What follows is a quick and dirty report of my recent stay
on Midway.
I left
Midway about noon Tuesday and had an uneventful flight. We had intense rain
showers off and on all morning before we left so folks were making good use of
the dryers so they would not be soaking wet for the flight home. We flew out
with the NOAA Marine Debris crew and they were able to identify the atolls that
we saw as we flew along the archipelago. We had good views of Pearl and Hermes
and fleeting glimpses of French Frigate Shoals and Tern Island, where I spent 4
months in 2008.
My work
while on island was a mixed bag. Lots of shoveling and hard labor so I could
eat anything that Pong and his wonderful kitchen crew presented. I didn’t
finish the 70 foot flagpole since the paint for the finish coat had to be
ordered. I did get all the scraping, wire brushing and prime coat finished so
it is ready for someone else to paint when the supplies arrive. I measured and
drew a rough plan of the cross on Cross point that had recently fallen. I was
assigned to reinstall another one but it became a job for several people and a
piece of heavy equipment so my role was small. I answered to Bret and he gave
me free rein. I tended to mix my hard labor and boring jobs with less demanding
work and eventually everything that was assigned was completed or well under
way. I did quite a bit of work at the Ave Maria site but was prevented from
repainting the memorial because of lead paint issues. I spent nearly a week
working with the American Battle Monument Commission contractors as they
installed a beautiful new mosaic panel in the Navy Memorial and installed a new
monument at the edge of the Inner Harbor honoring all who served during the
battle. I expected something specific to the submariners but that is not the
case. There has been no official announcement of either of these monuments as
the commission hopes to have an official unveiling later in the year. We were
asked not to publish anything about them until after their announcement. I cleaned
up around the Japanese fisherman’s memorial, removed the old broken down
plastic chain and installed 4 black floats to delineate the area. I think it
looks much better. I re roofed the sign
at the old Galley in 2 stages, one side in early July, and the other side in
September after a White Tern chick was large enough to move out of the way
while I worked. Early in July there was a large die off of adult Laysan
Albatross. I didn’t hear an exact count but about 500 adult LAAL died, mostly
concentrated along the old runway near the 3 large water tanks. This kind of
die off is not unprecedented, but this particular die off and other similar
events in the past are unexplained. I pressure washed many sidewalks and drive
ways to clean up after the albatross chicks. On 2 different days I spent
several hours on Eastern and time on Sand trouble shooting the STAL nest camera
but was not successful at returning it to operation. I had a phone conversation
with the builder who offered many ideas but my work was not successful. The
climate and remoteness of Midway make the upkeep of outdoor electronic devices
very difficult. I witnessed the shorebird migration as birds arrived in groups
of a 100 or more from their nesting areas in Alaska. One day I made multiple
trips to the tarmac area in front of the old hangar for work and on the last trip
of the day a mixed flock of more than 100 shorebirds had landed. They had been
flying for 36 hours or more over water and landed on Midway. What a feat! I continued the work that V began on the
composting project. The chipper shredder arrived and I used it to grind light
cardboard and vegetation and with added waste from the greenhouse I produced a
large compost pile. I worked on this project for several hours most weeks. My
compost piles were heating and working well when I left. There is still much to
accomplish if the compost operation is to reduce the waste stream on the
refuge. I taught Origami on Monday evenings and had from 3 to 8 students.
Siripong was folding constantly when I left so it is fun to leave that kind of
activity behind. On 7-25 I mentioned in my journal that 4 weeks seemed a long
time when I was on the Townsend Cromwell but I’m just getting started here on
Midway. Each time I’ve been back the veteran Thai guys welcome me with open
arms and I have a set of old friends instantly. I read more on Midway than I do
at home and my reading this time included: The recent Steve Jobs biography, The
Warmth of Other Suns, Kent Haruff’s , Where you Once Belonged, Grandma Gatewood’s
Walk, Bill Bryson’s Neither Here Nor There, Dan Brown’s Inferno, My Beloved
World, a reminiscence by Sonia Sotomayor, and Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya
Gowada. Not having much TV helps to increase my reading. There was a large
outbreak of Botulism among the Laysan Ducks and I had 2 of the seeps to check
most mornings, 7 days per week. The sick birds can be caught and usually rehabilitated
successfully and picking up the dead birds helps prevent the spread of the
toxin. We had 3 hurricanes to keep track of at one point in time but managed to
avoid all 3. We had a short but intense rain and wind event in the middle of the
night as one storm was at its closest, which was impressive, but caused little
damage. I snorkeled almost every weekend but the visibility was consistently
bad. Interestingly enough the clearest water we saw was during a windy day that
saw impressive choppy waves under the pier but visibility in the water was at
least 30 feet. There was a group of large Jacks under the pier most days and
Ulua to at least 4 feet circling and watching these strange mammals in the
water. Also large turtles were seen most days. I saw an event under the pier that
was laughable but rare. A turtle fart!
