Transit Days

Raccoon Butterflyfish

I have almost completed the reports, packing, and meetings that all go with the end of a cruise.  Although many of the scientists will be remaining aboard our ship to continue the cruise in the Mariana Islands, I'll be flying back to Honolulu soon.  So I'm trying to complete all of my work before we arrive in Saipan the day after tomorrow.  The last few days have been filled with computer work and packing - nothing exciting but I thought I would send a few more pictures from Wake.

I hope you're doing well and feeling more creative than me! (Re-read this blog post if explanation is needed)

Take care,

Cristi

Halfspotted Hawkfish

Soft Coral

Giant Clam

Wake Critters

Although, because of the work that I do while diving, I spend most of my time with eyes focused on the bottom, I do periodically look up to see who else besides coral and algae live on these reefs that we visit. These are a few of the fish that we encountered.

Yellow Tang

Spotted Unicornfish

Raccoon Butterflyfish

Blue-lined Surgeonfish

Now I'm off to bed.  Lot of work to do tomorrow, although unfortunately it will just be writing reports on what we've done.

Good night and be well,
Cristi

Leaving Wake

Lionfish

It's amazing how fast an island the size of Wake sinks below the horizon. Seven miles of land and nothing taller than a tree certainly can't be seen from very far away. We started transiting during dinner and by the time I checked outside, all signs of Wake had vanished. Except for the tan on my face and hands, some pictures and many bumps and bruises of unknown origin, you wouldn't know that we've spent the last five days diving at one of the most remote reefs in the Pacific (by the way, I never know what roll or bounce into the ocean floor or into a bit of pointy stainless steel causes what mallady, so the bruises are no big deal). It's been a hectic 120 hours filled with pounding steel stakes into the ocean bottom, counting corals, carrying SCUBA tanks, counting algae, moving tanks after people don't put them where there supposed to be, moving them again with a few well placed moans and groans and trying to coordinate 7 different scientists on one small boat that rolls through the waves like a pig wallowing in jello - and as for coordinating with scientists, think herding 7 pissy, wet cats (sorry for the terminology, but really, the word just fits).

Now I'm exhausted, sore in too many places, looking forward to my bed and I'm sorry to say that all you get for the evening is one pretty picture and these few lines to confirm that although salty and soggy, we're safe. I promise I'll post more photos tomorrow after I blissfully sleep through a morning without an alarm clock ringing at 5:45.

So good night for now, where ever you may be,

Cristi

Almost ready for diving

It's been cloudy and gloomy since before we got to Midway

It's the night before we arrive at Wake Atoll for dive operations - finally.  We're ready to be in the water and although we saw the sun for a few hours today - the first time in 4-5 days - as I type this, there is a lightning storm going on outside.  Plus the ship has been rolling like one of the dancing hippos in Fantasia for the last 3 days.  Needless to say, I'm hoping we find a lee to shelter in near the atoll and maybe - just maybe - the sun will pop out tomorrow.

I'm slightly concerned because of the amount of work we need to get done and the amount of gear we need to pile on to our small boat tomorrow.  It's going to look like a trash barge by the time we're done with it but hopefully we'll still find space to work.  We'll be using a new small boat tomorrow so it will be a learning experience all the way around.  Wish us luck.

I hope things are going well back on land and that you are well.  I'll say 'good night' for now and crawl into my rack for some down time before the 5:45 wake up call.
Take care,
Cristi

Nuclear Plume Models - Just in time for St. Paddy's Day

Ready for St. Patrick's Day

In case you haven't seen this, I thought this link to a Nuclear Plume model posted in the NY Times was both informative and comforting.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/science/plume-graphic.html?ref=science

Based on weather models and prevailing winds, this is the expected path of a possible radiation plume from Japan up through March 19. The islands aren't named, but the ones that the Hi'ialakai will be visiting are: USP77 = Wake Atoll, USP78 = Midway, USP80 = Guam. This puts us far south of where the winds will carry any possible radiation. Of course it does look like the west coast of the US will receive some radiation, but by the time the plume reaches the west coast, concentrations are expected to have dropped significantly. Also, one thing to remember is that we can detect radiation well below the levels that will have significant health effects. We have also been informed that the ship will be picking up a radiation monitor at Wake and it will be kept onboard for the duration of the cruise.

