Alan Nelson's Daily Commentary for 2 September 1999

Kwajalein Island and Meck Island, Republic of Marshall Islands

I finished the proposal last night. I was up until 3 AM and tried to contact a couple people back home, but didn't connect. That's a big relief. If it gets funded, you will be able to see TRMM and NASA data and simulations in a full-dome video planetarium program from inside the storm. I think it would be really cool. Hope the evaluators do too!

I had several plans for how today might work out, but none of them quite panned out. What really happened was pretty amazing.

Here were still several possibilities as to how the three of us who were supposed to be releasing radiosondes from Meck might be using our time. I had gotten 5 hours sleep total the previous two nights, so I just headed back to Meck on the 6 AM catamaran expecting to spend a lazy day bringing back all the stuff I had brought to Meck in anticipation of a two-week stay.

It was an interesting sunrise on the way to Meck. Not colorful this morning, but one streamer that went from horizon to horizon. I tried to collect a series of pictures for a panorama from the boat. If it works out, Justine (who is putting all of these journals and pictures on the web for us at the Gulf of Maine Aquarium) will link to it here and I'll mention it in a later diary. This picture shows the beginning of that streamer along with the people on the aft, starboard (rear-right) corner of the boat!

While getting off the catamaran, the captain informed John (from the tethersonde crew) that the catamaran was going for a training run to the island of Illeginni. The captain also recommended that we bring our snorkeling equipment along. Though I was exhausted, I couldn't turn down an opportunity to go snorkeling on another island! This was the payoff for proposal done and equipment broken. I hadn't taken a day off since I got here. And all those other wannabe-noble reasons. I got my snorkeling stuff and jumped back on the boat.

There weren't quite enough crew to handle docking, so John hopped out and hitched down the stern of the boat. Note that blue water again. I still find it amazing. The captain brought along his spearfishing outfit and the three of us headed out into the water surrounding the uninhabited island of Illeginni. In the haste of clambering back onto the catamaran back at Meck, John forgot his snorkel mask and so we shared mine. It wasn't a great solution but that way we each got to see something. The captain had bigger fins, wasn't trading masks and was more in his element and so was swimming ahead of John and me. He called for us to join him just as I got the mask back. The next 100 yards of swimming are probably the most beautiful minutes of snorkeling that I have had yet. We could easily see 100 feet underwater. The reef dropped off quickly into deep water and the fish were plentiful and colorful. I even saw my first shark. A white-tip about 30 inches long. Kinda cute. Just after that I caught up to the captain who asked me if I had seen the shark. I described my kinda cute one. He meant the bigger one.

He said it was right underneath him. So I put my mask back underwater to see a 4-1/2 to 5-foot long gray reef shark. It's not that he wasn't as cute as the other one but he seemed to be a lot more menacing and he seemed to find us interesting. As we were watching, a small ray swam away from us. And then the second gray reef shark joined the first. The second was a just a bit smaller. The captain allowed as how gray reefs are a bit unpredictable and once you get two, you might get more. He recommended that we retreat. I was not in an argumentative mood and so agreed to go first. The captain retreated with his spear gun pointed toward the shark and I tried to show him the way to go! As we got closer to shore, the sharks finally decided that we were dull and lost interest in us. What a fantastic experience. I was very glad that I had a guide who knew what he was doing.

The Marshallese crew found this giant clam while we were swimming. The Marshallese can and will eat these clams. This species does not attach itself to rocks or reefs. Those of us who aren't Marshallese are supposed to leave them alone. They are quite large and can grow several feet across in this atoll. After our return to Meck, I again went snorkeling and the highlight of that swim were relatives of this giant clam. The Meck version is smaller and does attach itself to rocks or coral. But this species has a vivid blue heavy fringe that runs all around the scalloped edge of its shell. Each spike in this fringe may be about an inch long. In its normal feeding position, the clam will have its shell open far enough that the spikes barely touch. And so in the midst of an otherwise dull-colored coral, will be this curly slash of vivid blue. The spikes are apparently photo-receptive, because if you dive down and put your hand within a few inches of the clam, it will close its shell and the blue is gone!

Alan Nelson