Flight from Honolulu to Palmya delayed at least a day

The pilot strike still continues, so The Nature Conservancy is still searching for alternative charters to get us to Palmyra. They had an offer to take us out on a smaller plane which meant it would require two round trips to get everyone on and off the islands. It is not just us trying to get onto Palmyra, but there is a group that is suppose to leave the island, The strike has left them stranded there. Unfortunately, the offer was withdrawn. At this point Thursday is out and they are trying for Friday. I am not a happy camper. Kris Anderson, my host in Waikiki, is graciously letting me and Paul stay on another day. Sabina is staying about 10 blocks away with a friend from high school.

Today Paul, Sabina, and I spent much of the day walking around Waikiki. After pickup up some coffee and some sun glasses we headed for the water. Paul and Sabina went for a swim while I walked around the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort looking at the exotic birds, koi ponds, flower arrangements, etc.

Paul & Sabina on Waikiki Beach

We then tried to find a place that sold fresh fruit, but didn't have any luck. After all the walking we had worked up an appetite for lunch. On previous trips to Honolulu, Paul had heard of a place to get good local food but never managed to get there. Sabina and I said that sounds great, so we hiked 2+ miles to Yama's Fish Market. With some input from me and Sabina, we let Paul order. We had Ahi Lima Poke, Ocean Salad, Poi, Kalua Pig with Lomi Salmon, and a side of brown rice. This is primarily a take-out place, and the two tables they have out in front of the market were occupied. We walked over to a nearby baseball park and sat on the grass in the shade of a large tree with our chopsticks to share the local cuisine.

Getting to Palmyra - the first wrinkle

Last night as I was finishing packing for the trip, I got an email from Brenda at The Nature Conservancy.  She wanted to let us know the pilots for the charter service that was schedule to fly us from Honolulu to Palmyra just went on strike.  Emails were flying back and forth as I discussed with Doug and Fio what our options were.  With the time difference of 3 hours, we were not going to get any new information before it was time for me and Paul to leave on the Airbus for the San Francisco airport the next morning.  We decided it was best to go ahead and head to Hawaii on our scheduled flight and hope we didn't get stuck there for too long.

After Paul and I got our bags checked and through security, we managed to find a pair of desks with power outlets right across from our gate.  We plugged in and got onto the airport's WiFi.  We were soon joined by Sabina, the third member of our team.

"nesting" at SFO awaiting our flight to Honolulu

In the meantime The Nature Conservancy was scrambling to find alternative flight options.  It looks like they may have a plane that can take us, but it is smaller than the Gulf Stream II.  This means they may be making two flights, one on Thursday and a second one on Friday.  There are folks currently on Palmyra that are also counting on this happening as they were scheduled to fly off the island on Thursday's flight.

Not an auspicious start to this trip.

Last "major" purchase before departure

I think I made my last purchase before I depart on Tuesday. Last year I took a pair of "original" flip-flops that were like those I wore as a kid with the rubber button through a hole in the sandal. They didn't cost me anything, but they weren't worth much either. After several weeks of use, the button ripping through. I had to borrow a pair of flip-flops that were in the pile of spare clothing left by previous visitors as "community property". Those really chafed my toes.

Flip-flops are an essential piece of "equipment" on Palmyra, so my thought was to splurge and invest in a good pair, expecting to spend maybe $25 or even $35. A new store recently opened up in the Del Monte shopping center that just sells flip-flops, so I went to check it out. When I walked in I experienced major sticker shock with many costing $65 or more. There were also so many brands and styles, I decided I needed to do some research if I was going to invest that much money.

After talking with several people at Hopkins who wear flip-flops regularly and looking at reviews online, I headed off to REI to check out their selection since they had many of the brands I wanted to try. In the end I decided to buy the OluKai Ohana even though they cost $65 plus tax. They were just so much more comfortable than everything else I tried, and they come with a year's guarantee.

Last year my big splurge was the new thin wetsuit, this year it is flip-flops.

New toy to use on Palmyra

It is hard to believe I will be departing in just two weeks.  On Wednesday morning I have a  training session to learn how to ID coral polyps.  I have a very gracious friend who is letting me and Paul crash at her place for two nights while we wait in Honolulu for our flight to Palmyra.  Things are falling into place.