Other than that, things are quiet here and I have my Yearly Performance Evaluation to complete today. I would have opted for an elective root canal instead but that doc is busy so no such luck!

I hope you're enjoying St. Pattie's Day!
Cristi

Are we heading to Wake yet?!?!? No...

Midway in the grey of the morning

We've spent the last 10 hours sitting off of Midway, waiting for the morning light so we could launch small boats, taking our Laysan evacuees to land. The grey light of the morning turned from dark to lighter grey, the neon orange boat touched down in the steel blue waters with its sights on the distant, misty tree tops of Midway, and the evacuees were sent on their way. Now we expected the ship to turn its bow southwest and begin steaming the 4.5 days to Wake Atoll so we could finally begin our work. But no sooner had the small, orange boat been returned to its cradle and tied down in preparation for the long transit, then we were informed that another - yes - another - evacuation was required.

We are now transiting to Kure, an island even farther north than Midway, in order to evacuate five more scientific personnel and return them to Midway. The reason given was that there is concern that the radiation plume will reach the island and there are no other evacuation options.

We're thinking about adding a 'Taxi' light to the top of the ship.

That's all for now as we bob through stormy seas to our next set of refugees.

Take care and someone - anyone - send me an e-mail!!!

Cristi

Heading to Midway???

This morning we find ourselves heading towards Midway, one of the northern-most islands in the Hawaiian Islands chain. This wouldn't be odd, except that's not where we were originally going. We were diverted to Laysan Island 2 days ago to evacuate a group of 7 scientists stationed there, whose field camp was destroyed as a result of the tsunami. Now we're taking them to Midway where they will either wait for another ship or the next plane back to Honolulu. So our field operations have been delayed and unfortunately in order to get to Midway, we're heading directly into the path of storm. This means lots of gray skies and a rolling ship.

Not much excitement but since all we're doing is transiting, there is not much else to report. I've been spending most of my time doing computer work and dodging ping pong balls as they whiz past my head (the ping pong table is only 2 feet behind my work station)!

I hope all is well back on land.

Take care,

Cristi

Second Tsunami While Onboard the Hi'ialakai

We've spent the morning watching BBC news coverage of the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan. From what we've heard, most friends and family in Hawaii are safe. There are a few on Molokai that we are still concerned about, but hopefully we will here from them soon. As for Japan, a few of our friends and colleagues have family there and of course we haven't heard anything about them. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, especially in this time of uncertainty.

That is about all that is happening for now. We are still heading west for Wake Atoll, although we just heard that our Monk Seal camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have been damaged and there are people there. We may be diverted if evacuation of the camps is necessary, but we haven't heard anything yet. It's a transit day so unfortunately we don't have much to distract us from waiting for news. I'll be looking for work to keep me busy because just watching TV is frustrating. I've also realized that this is the second tsunami that I've spent aboard the Hi'ialakai in two years. It's probably the safest place to be but then again, it's happened twice too often for my preference.

Take care,

Cristi

Transit Days with Land In Sight

It doesn't look like much, but Kaula Rock is the most land that we've seen in a month.

The ship is clean, gear is packed and we're passing the first islands in the Main Hawaiaan Island chain. We've spent the last few days finishing reports and entering data. Our evenings have been filled with celestial navigation talks from the ship's crew, a masquerade and costume ball put on by the Engineering Department and Mongolian night, complete with Mongolian BBQ for dinner and a slideshow of the pictures Ben and I took last month. Ben put a lot of work into creating a very impressive slideshow for a full house and we had a lot of wonderful feedback. Now we're passing Niihau and Kauai. The next island will be Oahu, our home, but we won't reach there until sometime tomorrow morning. The port side engine on the ship has been down since this morning and we're not making very good time. But we have a second engine and several engineers working on the broken engine as we speak - just one more reason to always have backups. So there is no ETA as of yet, but I'm looking forward to having fresh veggies and good coffee (not necessarily together) at some point tomorrow!

Have a wonderful night.

