Finally on Palmyra and my first full day of work behind me

My first full day was busy. We made two dives right after breakfast. The first one was to check out our dive gear and adjust our weights. We also scouted out the tiles we plan to retrieve and marked the end one with flagging. I also took several pictures of the tiles in situ.

caged and uncaged settlement tiles after one year on the reef

On the second dive we retrieved 10 of the tiles to bring back to the lab to photograph and look for coral polyps. Here is an example of what one of the tiles looked like:

settlement tile overview photograph in the lab

We also take four more close up photos of the four corners of the tile with the center hole always showing up in one corner. Any coral polyps we find are counted, measured, mapped, and photographed. So far we have found one, maybe two. We sent a copy of the one we were not sure about to Dan Brumbaugh to help us confirm the ID. When we are looking for corals, we shine blue light on the tile and then look for fluorescence using amber colored eyeglasses. Of course we spot other cool things like a very small nudibranch and polychaete worms.  here is a baby anemone we found. It is blue because of the lighting we are using to spot corals.

baby anemone found on tile under blue light

As we were heading out this morning for our dive, there was a full rainbow over the sailing yacht anchored in the lagoon.  In addition to making a reservation to use the lagoon (only two boats allowed at a time), all boats must have passed a rat inspection and had their hulls cleaned within a few days of leaving port for Palmyra.  Once here, they can only stay a week.  This group is very nice, and the ships chef made lunch for everyone on the day the plane arrived for both the arriving and the departing science teams.

full rainbow over visiting yacht

Getting to Palmyra - the rest of the saga

This morning we had two cabs take us from the hotel back to Bradley to catch our plane. The pilots were flown in yesterday from the mainland to Kona. They were originally scheduled to fly in today for the charter going from Kona to the mainland on Monday. The plane landed this morning around 8:15 am from Kona. One of the Gulfstream II pilots who flies to Palmyra regularly agreed to go out with us as a passenger to help out the pilots with any landing questions since these pilots (like the ones yesterday) haven't flown to Palmyra before.

Brenda provided us with a very nice full breakfast spread.  In addition, Paul brought a couple "butter avocados" and a baguette for us to try.  Yum.

breakfast spread at Bradley

skins of the consumed butter avocados

It was a good thing we ate a big breakfast. This is the "cheap" flight compared to yesterday with no food, just water. Also we don't have a flight attendant to take care of our every need.

As we sat in the plane with the engines running I overheard in the cockpit that no flight plan had been filed.  Finally we got the green light and took off around 10 am only a half an hour behind our scheduled departure.

The good news is we finally made it, and this time the weather was clear enough for some aerial photos.  Last year it was raining when we landed.

We flew over Kingman Reef on our route to Palmyra

An aerial shot of Palmyra

A second aerial photo of Palmyra

Getting ready to try again

Up early this morning to head for the airport to try a second time to land on Palmyra. In the meantime, here are two photos taken during our first attempt on Friday. We had a short delay on the runway as there were 4 fighter planes ahead of us in the queue for take-off. The first photo shows two of them taking off. The second is the cockpit of the Gulfstream 4. Notice the formal "uniforms" of the pilot and co-pilot.

two fighters taking off from Honolulu

cockpit of the Gulfstream IV-SP

Hopefully my last day in Waikiki

We are going to make a second attempt to fly to Palmyra tomorrow (Sunday). We will be flying on the same plane but with a different crew. The plane is leaving later than usual. Last time we had to be at the airport by 7 am. This time we need to be there by 8:30 am. Brenda has promised us a real breakfast this time instead of just coffee, donuts, and juice. Of course I really wanted another bacon donut, not only to eat, but to take a picture of it which I failed to do on Friday.

Assuming the plane can land, this will be a quick turn-around flight. Normally the flight lands and everyone has lunch together before the outgoing science team departs. There were several people among the departing group I had hoped to spend time talking with about logistics, equipment location, etc., but that is not going to happen.  If I can just get on the island I will be happy and can't complain.

