Ben is Fine

Good morning,

Just in case you've been watching the news, I wanted to send a quick note to say that Ben is fine. The tsunami sirens went off twice in Honolulu this morning and he has already checked the predicted inundation zones. Our building is well outside of where the wave is predicted to hit and the only 'widespread panic' that he has heard of is that people are limited to the purchase of 2 cases of Spam per person today. I'm being serious. I guess there have been reports of this "panic" and they are exaggerated. However the local news has reported the limitation on Spam purchases. The fact that we shop at Costco and that I will never be without food means that Ben will be able to live comfortably in our apartment for a long time before he has to resort to fighting people over cases of Spam. The wave is predicted to hit at 11:20 HST so I'm sure he'll know more after that.

I have to go continue preparations for diving today. I hope you are doing well.

Take care,

Cristi

Long Day

The island of Au'nuu off of Tutuila

Yesterday was a good but long day with a total of four dives and about 10 miles of transit. It was fun however because I'm starting to take on different dive roles. For the first dive, I was a safety standby diver for the Oceanography Team while they moved an instrument anchor. I was able to watch them use the a liftbag to move a 250 pound anchor. It had moved about 100 feet either due to the tsunami or to boats using the instrument as a mooring site. My real role would have been to go down and retrieve one of the working divers in case something went very wrong. It is always a good thing when you're a bored safety diver. The 2nd and 3rd dives were collecting calibration data along a transect. Exactly the same method that I've been doing for the past month, but this time I was also taking site pictures for historical documentation. There was also another person in the water collecting the same data that I was for comparison between the two of us. The 4th dive I was helping collect diseased coral samples for an on-going cellular research project. The collection work really wasn't difficult but it kept the day interesting to be changing between roles.

Today will thankfully be a bit shorter with only 2 dives planned. I have to go for now, I hear the crane starting for our small boat.

Take care and talk soon,

Cristi

What happens when the surveys go too quickly...

The village of Vatia on the northeast side of Tutuila

We had 3 more dives today on the northeast side of Tutuila with amazing views of the island. The underwater portion was again unremarkable but the water clarity was better than I was led to believe. All 3 of the dives were in small bays that harbored villages. This can sometimes be a bad combination since the water flow may be reduced, plus any garbage from the land easily gets swept into the bay. But although visibility wasn't great, we didn't run into anything too gross. We did see the towboard team on the second dive which provided an easy and quick way of transiting back to the beginning of our transect line - Molly, my dive buddy, and I both caught on to the trailing tag line of one of the boards to effortlessly move 50 feet. I always have fun with this and now that I have a dive buddy that will join me, I don't have to worry about getting too far away from her.  I'm very happy about this.

We did run into a little trouble on that same dive however. Crown of Thorns Sea Stars or COTS are a nocturnal type of star fish that feed on coral. The thorns on the top side of their body are venomous and can lead to nasty infections if you get stuck with them. Outbreaks of these creatures can lead to the decimation of a reef and Molly has been working on understanding the various populations of these through out the Pacific using DNA technology. It is because of this that she has a lot of experience handling COTS and removing arms from individual COTS for DNA analysis. It is possible that through this work the COTS have come to recognize her presence in the area and are incensed by it. Evidently they still feel the anger of a particular uncle or aunty COT coming to a coral dinner with one less arm, care of Molly Timmers. I believe that this is why one of these cunning creatures - as feisty as a garden snail - attacked Molly on her bum today. But evidently the creature reconsidered its original strategy and decided to take on the pose of either a starving brain sucker or a lovely Sunday hat. You can decide which it is :)

By the way - the thorns are venomous and this shouldn't be tried at home. Molly is a trained professional who is evidently easily amused and needs more sleep :)  I used at least a 1/4 of my air tank laughing underwater.

I hope you are having a wonderful night.
Take care,
Cristi

Umu Dinner

Opening the Umu while Tisa describes its history.

In Samoan culture, an Umu is a traditional method of preparing food and also refers to the meal that is produced. Men are generally tasked with preparing and serving this meal. A fire is built several hours before the oven will be needed and stones taken from river beds are placed in the fire. Once the fire has burned down to embers and the stones have been sufficiently heated, a combination of banana stalks and leaves are placed on top of the stones as a cooking platform. To this is added a variety of meats, fruits and vegetables, including breadfruit, bananas, taro, and fish, in addition to other family favorites. When all of the food has been added to the Umu, it is tightly covered with banana fronds and left to cook for several hours.

Coconut shells filled with steamed shrimp, coconut
cream and taro leaf, papaya, red bananas and
squash make up one layer of this Umu.