Take care,
Cristi

Ocean Defender and Captain Oreo at the Masquerade Ball

Last day at Lisianski

Last Days at Lisianski

Our last day at Lisianski offered the best survey sites and visibility that we had seen at that island. Unfortunately, it was also our last dive day of the cruise. We are now transiting back to Honolulu and trying to wrap up all of the cruise report requirements. Although I'm sorry to see the cruise coming to a close, I am looking forward to coffee and fresh veggies!

I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Take care,

CR

Turtles in the haze

One of our recent dives was particularly murky as we rolled unenthusiastically into a lagoon site. The area was actually a wall that ended in a sandy bottom at 25'. Even with the shallow depth, we weren't able to see the bottom until we were within 10 feet of it. The wall was covered in algae and cyanobacteria, a type of algae that looks like snot and grows in areas with a lot of nutrients. So I wasn't expecting much from the dive. But I dutifully took out my camera, intent on finding some redeeming quality to the site. I found a small cave where the sun was shining in the perfect direction to throw the fish into silhouette. So while waiting for my buddy to get situated, I positioned myself within a few feet of the mouth of the cave to try for some interesting photos. I was doing this for at least five minutes before I noticed that sitting in the cave and watching me intently was a turtle. The visibility was bad enough that unless you looked closely, you couldn't see him. I happily snapped a few pictures before he headed off into the murky haze.

I hope you are having a wonderful evening.

Take care,

CR

Cinnamon Roll Wake Up

Monk Seals at Kure Atoll have nothing to do with cinnamon rolls, but I still liked the picture.

I woke early this morning not to an alarm but to the ship making headway both vertically and horizontally through a large swell. We have thankfully been spoiled on this cruise and the weather has been wonderfully calm. However this morning was a reminder that we may see rougher weather ahead and that my bunk is situated as far forward on the ship as possible. This is important because unlike on a bus, the bumpiest part of the ship is the bow and the more stable bunks can be found at the stern or rear of the ship. Ben always says that he sleeps better with the gentle rocking of the waves but I can never understand that. However my early wakeup call on a transit day was excused by the wonderful smell of fresh baked cinnamon rolls wafting down the hall (my room is also very close to the galley). So I started my day with cinnamony goodness and I have been continuing it with catchup computer work, partially conducted on my laptop while sitting outside and watching the endless blue drift past.

We have one transit day and then three more days of diving at Lisianski before our transit back to Honolulu. It's been a great trip so far and I'm a little sad that it is drawing so close to its end. Although you rarely have privacy on the ship (40 people all within 240 feet of you), I love the simplicity of the routine and the vastness of the horizon stretching out in all directions. I'll miss this when I'm back in the hustle and bustle of life on land.

I hope you are having a wonderful day and that cinnamon rolls are somewhere in your future.

Take care,

Cristi

It's not ALL about the Dolphins

While marine biology is not all about dolphins, they certainly make the job fun!  We started our first day at Kure Atoll accompanied by a pod of dolphins playing in the bow wake of our small boat.  They stayed with us for part of our transit, but then left us alone for the rest of the day.  At the end of our fourth dive, we were on our safety stop and started to hear the high pitched sonar pings of dolphins in the area.  We were in a current that was moving us into deep water and by the time it was time to surface, we still hadn't seen them.  We were peering into blue water, circling as we went to the surface, when the first set of four swam by without a second glance.  Luckily we had plenty of air in our tanks because we spent the next 20 minutes surrounded by Spinner Dolphins.  These are one of the most acrobatic species, jumping and spinning into the air.  In the water, many were graceful and peaceful, while others were darting in and out amongst the small groups.  It was an amazing thing to see and is definitely one of the highlights of this cruise.  It was only my third time seeing dolphins while diving and I've never seen them this close or in these numbers.  There were at least 40 individuals swimming by.  Once we surfaced, the pod stayed near the small boat and we counted at least 80 in the surrounding waters.  Incredible.


