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Wednesday - off to the island!
We depart the hotel in our two vans.  Our call signs, generated by retired police officer MARK KRATZ, were Golf Lima 1 and 2.  For those never in law enforcement or the military, Golf Lima is the phonic for "G" and "L".  And why "G" and "L" you might ask?  That stands for 'Gringos Loco'.  And so we head for the marina........................

 
     Our group arriving on the dock where we will board the chartered boat for our visit to - the island.

 
RALPH and RIGOLF look pleasantly pleased at the choice of our boat.  No beat up old AFRICAN QUEEN scow for us - our Sharkhunters group travels in style!  All the comforts of home in the cabin below - then we are on our way across the lake.
 

As we board our boat we see a World War Two landing craft nearby loading with lumber for.....well, we don't know.
 

 
Upper left - Dr. ELLIS and his daughters waiting to board.  Upper right - the name of the yacht on the far left is 'CALEU CALEU'.  Is that a local Indian word or could that be a modified version of 'KALEU KALEU'?  As we know, Kaleu is the short version of the German naval rank of Kapitänleutnant.

 
                     We are headed out to sea................well, across this large lake.

 

 
AHA!  There is THAT tower again............the watch tower built in the war years; built to house about ten to twelve men with sleeping and cooking facilities.  The tower commands a view of anything coming across the lake from this direction.  The story of this watch tower and the bunker at the other end of the lake are described in the KTB Magazine of Sharkhunters.

 
We are nearing the dock on the remote island - THAT dock that took a chunk out of COOPER's arm in January 2008.  As we will learn in a few days - COOPER goes home from Argentina each time with more and more creative injuries.  Keep reading......

Below left - THAT dock was waiting!  Below right - The Prefectura (Argentine Coast Guard) welcomes COOPER, a former Flotilla Commander with the United states Coast Guard (Aux).  Check the belt buckle............
 

The Exploration Begins............
Below left - no, that is not the sentry.  Below right - talk about a 'bad hair day'...............
 

Both below - okay, we found it.....we found WHAT?  There is a lot of strange stuff on this island.
 
Okay - so why did Dr. Richter and his associates choose this island across from the little town we call 'Stadt'?  According to information from our S.E.I.G. Agent TIGER,
   *  By the end of World War II, 'Stadt' was inhabited almost entirely by Germans;
   *  They had their own armed security patrols in and around 'Stadt';
   *  Armed patrol boats patrolled the entire lake;
   *  We have seen the lookout positions including;
             *  the lookout tower at one end of the lake,
             *  the bunker at the other end of the lake,
            *  the many observation posts set up by Otto Mehling.

But that isn't all!  S.E.I.G. Agent TAUCHER has recently uncovered a HUGE amount of files that, among other formerly unknown data was found Intel relating directly to German scientists, military men, their families etc. - THOUSANDS of them - and some of it pertains directly to this area.  All the details located by TAUCHER will be in the KTB Magazine of Sharkhunters.  We have seen these documents and believe me, it will rock the 'history' that we were taught in 5th grade.  Don't miss the next issues of our KTB Magazine.

 
Both above - There are large square slabs of concrete on top of a built up area and we want to learn what it was.  We read that the scientist in charge, Dr. Robert Richter, "submerged" his reactor under thousands of bags of cement.  Our theory is that in translation, "submerged" probably really was "buried" and so if that were the situation, we would be standing on top of the roof of the buried reactor.  We probed, dug and probed some more but were not able to get through.

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Both below - HALEY HAYES (7403-2008) is not giving up - she really wants to see what is here!
 

HALEY brings in more diggers - her sister Chelsea, her husband Mark and COOPER with the White's metal detector.


        Well, we did find these stairs to..............we aren't sure.
 

      Dr. RALPH FRÖHNER (7392-2008) tries his hand with the White's metal detector.
 

Below left - still not sure what it is we are finding, but we figure that this goldfish pond
                                                 (below right) was for decoration of a house that once stood nearby?????
 

 
       Above and below - into the ruins of one of the buildings that made up the laboratory complex.
 

 

   Below - our White's metal detector found this.....whatever it is.  Dr. CHARLIE ELLIS (7324-LIFE-2008) peers through it.
 

Still searching.....
  

Next we come upon a building that looks as if it were in a fierce firefight.....
 
This was the home of Dr. Richter on the island and there is no reason to believe there ever was a gun battle near here.  The island was shut down and deserted in the late 1950's and once Juan Peron was out of power, it is not unlikely that the new government sent the army to the island to see what Peron was doing there and maybe the soldiers just shot at the building - we don't know, but from the holes in the building, it is apparent that they were made by heavy military rifles.

 
Above left - BURGESS and RIGOLF check out Dr. Richter's living room while (above right) HALEY checks the outside.

 
            Above left - NAHUEL and RIGOLF check it out.  Above right - Richter's bathroom.

 
Above left - the bathroom; above right - the bedroom.  Note how it was built for 'beneath the floor' heating.  The floor boards were placed on top of the large stringers so the air - heated or otherwise, could flow freely beneath the floor of the home.

 
Above left - why would anyone damage and destroy a home like this?  Pure stupidity!  Above right - explorations continue.

Now we move on from Dr. Richter's home to another part of the laboratory complex.
 

