Today I played hooky a little bit. To be fair, it was a really important thing to do from a management perspective. One of our radiosonde sites is on Roi-Namur Island in the northeast corner of the atoll. I talk to them at least once a day, and sometimes two or three, but I'd never had a chance to meet everyone there or see their operation. It's easy enough to get there; the Army operates three DASH-7 aircraft on a regular schedule between Kwaj and Roi-Namur. The schedule on most days would require me to leave before my morning duties were complete. Fortunately, on Tuesdays and Saturdays the DASH-7 has an 11:30 a.m. "manifest close-out" at Kwaj. By 10 a.m. it seemed like I didn't have any out-of-control crises, so I made a reservation and excused myself from the 12:30 p.m. forecast update.

The DASH-7 operation is pretty relaxed. Boarding passes are plastic-laminated cards that get used over and over. You check in at the "Atoll Terminal", get a boarding pass, pick up some disposable ear plugs if you wish, and hang out in the (un-airconditioned) waiting room until it's time. Baggage has to be checked at least 30 minutes ahead so that they can juggle baggage, passengers, and freight. When it's time, you parade across the tarmac to a high-wing, four-engine turboprop that holds about 40 passengers. Without much fanfare the props are run up, the plane taxis to the correct end of the runway, and the plane is off. I should note that "relaxed" is not casual. The aviation unit just got a ten-year safety award for operating without an injury or single incident costing more than $10 000. The newspaper article stated that this is extremely rare.

We flew up (and back down) the west side of the atoll, then cut toward Roi-Namur when the west side of the atoll dog-legs west. I was again enchanted by the deep-blue ocean shading into turquoise and then sea green as the water shallowed on the coral reef.

The terminal at Roi-Namur clues you in on the size of the place. Bicycle parking fronts on the part of the tarmac that the terminal building doesn't occupy. The building itself houses the aircraft operation, a branch of the Bank of Guam, the local Post Office, a communications office, and some other offices. The DASH-7 doesn't shut all the way down, and takes off for Kwaj as soon as passengers, baggage, and freight are exchanged.

The weather office consists of a small ready room (with a pair of bunks for those late-night soundings) and a larger lab. The lab has a double rack of equipment for the radiosonde system, a control console for their radar, cabinets of supplies, work benches, test equipment, and so on. As with the Kwaj office, the Roi office is associated with a small nine-hole golf course. However, at Roi the balloon shelter is about 50 yards from the building. For KWAJEX there is also a set of five rain gauges spread over a 30-yard line, with a disdrometer (measuring raindrop sizes) at the center of the line.

Part of the time on the island I borrowed a bike and set out exploring. Before World War II the Japanese filled the narrow channel between the islands of Roi and Namur to provide a single land area for supporting their submarines. There are still a number of their structures standing, albeit with battle and weather damage, including the command center. Parts of Namur are still undeveloped, and therefore densely vegetated. It's amazing to go into these areas, because the tradewind is blocked and it's really uncomfortably muggy. The "jungle" pretty much contains plants that I've seen on Kwaj, but it's thick. One new plant that I saw was one to two feet tall and had red-splashed leaves surrounding a double cluster of small flowers, very much like a Pointsettia. As advertised, the lagoon side of Roi has a beautiful sand beach. What wasn't advertised was that the sand mostly consists of tiny shell and coral fragments, so it can be sort of rough on bare feet!

On the way back to the airport I got to see one of the residential buildings. All housing is in multi-unit buildings, mostly 2-person efficiencies, I believe. The unit I saw is relatively new and nicely done. I think this is done as an offset for the remote location. However much Kwaj looks like an outpost of civilization to the rest of us, to the residents of Roi-Namur it looks like the big city!

George Huffman