I hope you are having a wonderful evening.
Take care and good night,

CR

Saving the Sargassum Frog Fish

Sargassum Frog Fish (camouflaged to look like Sargassum, a type of brown algae)

Well, he wouldn't have needed saving except that as we were transiting between survey sites yesterday, we were trying to be good marine scientists and picked up some derelict fishing net that was drifting in the water.  After a few minutes of having the net onboard, we noticed that there was a fish laying on the deck.  He must have been using the net as floating habitat and once it was aboard, he managed to wriggle out of it.  We stowed him in a spare bucket and transited to our next site with him.  We wanted to release him in a shallow area, hopefully away from the large, predatory Ulua that make their homes in the deep water.  Once at the site, we released the Frog Fish and spent a few minutes snapping pictures of him before continuing with our day.  I've never seen a fish like this and it was impressive to be in the water with him.  He stayed close to us as we were snorkeling and trying to snap pictures - sometimes too close for the camera to focus.  He was checking us out evidently to determine if we were going to remain floating in the water and act as a good protection for him, similar to what the net had been doing.  But our survey site was waiting at 25 feet and we made our way back to the small boat to gear up.

I hope you are enjoying the evening.
Take care,
CR

Calm Days

Yesterday at Pearl & Hermes Atoll was one of the calmest that I've seen so far.  There was barely a breath of wind and no whitecaps as far as the eye could see.  We were on the outside of the ring of coral that creates the atoll (the forereef) on the windward side.  This is generally the area that we can't get to because the seas are too rough and the tradewinds are making things sloppy.  But yesterday, standing on the side of the small boat, we could have counted fish without even getting in the water.  There was barely a ripple on the water and the largest disturbance to be seen was from diver's bubbles reaching the surface.  The picture above is in about 20 feet of water as we are transiting back to the ship.  All of the shapes that you can see in the foreground are coral colonies.  Even into the evening, the water looked like silk as the sun was setting.  The ripples that you can see to the left are about 10 feet from the side of the ship with the reflection of the setting sun.

It looks like we will be enjoying similar weather today but it is not supposed to last.  We have gotten reports of an 8 foot swell from the north that should be reaching us tomorrow.  It probably doesn't sound like much, but when you consider that our small boats are only 19 feet long, an 8' swell can make for a bumpy ride.  So I'll be enjoying as much of this calm as possible today!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the day.

Take care,

Cristi

Our first Monk Seal sighting!

We were greeted by our first Monk seal of this cruise on our last dive of the afternoon. Monk seals are an endangered seal that is found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Unfortunately, many are lost each year because they get entangled in derelict fishing net and drown. There has been an ongoing effort to both clean up the reefs and to rehabilitate wounded seals for release back into the waters around the NWHI. It's always a treat to have these guys visit our survey sites as they are often very curious. Because they're endangered, we are not allowed to approach them, but all survey work stops as we watch them go by.

I hope you had a good weekend.

Good night,

Cristi

Squalls and Lionfish

This morning dawned pink with a sky circled by a ring of blue gray storm clouds.  With rain squalls on the horizon, our last day at French Frigate Shoals was looking like it would sloppy.  But by the time we loaded our small boat, the ship was still in a welcomed patch of sunshine.  Despite rough waves, we launched smoothly and motored out to our first dive site where waves breaking over the bow of the boat made it clear that we would not be diving there.  We had ventured up to the east side of the atoll and the trade winds were whipping up breaking waves in 45' of water - very impressive for that depth.  Not wishing to be tossed about, we headed back to the relative calm of the southern waters and tried for another survey site.

We didn't find anything spectacular at our first two sites, but as we were completing our second set of surveys in a rubble field, I literally stumbled upon this Lionfish.  Hiding alongside a dead coral head, I didn't notice this fish until I had put my hand down close enough to spook him.  These fish generally rely on camouflage to escape notice, so after settling on the bottom again, he was quite willing to pose for a few photos.  Known for their cryptic behavior, these carnivores generally prefer to hunt at night and use their long pectoral fins to corner small prey and to stir up anything that might be living in the sand.  Thankfully I didn't actually put my hand on him, as their long spines are venomous and deliver a nasty puncture wound. Some species even have a clever protective mechanism where the spines are attached to a venom sac at the base of the spine.  Once a spine enters a victim's flesh, pressure on it causes the venom to move up two grooves and into the wound - sort of a self-administered injection.  But although I have had fun doing some book research to find out about this, I am happy that it is not firsthand experience that I am describing here. I doubt I would be as found of this photo if it was!

So in a day of little more than rubble sites, this was my excitement.  We are now transiting to Pearl & Hermes Atoll and will be there the day after tomorrow.

