Midway Baby!!

So I finally made it to the middle of nowhere! I got to midway last friday night and it has been a whirlwind since then. But first I had to get to this speck of sand which is a story all in itself...

We took a G1 plane over here and it took us about a little under 5 hours. We left from Captain Cook Aviation in Honolulu which apparently caters to the high class because they had the fanciest lobby and they even had chocolate covered almonds for free. Anyway we boarded the plane and took off. The plane was really small and it was weird looking at the pilots the whole time cause I guess there is no need for a cockpit door with only 10 passengers. It was a little shaky taking off and it felt like the plane was fish tailing in the air for a little bit, but we leveled off eventually and it was a smooth ride the rest of the way.

Laysan Atoll

Pearl & Hermes Atoll

Midway Atoll!

I was taken over from the plane to eat dinner, then I went to my house where I met with the old volunteer, then we had an "orientation" at Captain Brooks (the pub) then I finally got to bed at about 10. That first night was well...busy I guess you could say. In the middle of the night I heard a knock on my door, I had no idea what was going on so I said come in. There was no answer then about a minute later another knock so I yelled come in, but no one came in. I decided to get up and when I came out Trang (the other volunteer) told me that she had just been bitten by a centipede! Luckily the island PA lives next door so we called him over and he just put an ice pack on it. So we went back in her room and still found the centipede in her covers. We killed it and I went back to bed, but Trang slept out on the couch. When we were first looking through the house I saw a bowl over the drain in my shower which was only half on the drain, but didn't think about it. Then the doc told us that they come up through the drains, so now I don't question covering my drain anymore!

The next morning John Klavitter (one of my bosses) had me and Trang out and checking the duck seeps. Which we do every morning. We just have to walk around the 12 wetlands and look for dead or sick ducks. The Laysan Ducks are critically endangered and they have had an outbreak of botulism so we have to treat and removed infected ducks. The ducks are really cute and it is really really cool to be able to handle and even hand feed and endangered animal.

Laysan Duck

This is communication seep-1 of the 12 we check

This was the first sick duck we found. The sick ones are very lethargic and have squinty eyes, but after some anti-toxin and hand feeding they are good for release after 4 days

After that we went snorkeling to Reef Hotel. I think they said it was about 5 miles from Sand Island and it is the most northern tip of the atoll. It was cool to get to ride on the boat and travel to a spot in the middle of the ocean and yet when you jump in it was only about 15-20 ft deep at the deepest parts.

This is what the water looks like right off the shore ALL THE TIME

Debris mixed in with the coral

HUGE school of manini

Sunday we went out to Eastern Island to check out the duck seeps over there. When we were at the dock a monk seal came right up to our boat to check us out. Eastern is uninhabited and the birds go crazy out there. There are sooty terns that were nesting on the ground so they got all crazy when we walked through the colony. On our way back we ran into some dolphins. I couldn't get a good video of the dolphins since we were going so fast.

It was a very Hitcock moment

Well that was just the beginning and only about 48 hours. I had the IT guy out here look at my computer and so I should be able to blog more often now that my computer is running a little faster.