My work included an ongoing effort to remove hazards to the albatross. I
coordinated filling with sand, a large vault near the old fuel farm. The cover
had failed and several dead albatross were found inside before we filled it. I
also removed many pieces of rebar sticking up out of the sand in various areas
on Sand Island. I left a list of hazards that were too large for me to remediate without heavy equipment and I hope they are completed before the
albatross return. The Bonin Petrels, which fly at night, were back in huge
numbers. You could sit in a comfortable spot before sunset and as the sky began
darkening the Petrels began flying. When it was just barely bright enough to
see them there would be thousands in view. As the evening progresses they land
and begin uttering loud, moaning calls. A flashlight is mandatory after dark to
prevent stepping on one, or ridding over them with your bicycle. My favorite
project was building a trail around the Cable House building. As part of the
MOU to remove the 3 structures that were falling down a plan was agreed to that
included replanting the area with native plants and building an interpretive
trail. Bret had a rough plan and I laid out the trail and started work alone.
It included laying plastic mesh fencing, and burying the edges 1 foot deep or
more to prevent petrels from digging underneath. After this shade cloth was
laid over the top and nailed down with 12 inch spikes. The last step was
pushing/pounding 6 inch staples thorough both cloth and mesh about every foot.
I had the help and advice of a 3 man Thai crew on 3 different days. We
shoveled, raked, and pounded alongside each other for days but occasionally
they wanted to carry something or in other ways respect the old guy. They were
a great, hard working crew. For a few years the trail will be a lasting
reminder of my visit. For part of my stay I lived in one of the Officers houses
with 2 women who were my housemates in 2010. It was fun to be back together and
share stories of the past 5 years. Megan and Ann have both continued to
volunteer/work in bird colonies in the NW islands and beyond. The social time I
shared with the Thai guys has always been fun. Even though we don’t share a
common language I still consider several of them as loyal friends. Riding my
bike home from work one Friday afternoon several friends and acquaintances were
working at a table in the garden plot so I stopped to see what important work
was happening. I was immediately offered a beer. This became a regular Friday
afternoon ritual. It often included an invitation to Aree House for dinner. E,
one of the men I spent days working with on the trail, was an excellent cook.
He prepared, from scratch, wonderful meals that were beautifully presented.
Because I was the old guy, I was pampered to the point of embarrassment. While
4 or 5 of us ate communally around the coffee table a poker game would begin
with 6 or 7 other familiar faces. On a bike ride to Clipper House for dinner
one afternoon I was stopped by Go, one of my Thai friends, and he put an iphone
in my hands. On the other end was his wife in Thailand via Skype video. I
uttered the only greeting that I know in Thai, Sa va de kap, and smiled a lot.
It is not hard to smile in a situation like that. So goes cultural life on
Midway. As the botulism outbreak intensified I spent several days helping
Megan, my housemate from 2010, doctor sick ducks. What a privilege to handle
and help a bird that has a world population of about 1,000 individuals. Because
of Midway’s isolation supplies for various jobs are difficult to come by. I am
a person that scrounges constantly at home to supply materials for my various
projects. Even though scrounging doesn’t appear on my resume it certainly was
put to good use on the atoll. I spent hours in the bone yard looking for
materials. By the time I left it was like going shopping, because I would
remember seeing something from past trips and drive my cart to the right spot
and pick it up. After each trip to Midway: 3 ½ months in 2009, 3 ½ months in
2010, a month for the albatross count in winter 2011/12, a month for the
albatross count in 2012/2013 and now 2 ½ months in 2015 I’ve expected not to
return. Kathy asked me at breakfast
Tuesday if I was looking forward to getting back to civilization. My answer was,
that I can easily live with Midway civilization but I miss Jan and will be very
happy to see her again. Leaving Midway is always bitter/sweet.
