Aug 30, 2005 – 1930hrs UTC

1930hrs 30 Aug 2005 UTC 32’55”N 017’23”W Ref 322

We are passing Ponto del Prado at the western end of Madeira. I have just dropped my mobile phone into the water, complete with TelstraThe Telstra Corporation is an Australian Telecommunications Company dominant in the area of land lines, mobile phones and Broadband, amongst other services SIM and about 100 phone numbers. How do I feel??

Its last call was to my Mum, which I suppose is appropriate. H, I think you are a nominated person on the account – could you please get a new SIM next time you pass a TelstraThe Telstra Corporation is an Australian Telecommunications Company dominant in the area of land lines, mobile phones and Broadband, amongst other services shop? They are free as far as I can remember.

Madeira looks like an interesting place and it has some history. Big volcanic plug, I think, not unlike Lord Howe, that’s been slowly eroding into the sea. Deep craggy valleys, vertical, massive cliffs into the sea, little settlements along the ridges, tiny harbour at Moniz in the NW with a big rock just off shore. CookBritish explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. He made 3 voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. More on wikipedia. came here to replenish – mostly beer and wine – and most of the early Portugese explorers. All gone, but the rock remains. We’re a fragile and ephemeral presence on this planet.