We arrived at Swains Atoll this morning after a 21 hour transit. From the surface Swains looks like many of the other small islands that we visit. It's a beautiful, idyllic South Pacific island that that is only a few feet above sea level and covered with a dense swath of coconut palms. My understanding is that there is a brackish lagoon in the center of the island that I will hopefully get to see tomorrow. So, beautiful - yes - but I must admit that we are getting a bit spoiled and it takes something extra to make an island memorable. By the time I reached 45 feet deep on our first dive of the day, Swains had set itself apart from almost all of the other islands and secured for itself a place on my top ten list.
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We descended onto a steep wall covered in what looked like frilly shelves of coral as far as the eye could see. Visibility
was 200+ feet and the areas that weren't covered in coral either had the beautiful pink castles of coralline algae that we saw at Rose or a soft, green macroalgae. Amongst all of this were schools of small, jewel-colored fish darting about. This was one of those dive sites that it is hard to get work done because you are too busy checking out the scenery. I was only with the small boat for one dive today before having to return to the ship (it was my turn to sit out) but I am excited to be returning tomorrow for a full 3 dives. We will only be here for another 2 days and I plan on being on every dive until we leave!
I hope you are doing well and that spring is making its way to the Midwest.
Good night,
Cristi
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