 

 

 
Above right - there was a depression in an area beneath where the floor would have been but we find nothing unusual.

 

Off to another abandoned laboratory building.................
 

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Sharkhunters explorers hard at work - walking in the footsteps of history.................................

 

.................and traveling through the tunnels of time.
 

Departing this building and we pass another of those signs that say that Sharkhunters are welcome here - but in this case, once we were through the underbrush and into a meadow, we spent much time picking thorns and stickers out of our pants.
 

When we reach the next building, we are still picking stickers out of our pants - or in the case of those who wore shorts - picking the stickers out of their bare legs - OUCH!  But we are tough - we are Sharkhunters.
 

 
                                                                  Above right - RALPH wonders what once stood on this foundation.

Exploring the next abandoned laboratory building
 

Below are some "promo" shots of COOPER using the White's XMT-300 metal detector.
 

        Time for a lunch break
Our lunch picnic meal was in the shadows of this boat that will never sail again.
 
Everyone was sharing food, trading cheese for tomatoes, ham for sausage etc. with one another.  It was exactly what Sharkhunters is meant to be - a large family.  This was one of the best groups ever to travel with Sharkhunters.

Both below.............did we mention the stickers and thorns in the underbrush here?  This was just five minutes worth.
 

 
Above left - we have no idea what was once in this cut-out area, but we put in the water bottle for size comparison.

 
Lunch break - okay, so we got carried away and stuck in a quote from the 'Rubiat' by Omar Kyham but why not?  It was quiet, relaxing with friends - and in the tunnels of time with Sharkhunters.

 

   Back into the field...
We return to our work
 
Perhaps you could tell by the large round objects - we are told they are 'control rod refueling ports' and we are at the building that was once the reactor building where the low level thermonuclear reaction was achieved.

 
Above left - Dr. CHARLES ELLIS is giving the Geiger counter a workout to make sure there is no residual radiation.
                       Above right - another of the observation ports which would have had heave glass at either end and the gap between     
                        filled with water to lessen the escaping radiation.

 
Above left - another observation port, filled in with rubble.
        Above right - for whatever reason, the reactor building is the only structure in the complex to be dynamited.

 

 

 

Above and below - there were several structures that were obviously foundations/fundaments for machinery of some type.
 
It was inside the reactor building where Dr. CHARLES ELLIS handed the Geiger counter to his daughter HALEY HAYES and when he least expected it, she asked (with a sly grim) "Daddy, why does it show 5.4?"  CHARLIE nearly turned himself inside-out spinning around to look at the instrument.  That's when HALEY broke into outright laughter.  The counter really indicated zero radiation.

 
                                   Above right - nobody could guess what this melted black stuff was.

Below - somehow HALEY got caught up in the thick brush on the island.  One wonders how long until nature reclaims it all here.
 

 
Above right and both below - we found what appears to be some kind of schematic etched into these rocks inside the reactor building.
 
                                         Any suggestions what this is - please let us know.


Above left - another deep viewing port into the reactor.  What was the purpose of these supports?  Perhaps a camera mount???

Off to yet another laboratory building
 
We explore yet another strange laboratory building - again with so many square holes all throughout the walls.  They are not far enough in height from each other, so they could not be floor supports - so what were they?  Ideas anyone?

One of our Sharkhunters Members with a scientific background suggested possibly a primitive cooling tower?  With pipes running through these holes as a gigantic radiator to cool the water from the reactor?  We don't know, but it is a possibility.

 
Above left - inside and looking up at where the roof should have been.
                                                      Above right - inside and looking from one room into another.

 

And to yet one more building
 
This laboratory building was only one story high and from the layout of the inside was possibly a chemistry laboratory.

 

 
                                                   Above and below - in the main room of this building.
 

Massive amounts of electric power were required to operate this complex, so we go.........
.......to the power generating station
 
Above left - not much remains of this large building that housed the diesel engines, generators and fuel tanks.
                                                  Above right - what was once in this bunker?  We're guessing a fuel tank - maybe???

 
Above left - what rested on these bunkers?  We're guessing the diesel engines.
            Above & below right - this is a real puzzle; the center structure is surrounded by that narrow gap, but that gap is
            filled with water - deep water.  We dropped heavy stones in the water and it read pretty deep.  What was this?
 

After the atomic laboratory facility here on the island was abandoned, about the same time that Juan Peron was ousted from power, all the electric generating machinery was removed to nearby 'Stadt' and used to generate enough electricity to power the entire town.

Other questions pop up - how did they get the diesel fuel to the island?  We found no evidence of a pipeline from the mainland; we saw no evidence of a dock substantial enough to handle the heavy equipment used on the island or heavy enough to handle fuel deliveries; no evidence of a pipeline from any place near the water to the power station........we came away with more questions than answers.

 

 
Above left - apparently the bathroom in the power generating building.
     Above right - our last view of this island as our boat pulls away and heads for homebase.

Time for a break on the return trip
We stopped at a nice little brewery on the way back named.....of course - Berliner Brewery!
 

 

The day closes with our stop at a souvenir shop on the way back to our hotel and a well deserved rest.  We have walked today in the footsteps of history and have been places most do not know exist.  As our good friend Captain HANS-GEORG HESS (125-+-1987) once said, "Sharkhunters are the seekers of the truth".

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