavour, first in 1769 on his way to Tahiti to observe the passage of Venus in front of the sun, and again in 1775 with Resolution and Adventure. It is understandable why he liked the place; well sheltered from the prevailing wind, deep with no shallows or rocks and broad enough to allow the ships to tack up to the anchorage. We walked across the narrow isthmus to Puerto Vancouver on the south of the island, very desolate, with the SW wind blowing straight from the antarctic. Back in Puerto Cook we came across a little cemetery with, perhaps 20 graves, all except two marked by rusting welded steel tube crosses. The larger wooden cross and a wrought iron enclosure probably belong to the soldiers who were stationed here, the simpler crosses, those of their prisoners. This was an Argentinean prison in the late 1800s when there were some 170 people in the community. As usual Ana and I cleaned the beach of plastic - 3 sackfuls. We will try to transport them to the Falklands. Throughout the last 4 years we have gathered similar quantities and sometimes more from every beach we have visited. Of course this is really just an indication of the worldwide oceanic plastic issue. What can be done? What can we do? We wrack our brains and continue collecting.
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