In today's society, Umus are generally prepared on Sundays and during large family gatherings. A portion of the Umu is selected for the chief of the village and for the pastor. The rest is shared by family and friends. We were lucky enough during our stay in Pago Pago to participate in an umu at Tisa's Barefoot Beach Bar on Alega Beach. We were treated to a delicious array of traditional foods as well as some non-traditional favorites. In the Umu was chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, octopus wrapped in banana leaf, shrimp, two different types of bananas, squash, papaya, a coconut cream and taro leaf dish, as well as a can of corned beef. The corned beef is a modern staple to most family's Umus.

Ben doing a bit of oven cleaning.

The food was amazing and even cleaning the bits of meat and vegetables from the cooling oven was delicious. Ben argues that the oven cleaning was the best part! Looking at these pictures makes me crave this all over again. It was interesting because there was virtually no seasoning on the food. However the taste of the smoke and the various flavors melding together made the meal far from bland. I can say without hesitation that this has been the best meal of the trip.

I am off to get ready for the day. I hope you are well and eating good food.

Take care,

Cristi

(Please excuse if this seems a bit 'official' in the beginning paragraph. This post was originally meant for the official cruise blog until it was deemed that we shouldn't show that we are having fun, in addition to working 15 hour days. However the Umu has been one of the highlights of the trip for me so I decided to post it on C Time. I hope you enjoy.)

Jungle and Cliffs

Good morning. We spent yesterday on the north side of Tutuila for our first day of dives on that side. I can't say that the underwater scenery was spectacular. There was a large amount of sedimentation and definite reminders of the tsunami. There were several large tree trunks and branches at our last site, which is an unusual finding. But the view from on top of the water was beautiful. The American Samoa Islands are volcanic in nature and we ate lunch next to a volcanic cliff covered in lush jungle foliage. There was an abandoned house on a beach next to the cliff and at the back of a small bay. It would have been a perfect Robinson Crusoe house, except maybe a bit too modern. I couldn't even make out a road that might have led to it. So except for the threat of tsunamis and cyclones, it would be a wonderful place to stay. Maybe it should have been built on top of the cliff instead of next to it.

We are off today for more north shore diving. I hope this finds you well and warm.

Take care,

Cristi

Sending Ben Home

Today was a rest day for us and a change in leadership. Ben has completed his portion of the Chief Scientist duties and is unfortunately on his way back to Honolulu. He headed off in a small boat today for the Pago Pago harbor and then on to the airport. The head of our program has joined us to be the Chief Scientist for March. I think Ben wasn't quite ready to leave the ship, but he is looking forward to this month of quiet time to work on his dissertation. Although C.A.T. can be quite demanding, I imagine that he will get much more done in a quiet house and work place. I will of course miss him, but I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of these islands, spending some time in Western Samoa at the end of the cruise and then returning to Honolulu at the end of March. Other than that, it was an uneventful day. We are back in the water tomorrow for another 8 days of diving.

Thanks for the e-mails that I've been getting. I always love reading about what you guys are doing and it helps me feel more connected. I hope you are doing well.

Take care and good night,

Cristi

Back on the water

Anthias' at Howland Island

We are back on the water after a brief and hectic stay in Pago Pago, American Samoa. It is good to be diving again and I've taken on a new role as a 'working' diver. For this portion of the cruise I will be filling in as a diver to install various instruments and structures, which requires hammering stainless steel pins into the substrate. This is a very different role than just recording what you see along a measuring line and so far I've come up from each dive having seen nothing more than the instrument I've been installing. It's been a bit odd - it seems that if a school of Orcas passed next to me, I probably wouldn't notice. I keep track of my buddies by noticing who is working across the instrument from me (I mostly only see their hands) and how many different directions I'm getting kicked from! There are four of us that work in close proximity and as long as the kicks are from different directions, I know they're still there. But not to worry, the water slows the force of a fin kick and it doesn't hurt. It also makes hammering pins a little interesting. You have the force of the water to push against and things seem to be in slow motion. There are two main type of structures we're installing and they will be recovered in two years. One set is the ARMS, autonomous reef monitoring structures, and the other are the CAUs, calcification acidification units. The ARMS allow cryptic critters to settle on the structure and be identified once the unit is recovered. We've been finding all sorts of small creatures that we haven't seen before. The CAUs are to monitor the effects of ocean acidification and how it is affecting calcifying organisms. The CAUs are the project that I've been organizing for the past few months.

