Scratch My Arse Rock, (also known as Kiss Me Arse Rock), is a popular fishing location off the coast of

Palmerston Island Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about northwest of Rarotonga. James Cook landed there on 16 June 1774. Overview Palmerston Island is one of a number of sandy islets on a continuous ring of coral reef ...

, an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

belonging to the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

. The rock's name was reputedly conferred by

William Marsters William Marsters (born Richard Masters) (6 November 1831 – 22 May 1899) was an English adventurer from Walcote, Leicestershire who settled on Palmerston Island in the Cook Islands on 8 July 1863, with his Polynesian wife and two Polynesi ...

, the 19th-century progenitor of the Marsters family, which continues to inhabit and administer Palmerston Island today. The waters off Scratch My Arse Rock are noted for their abundance of

parrotfish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a Family (biology), family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found ...

. Geographical data for the rock is available from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency at

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, United States, to be found at Geographical Names.Geographical Names http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=9213843&fid=1506&c=cook_islands

References

External links

Scratch My Arse Rock, Cook Islands
Landforms of the Cook Islands Palmerston Island Rock formations of Oceania {{CookIslands-geo-stub