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the evening.
Take care,
Cristi

Picture Night

As I have spent the evening writing a blog post for the official blog site (http://noaacred.blogspot.com), I will just say a quick hello and pass along a few pictures that will do far more justice to the day than anything I can write. We are safe, well-fed, warm and dry - as well as hopefully headed to bed soon.

I hope you have had a wonderful evening.

Take care,

Cristi

Bluefin Trevally

The coral Acropora

A swim-through at one of our sites.  The light-colored specks on the right and
upper left of the photo are schools of small fish.

Acropora coral in the foreground and the alga Asparagopsis in the
middle of the photo (dark pink)

A close-up of a Fireworm

La Perouse Pinnacle

Yesterday we were able to visit a survey site near La Perouse Pinnacle, one of my favorite sites at French Frigate Shoals. The 120 foot tall pinnacle is the only remnant of this atoll's volcanic heritage, as well as the only land in the area reaching more than a few feet above sea level. The pinnacle is named after the French explorer Jean-Francois de la Perouse, who almost lost two frigates while attempting to navigate these shoals in 1786.

Coral and algae (pink and feathery) at La Perouse

From a distance, the pinnacle is easily mistaken for a sailing ship, especially since the top half is white, owing to the hundreds of seabirds that use it as a roost. These birds also make it an unfortunate lunch spot - birds can be rather smelly - but the below water scenery is beautiful. It is unusual to have high coral cover in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, due to their northern latitude, however La Perouse is an exception. This survey site is covered in a combination of yellow and gold coral, red to dark pink, feathery algae, and a pink crustose coralline algae that looks like smooth, hardened bubble gum spread across the bottom. It is called 'crustose coralline' literally because it forms a crust that adheres to the bottom that is hard like a coral skeleton. It is a beautiful dive site, complete with large rock outcropping, probably more volcanic remnants, that are covered with coral colonies. There is also a large swim-through directly underneath one end of the pinnacle. We went to investigate this after our surveys were completed and the tunnel is short enough to easily see through to the other side of the pinnacle, but wide enough to allow at least 10 divers to swim through at one time. While we were there, there was a large school of small, silvery fish glinting in the sunlight on the other side of the tunnel.

To end the day we were able to slip away from data entry for a few minutes to enjoy a beautiful sunset. I'm not sure why, but of all the islands that we visit, the NWHI boast the most spectacular sunsets I've seen.

I hope you have had a wonderful evening.

Take care and good night,

Cristi

First Day at French Frigate Shoals

Danny getting ready to deploy an anchor

Our first day at French Frigate Shoals is drawing to a close with only a few more hours of data entry to go. I spent the morning as a Safety Diver aboard the Oceanography boat, which was interesting but thankfully uneventful. I didn't actually get in the water because in NOAA's grand wisdom they have dictated that Safety Divers are required to sit on the surface during a working dive and get into the water only if something goes wrong. If we were to follow these rules exactly, we would only know that something went wrong when the divers failed to surface 30-45 minutes later - personally I think this would be a tad too late - and thankfully so does the rest of our division. So we put 2 working divers in the water along with an observer who can alert the surface if there is trouble and then we will get in the water to help.

But as I said, operations went smoothly and I kept perfectly dry and warm. It was impressive to watch however, as a 250 pound anchor was deployed and a 1200 pound anchor was recovered, all from a 20 foot small boat. The anchors were dropped and lifted using lift bags, which are essentially large, heavy duty balloons that are slowly filled with air from SCUBA cylinders as you raise the object off of the bottom. It sounds easier than it actually is because as you are lifting the anchor, you have to control the amount of air in the bag so that it doesn't rise too quickly. Plus as you go higher in the water column, the air in the bag is expanding and causing the bag to rise faster while you are trying to stay out of the way of the bag and the weight.

Lift bag and diver at the surface carrying a 1200 pound weight

Anchor being craned back onto the ship

Once the weight was safely back alongside the small boat, we towed it back to the ship where it was craned out of the water and we went back to business as usual. I spent the rest of the afternoon being a dive buddy for the fish team because one of their members is sick, so again it was uneventful but fun to see some different sites.

That's about all for now. I'm off to prep cameras for tomorrow.

Take care and have a good night,

Cristi