PUERTO DESEADO , a straggly but engaging fishing port on the estuary of the Río Deseado, is blessed with spectacular coastal scenery and some remarkable colonies of marine wildlife that thrive within sight of the town. The town owes its name to the English privateer Thomas Cavendish, who baptized it
Port Desire , in honour of his ship, when he put into here in 1586. At least one English expedition had less success here, and a sunken caravel from 1770, the
Swift , was discovered in the port in 1982. Present-day Deseado has an easy-going atmosphere, a couple of unassuming but attractive squares, and a fine, porphyry-coloured former
railway station , opposite the Salesian college. The
Museo Padre José Beauvoir (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 3-6pm, Sat & Sun 3-6pm; free, but you're asked to make a donation) in the Colegio Salesiano contains thousands of indigenous artefacts, but they are poorly displayed and the collection has been impoverished by numerous thefts. The
Museo Regional Mario Brozosky by the seafront (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; free) displays items brought up from the storm victim, the caravel
Swift .
