Scientists don't rest on Sunday

While the staff had off today, we kept working. We started by doing some prep work for our diving that resumes on Monday. Here you see the bottom of the settlement tiles which I have labelled with numbers and also etched the number into the tile. You also can see how we stack them on a metal rod to carry around under water. They go on top of the plastic white base plate with a matching number both written and etched.

I also thought you should see the underwater pneumatic drill that is our critical piece of equipment.  Pounding the holes in by hand is just not practical when you need to do 180 of them.

Since no one was cooking for us, we could eat an early lunch and get in a long afternoon of terrestrial work, counting and measuring coconut palm trees on three more of the islands. We started on Paradise Island, then went to Kaula Island, and finished on Eastern Island.  There are huge areas that are either exposed at low tide or less than knee high. This means we have to anchor the boat on the edge of the shallow water and hike across VERY long stretches water that is about knee deep. I threw in this photo to try to give you a sense of distance. You will have to click on the image to get a larger view. If you look closely you can pick Doug out.  Go from the left until the island ends and there is open water until the next small island that starts around the center of the photo. A little bit to the right of center in the gap between the islands is a dot that is just down from the water horizon. That is Doug. There is another dot half way between him and the center island which is our boat. I am taking this photo about half way between Doug and the shore where Francesco is waiting for us.

As we walk through the shallows you get to see lots of interesting marine life.  I have some photos to share but they will have to wait for another day.