We've been at Kure Atoll (pronounced Kure-eh) for about 4 days now.. It felt great to get back in the water after our weeklong transit on the ship. On Tuesday our team hopped in the water on the north side of the atoll to begin our towboard surveys. I was filled with what some might call "awe" or "shock" or perhaps "giddy slobbering" when I saw the endless pristine fields of blue and white montipora coral that stretched away before me. (Something you'd never see on Oahu) We began "work", and I was towed behind the boat on my towboard, swooping and diving around coralheads and ledges- literally as close to flying as I'll ever get. The fish were HUGE, as expected, and the visibility was tremendous. I was totally stoked, and ready to declare a national holiday when one of my co-workers said "Oh yeah, Kure has nice beaches, but the diving really isn't all that great compared to the other NW Hawaiian Islands..." I was stunned, being that our first day of operations had been so amazing. But I began to think about it, and it makes sense. Kure, being the world's northernmost coral atoll, has some pretty cold water temperatures in the winter, and thus probably fewer tropical species that care to tolerate freezing their asses off half of the year. Right now during the month of July, the sea-surface temperatures are such that Kure's water feels no different than that of the main islands, 7 full degrees of latitude south. In winter however, the water circulation patterns cause a sharp drop in temp up in the northern regions of the state. Regardless, the diving is far better than anything I've experienced in my life, and it sounds like there's nowhere to go but up! As part of our first three days of operations, my boat team made several runs to Green Island, the main island on the southern side of the atoll. There are three people from the NOAA protected species division camping out there during the monk 
seal pupping season, much like the folks on Laysan. Our ship was carrying supplies for the campers, which as far as I could tell consisted mostly of two giant coolers full of gourmet ice cream. We met the folks at the old coast guard pier that juts out on the north side of the island (they used to have a station there in the old days). After dodging the monk seals that were strewn like bowling pins all over the beach, we got their gear ashore and had a little chat. They liked to chat. I suppose 4 months on a desert island will do that. The woman in charge, Cynthia, seemed very content on the island- 50ish years old, tan tan tan, and a headful of dreds, she was master of her domain. Apparently last year the crew of the ship had trouble convincing her to leave at the end of the season.... One of the other campers took us to the highest point on the island (probably about 15-20 feet) and showed us the grand view. A family of 4 Laysan Albatross occupied the summit of the "hill", so we had to jockey for space to snap a few photos. Green Island is small, perhaps a half mile long and a quarter mile wide, but again like Laysan, is home to thousands of seabirds.
The monk seal campers had very kindly collected all the debris from the island's beaches and piled it all on the pier. We began shoving it over the side and into our avon (inflatable motorboat). We kept piling and packing and piling some more until we had at least 500 lbs aboard. The pile of debris inside the boat was monstrous and almost head-high. I sat on top of the mound of stinky nets for the entire 5 km ride back to the ship. Best seat in the house.
Over the course of the week we made 3 trips, and other boats made about 4 more, and now our 22 foot cargo container is almost half full... We've been pulling a relatively minor amount of debris off the reefs themselves as most of Kure was surveyed thoroughly last year.
When the monk seal campers arrived this March, they discovered that a 30 foot sailboat had washed ashore on the east side of the atoll. It had washed over the barrier reef and into the lagoon and then sunk in about 12 feet of water... There was noone aboard. After reporting it to the coast guard, they found out the story behind the boat. The "Grendel" was captained by a 70 year old man who was making the crossing from New Zealand to Seattle just as he had 25 TIMES before... (!!!) Apparently he went missing this spring and noone has heard from him since.
The boat was directly adjacent to one of our survey areas, so we stopped for a few minutes and dove on the wreck. It sat in about 12 feet of water at about a 45 degree angle. The mast stuck up out of the water about 20 feet and looked almost brand new- roller furling headsails, newish looking radar antenna, weather instruments up top, etc... The hull was steel and looked to have a small hole in the port side. I dove into the cabin and found a couple of guitar cases, a bunch of jars with granola in them, and floating up against the ceiling was a pair of the man's shoes.
It was kinda unnerving and pretty sad, not knowing what happened to the old guy. I'm guessing he just fell overboard somewhere in the night and wasn't able to climb back onboard- the sailor's worst nightmare. There was a carved wooden polynesian mask on the bulkhead, and a wooden alligator was floating up against the starboard cabin wall. The monk seal people had taken many of the man's personal belongings back to the island so they could be sent to his relatives, along with the anchor, much of the hardware, and the sails which had been torn to shreds. We took the sails with us along with all the land 
debris back to the ship... 
It's time for bed now, but I'll post more on Kure soon.
seal pupping season, much like the folks on Laysan. Our ship was carrying supplies for the campers, which as far as I could tell consisted mostly of two giant coolers full of gourmet ice cream. We met the folks at the old coast guard pier that juts out on the north side of the island (they used to have a station there in the old days). After dodging the monk seals that were strewn like bowling pins all over the beach, we got their gear ashore and had a little chat. They liked to chat. I suppose 4 months on a desert island will do that. The woman in charge, Cynthia, seemed very content on the island- 50ish years old, tan tan tan, and a headful of dreds, she was master of her domain. Apparently last year the crew of the ship had trouble convincing her to leave at the end of the season.... One of the other campers took us to the highest point on the island (probably about 15-20 feet) and showed us the grand view. A family of 4 Laysan Albatross occupied the summit of the "hill", so we had to jockey for space to snap a few photos. Green Island is small, perhaps a half mile long and a quarter mile wide, but again like Laysan, is home to thousands of seabirds.The monk seal campers had very kindly collected all the debris from the island's beaches and piled it all on the pier. We began shoving it over the side and into our avon (inflatable motorboat). We kept piling and packing and piling some more until we had at least 500 lbs aboard. The pile of debris inside the boat was monstrous and almost head-high. I sat on top of the mound of stinky nets for the entire 5 km ride back to the ship. Best seat in the house.
Over the course of the week we made 3 trips, and other boats made about 4 more, and now our 22 foot cargo container is almost half full... We've been pulling a relatively minor amount of debris off the reefs themselves as most of Kure was surveyed thoroughly last year.When the monk seal campers arrived this March, they discovered that a 30 foot sailboat had washed ashore on the east side of the atoll. It had washed over the barrier reef and into the lagoon and then sunk in about 12 feet of water... There was noone aboard. After reporting it to the coast guard, they found out the story behind the boat. The "Grendel" was captained by a 70 year old man who was making the crossing from New Zealand to Seattle just as he had 25 TIMES before... (!!!) Apparently he went missing this spring and noone has heard from him since.
The boat was directly adjacent to one of our survey areas, so we stopped for a few minutes and dove on the wreck. It sat in about 12 feet of water at about a 45 degree angle. The mast stuck up out of the water about 20 feet and looked almost brand new- roller furling headsails, newish looking radar antenna, weather instruments up top, etc... The hull was steel and looked to have a small hole in the port side. I dove into the cabin and found a couple of guitar cases, a bunch of jars with granola in them, and floating up against the ceiling was a pair of the man's shoes.
It was kinda unnerving and pretty sad, not knowing what happened to the old guy. I'm guessing he just fell overboard somewhere in the night and wasn't able to climb back onboard- the sailor's worst nightmare. There was a carved wooden polynesian mask on the bulkhead, and a wooden alligator was floating up against the starboard cabin wall. The monk seal people had taken many of the man's personal belongings back to the island so they could be sent to his relatives, along with the anchor, much of the hardware, and the sails which had been torn to shreds. We took the sails with us along with all the land 
debris back to the ship... 
It's time for bed now, but I'll post more on Kure soon.
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