"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." Robert Dwan
Map of Spain
Aerial view of the Punta del Cavall
Depending on the season of the year, I witnessed and heard different things. Since I lived in a very touristy area, in which the population would go from 26,000 in the winter to over 200,000 in the summer, when I visited the cove during the winter I never saw a soul walking around. I only heard the sound of the waves crashing hard against the rocks or simply flowing on the surface. I listened to the wind whistle in my ear and felt the humid breeze touch my face. During those cold months when I walked towards the Punta del Cavall I felt stressed about school, nervous about a synchronized swimming competition or worried about personal problems, but when my dog and I sat down at the edge of the cove, the world seemed to stop and all of my problems would vanish. During that period of time, the world staring at me and me staring right back at it, I experienced different sensations that mixed together contributed to making me feel free, relieved, alive. When I felt sad, angry or lonely I went to the cove in order to find, heal, and love myself. This cove and its fascinating views helped me grow as a person by making me reflect on my problems and try to solve them. Amazingly, by only investing a few minutes every week or month in this particular place, my life gradually changed.
When summer came along my perspective of the world and purpose of going to the cove completely changed. Considering that Cap Salou has many tourists during the summer time all the lonely coves I used to observe were then full of people, towels, and beach umbrellas everywhere. Further, I saw young people jump off the rocks screaming and splashing water while party boats cruised around the coves making as much noise as possible. The hotels located literally right on the beaches often had parties or karaoke nights. Thus, some nights I heard people laughing and singing from afar.
During this time of the summer, what I realized as a simple observer on the Punta del Cavall was the amount of trash, particularly plastic, that would be littered on the beaches by the tourists who went on party boats or karaoke nights and also local people. The littered beaches were an obvious eyesore since the majority of marine debris consisted of plastics or synthetics that most likely do not biodegrade. Since solid waste, such as toxic and chemical waste, has a major impact on our oceans and the living creatures in it I felt deeply sad and disappointed to see how people would litter without thinking about the consequences. From the top of the cove, I saw loads of trash being thrown and blown into the ocean or even swallowed by it. Consequently, almost every time I visited the coves in the evening, after all the tourists were gone, I cleaned up visible and harmful trash with the company of my dog. At the end of the day I reflected on how what should be increasing is the interest and importance our society gives to marine dumping, not marine debris.
Amount of trash I collected on one beach (2015).
Trash collected while going on a run by the Mediterranean Coastline (2019).
If you open up Google Maps, locate Spain, and repeatedly zoom in, you will discover a special place that has served as my getaway space for many years. Initially, you have to focus in on the northeastern extremity of the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia. Furthermore, you need to zoom into a small Spanish city in the region of Catalonia called Salou. Once you have targeted Salou, you must zoom further until you find Cap Salou, which is a town in Salou. Finally, if you zoom in Cap Salou a couple more times you will find a place that is completely exposed with its long sandy beaches interrupted by a large number of rocky coves and pine trees that almost enter the sea. My favorite place to go was, and always will be, a rocky cove called Punta del Cavall. Its unique location allowed me to reflect about personal and global issues while enjoying a rich and diverse panoramic view with a large coastline bathed by the Mediterranean Sea.
Every time I visited the Punta del Cavall's cove, to my right I saw all of Cap Salou's old and eroded coves and Salou's industrial city lights twinkling intermittently. Straight ahead of me, if the day wasn't cloudy, I observed the Delta del Ebro sticking out, which marks the end of Catalonia's region on the coastline. To my left, I stared at the vast abyss that the Mediterranean Sea produced. By just sitting there I smelled and tasted the salt in the air and also smelled the pine trees that surrounded the area. My treasured moment was when I watched how the sun slowly disappeared behind the mountains and I experienced how the color of the sky would transition from flaming warm colors such as reds, oranges, and yellows to soft cold colors like blues, purples, and pinks. As I watched the sunset my body felt heated, but once the sun faded away I suddenly felt chilly. Sometimes, if I was lucky enough, I saw a spectacular formation of birds pass over my head while listening to them sing a sweet melody at the same time.
View of Cala Font (to the right of the Punta del Cavall)
Straws collected at one beach on the Mediterranean coast during a summer night (2018).
This cove allowed me to distress myself, find my inner peace, and zoom out of my own problems by thinking about other global concerns, such as marine waste. I realized that my issues were insignificant when compared to reckless pollution. For this reason, I did a research project on marine dumping in order to bring awareness of the damage and danger careless dumping of sewage into seas has on marine life. Originally, my patient big white fluffy dog named Sugar and I went to the cove to contemplate nature while the breeze made our hair flow back and forth like the waves. However, as the seasons changed and I grew older, our visits went from observing nature to getting dirty and cleaning any trash that we found.
It is unbelievable how this tiny and unnoticeable spot when looking at a map of the Earth has had such a big impact on the environment and my perspective of the world and human beings. The Punta del Cavall has transformed me and influenced the way I treat and think about nature, which is why this place is so important to me. The pictures along this story are primary sources that bring to light only a small fraction of the amount of litter picked up on the beaches and the Punta del Cavall. Globally, the issue is a lot worse, but if each individual tried their best individually and in their communities to lessen the problem, over time that would make a huge impact.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge and share a quote I read while putting together this project.
"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."
- Robert Dwan