This afternoon I had a chance to sit for a while and watch the waves roll in from the ocean. It was close to high tide, so the waves were breaking out at the edge of the reef that surrounds Kwaj on the ocean side, then sweeping across the coral and lapping against the shore. From shore, the coral looks pretty flat and continuous right out to the breakers, and is marginally exposed at low tide. Well, except for the "pools" 10 or 15-foot deep excavations that are roughly rectangular and parallel the shore. Since they are part of the reef, there is a good assortment of fish and corals in the pools. Most of the pools are 20 or 20 yards wide and extend along much of the east coast with unexcavated breaks every 40 to 100 yards. The pools were dug to provide fill and building materials for the Americans, and the Japanese before them. Various strings of pools are referred to as "Japanese" or "American" to denote who created them.

The pools demonstrate that the island has been altered over a long period of time to suit various purposes. By World War II the island had been given the basic shape that it retains today, with an airfield placed in approximately the current position (although much smaller). More filling by the Americans extended the island on the west and north ends. One recent addition was a berm at the top of the beach along the southeastern and southern coasts to protect the water catchment in the center of the airfield. The berm was built a few years ago after a tropical storm that sent waves surging on-shore and contaminated the fresh water supply in the catchment.

The big news on Kwaj was that school began today. Despite its isolation, Kwaj is home to a fair number of children, with a complete Kindergarten through 12th grade school system. KWAJEX is employing a high-school boy who is entering his junior year. Now that school has started he will still be with us part-time. He says that his class has about 20 students, and in many ways is like any small school system in the States. One of the important differences is that you can't just drive to the next town to find competitors for sports events; it's a long trip by boat or air to get to islands that have high schools. Parents tend to view the school pretty favorably, and generally think of the environment as "safe" for raising kids. It is pretty amazing to ride past the elementary and high schools and see the rows of bicycles no school bus needed! But of necessity education about modern issues, like drug abuse, has been added to the curriculum. We were musing at last weekend's picnic that the science classes ought to be invited to tour the DC-8, and maybe some other of our facilities.

George Huffman