For the most part I already had everything I need having been there last summer.  I still need to buy a good pair of flip-flops as the ones I took last summer were cheap ones that didn't last the month.  The other item that just arrived in the mail is a new dive mask.  I take two masks with me just to be safe.  Last year my primary mask died so I was glad I brought a backup mask.  Since I needed a new mask anyway, I decided to get one that allows me to mount a GoPro camera on it.  We are taking a couple GoPro cameras from the Fio lab.  Their main purpose is to be set out to film how fish are interacting with the settlement plates.  When the cameras aren't being use for that purpose, I am hoping to attach one to my mask and film us at work.  I know last year it really would have come in handy when a large manta ray swam right up to me and Doug and then banked around within a few feet of us.  Unfortunately we were in the middle of doing fish counts, so I couldn't put down the transect line I was reeling in to get out my camera to get a photo or movie.

This is a XS Scuba GoMask camera mask.  It has solid stainless steel mount with built-in threads so no nut is needed.  It will be interesting to see how it works.

Will be on Palmyra in 6 weeks

Time is flying by, and it won't be long before I leave for Palmyra.  In the meantime, I needed to get my gills wet so I am ready for swimming in tropical waters.  Last weekend I spend four days diving off Catalina Island.  While the water was cold (63 degrees), I did have reminders of tropical diving.  We saw two pairs of butterflyfish which is a more tropical fish rarely seen this far north.

scythe butterflyfish

Chaetodon falcifer

Even more unusual was the slate pencil urchin we relocated.  We first found it on Isthmus Reef back in November.  The curator for echinoderms at the LA County Museum really wanted us to collect it since there is no official specimen for this species in California.  There is a record of one collected off Avalon in the 1950s, but so far we haven't been able to locate the specimen that was in a private collection.

slate pencil urchin in situ

Eucidaris thouarsii

slate pencil urchin being collected

It was fun to see these "tropical" species, and I am looking forward to seeing many more in June.

Shipping supplies ahead of time

Last year I was brought on board the project after the barge had made its annual trip to Palmyra, so Doug had already taken care of shipping out most of the materials we would be using.  This year I am involved from the start, so I have been busy working with Doug to make sure we acquire supplies we need so they arrive in Hawaii by April 16th.  They will then go out on a barge scheduled to leave around the 23rd of April and arrive on Palmyra around May 1st.   Shipping things ahead of time is critical since there are severe weight restrictions on what can be taken on the Gulf Stream II flight from Hawaii to Palmyra when I fly out on June 18th.

some of the 65 items being shipped

Except for the 6 foot long tube of PVC pipe, we fit everything into two large ice chests which were then sealed shut with duct tape and are going out via FedEx 2 Day Air today.

ice chest taped up for shipment

this one weighed 52 lbs, the second one weighed 59 lbs

I will rest easier once I know the two ice chests of supplies and the 6 foot long tube arrived safely on Palmyra.

Returning to Palmyra Atoll summer of 2014

I have been invited back to Palmyra Atoll this summer.  This time it will be a slightly shorter trip -- three weeks instead of four.  Last summer I helped install 180 settlement plates.  This summer I will be helping pull those plates to bring them back to the lab where they will be photographed, and the coral polyps will be counted, mapped, and measured before returning them to the reef for another year.

Last year I went with Doug McCauley and Francesco Ferretti.  Doug has been on Palmyra numerous times while working on his Ph.D, and he knew the ropes.  This year I will be accompanied by Paul Leary and Sabina Perkins.  Paul is an experience diver and recently accompanied me on a Channel Islands Research Program cruise, but this will be his first time on Palmyra.  Sabina was on Palmyra for a week in 2011 with Stanford@SEA, but has not been diving there.  A bit scary that I will be the most "experienced" member of the team, and not just the "senior" member of the team.

Things will be a bit different this year.  The two island pets, Dadu and Tigger, both died since I left.  They had been granted permanent residence as part of the purchase agreement when The Nature Conservancy bought the atoll.  Also over the winter two shipwrecks were removed.  The metals they were leaching promoted the growth of an invasive corallimorph species which was smothering the natural reef.  Below is a picture of the pontoon barge, nicknamed “Rust Island” that was grounded near the lagoon entrance channel sometime between 1953 and 1957.  It was believed to be a Defense Department transport barge made out of steel pontoon sections that linked together.

"Rust Island" is now gone

You can read about the wreck removal at:

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/hawaii/palmyraatoll/explore/palmyra-shipwreck-removal.xml