It was not a very exciting day in Waikiki. I spent some time Skyping with Fio to go over how things are going. I proofed a draft of the Hopkins newsletter and emailed in my corrections.  I went with Lindsey see the Moana Surfrider hotel, one of the old classic hotels on the beach where Lindsey and his wife had stayed many years ago. I also went and bought an aloha Hawaiian shirt to wear tomorrow since I am tired of wearing dirty cloths. I expected to be on Palmyra 3 days ago where they would be doing my laundry 6 days a week, and I had sent most of my cloths directly to the island back in April.

I hate doing a blog without photos, so here are a couple from our force stay on Christmas Island on Friday.

Gulfstream IV waiting to get fuel on Christmas Island

Proof I set foot on Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island

Yet another delay getting to Palmyra

The day started great as we arrived at Bradley Pacific Aviation. We were all under weight so there was no problem with our bags. I had my first bacon coated donut which was actually very tasty.

Bradley Pacific Aviation

While we flew to and from Palmyra on a Gulfstream II last year, the charter service Brenda was able to negotiate for this trip uses a Gulfstream IV-SP. I thought it was luxurious last year, but this year is even better. The plane is wider, longer, and has more amenities. This year we even had a flight attendant to take care of our every need.

Robbie, Paul, Ana, Sabina getting ready to board the plane

interior of the Gulfstream IV-SP

The pilot, Drew, was very friendly and invited us to come up to the cockpit to look around and talk. He had never landed in Palmyra, so I showed him a bunch of aerial photos I have collected. He asked if they were mine, and I said no and that it had been raining when we arrived last year and I really would like to get some of my own aerial photos of Palmyra. He said he would see about doing a 360 of the island before we land so we could take some photos.

Then things fell apart.

There was very low cloud cover over Palmyra, so we dropped below it to try to land which would have been great except it was also raining. There is no control tower, no runway lights, etc., so you need to see the runway to land. We could see the runway out of the side windows, but Drew could not see it from the front windows of the plane which is necessary to land. After circling around for a while we continued on to Christmas Island where there is a larger runway and the weather was clear.

aerial of Christmas Island

Drew was not able to contact anyone on the ground, so we buzzed the runway. Still no response, so we just landed with no clearance. The person finally contacted our plane and apologized -- she had been out for lunch. They had the fuel which we wanted, and supposedly we had a release for it. Instead we were told they required cash up front. The cost to re-fuel is not chump change. Eventually they agreed to accept the fuel release. In the meantime we all got off the plane and took some photos.

Ana, Sabina, Paul at the airport's VIP Lounge on Christmas Island

At first I was optimistic we might still get to Palmyra, but things took a turn for the worse. After starting to refuel they aborted when they learned that we were not paying in cash. Drew had to go into town and met with a Scotsman who runs the island. The Scotsman ended up paying for the refueling with the understanding that Brenda at TNC would reimburse him.

By now the pilots were running into the FAA limits on their flying time, and the weather on Palmyra had not improved, so we headed back to Honolulu. A very frustrating day.

Last day in Hawaii

The good new is they found another charter plane, so we are flying to Palmyra tomorrow morning only one day behind schedule.  We need to check in by 7 am, so this will be short entry as I need to get to bed for an early wake-up call.

We split up today.  Paul and Sabina were going to rent mopeds, and I didn't feel like dealing with Honolulu traffic on a moped.  Instead I took the bus to the Bishop Museum where I spent the day.  It is a very nice museum.  The original building is gorgeous.

Bishop Museum exterior

Bishop Museum interior

I need not have worried about Paul or Sabina getting in an accident and thus not being able to come to Palmyra.  The price for renting the mopeds turned out to be too high, so they ended up doing more exploring on foot.  Much of their day was spent in search of the elusive "butter avocado".  That adventure will have to wait for another time.

Dinner in Waikiki

Tonight we went to Marukame Udon for dinner.

The is a very popular noodle and tempura restaurant.  The food is good and inexpensive, so there is a very long line to get in.  Here we are in line with Grace who has been hosting Sabina during our stay in Waikiki.

Grace, Sabina, & Paul in line for dinner

The four of us had a delicious and filling dinner for $30.  We then went to Duke's Waikiki for drinks and dessert on the beach.  A nice evening to help us forget about all our problems trying to get to Palmyra.