That's about all for now. Once Ben returns to Hawaii, I'll be taking over his role as the Official Blog's organizer, so be sure to follow it for more of my posts. I hope you are well and not too snowed in.

Take care and good night,

Cristi

Run away! Run away! Well, only slightly...

Sea Urchin Hanging Out Underneath a Table Coral at Johnston Atoll

We have just come out of a satellite shadow where we didn't have internet for a few days and are now steaming circles around Samoa. In case the weather stations have been showing Pacific storm activity, I wanted to let you know that we are all safe, healthy and only being sloshed slightly. We are currently crossing paths with a minor storm and although we were supposed to arrive in Samoa this morning, we are now turning around to hide in the western lee of the island chain. The current forecast is that we will be able come in to port on Sunday morning. Things out here really aren't that bad and we are all busily working on the cruise report (so it can't be that sloshy). The main reason that we aren't going in to port is that the Captain doesn't want to be tied up in Samoa during the storm and have the ship bouncing against a solid pier or other boats. The way the storm is travelling, it looks like wind and waves will be funneling directly into the port where we are supposed to be so the ship could take more damage tied up then out in the open water. Other than that, I don't have much to report. I'll write more about Howland and Baker after the cruise report is finished. Until then, I hope you are all well and not snowed in.
Take care,
Cristi

Squalls and other such fun

Can you see the ship? Neither can I. It's big and white and less than a mile away. This was during one of yesterday's squalls.

The weather decided to give us a turn yesterday and we spent most of our above water time bouncing around in a little orange boat. It seemed a reminder that it can't be all fun and games. But once getting in the water, it wasn't too bad. By the afternoon we had found a lee and although everything around us was still foreboding, we didn't quite feel like Tiggers. Squalls continued and at one point I heard the ship come over the radio and mention that we were about to get hit by one. I didn't think much about this until looking left and seeing a wall of rain approaching across the water. One other small boats tried to outrun it unsuccessfully but we had divers in the water and had no choice but to wait for a good rinse down. It was quite impressive to watch its' approach. Today the winds have died down again and hopefully it won't be quite as bumpy.

I hope things are quite as cold and snowy for you as what I've been hearing about.

Take care and keep warm,

Cristi

We found Clownfish!

They weren't exactly Nemo, but they were awesome! We dropped in to our 3rd dive of the day and it looked like huge clumps of blue cotton candy had fallen on the reef. This was our first sighting of anemones for this cruise and we were duly impressed. These anemones are usually brown but are being affected by the same warm water bleaching that has affected so much of the coral. As anemones are related to corals they usually have algae living within them to photosynthesize and create their color. However anemones are also able to capture food by paralyzing small fish with their stinging tentacles and then moving it to their mouth at the base of all of the tentacles. Only clownfish and a few species of damselfish are immune to the stinging toxins. So being able to capture food will hopefully allow these anemones to survive this period of bleaching.

As we don't get to see these very often, the clownfish darting in and out of the tentacles definitely kept me amused while I was waiting on my dive buddies! And as a picture says a thousand words, a movie must say even more.

Enjoy and sleep well!

~ Cristi

Howland Island

One of the healthier reefs at Howland...

We have been transiting south from Johnston Atoll for the last four days and it is abundantly apparent the minute you step out on deck. The days have been getting longer and even the mornings before daybreak are hot and muggy now. We are currently only 15-20 miles north of the equator which has meant a refreshing change in water temperatures. The dives at Johnston, although quite beautiful, were getting colder as the days went by. Our first dive today felt like bath water. It was wonderful. The underwater portion of Howland is amazing! Most of our sites are on a steep wall that drops into blue water within 300 feet of the beach. We stay at 40-50 feet and even with 100+ feet of visibility, we couldn’t see the bottom. There was an incredible diversity of both fish and coral, however a large portion of the coral has been bleached. This happens when various stressors, normally high water temperatures, cause the algae that live within the coral and create the color, to either die or leave the coral tissue. This leaves the coral completely white and it may or may not survive the episode. According to our Oceanography team, water temperatures are about 5 degrees higher here than normal which is more than corals can normally withstand. Hopefully these will survive otherwise there will up to 80% mortality along the entire east side of the island. Although our team hasn't made it to the east side yet (currents would have been too strong for our surveys) we've been told by the tow team that it looked like a pine forest after a snow. Although our dives were wonderful now that I’ve shed my Baby Seal suit (5mm wetsuit plus vest), I would rather be a bit chilly and have the dive look a little less like a winter wonderland. It will be interesting to see what this area looks like when we come back in two years.

So now it's time for breakfast, safety meeting and then boat launches.

Take care, CR