Student Connection

Just in from the Ship

TC-99-09 Monk Seal Forage/Reef Fish Survey
August 13 - September 7, 1999

August 27, 1999  No sooner had I stated how the weather we had been experiencing was "phenomenally" calm, than our trade winds returned and created seas of 5-7 feet. Conditions of this sort make the ship rock and roll and deploying the technical divers (with 150+ pounds of dive gear hanging off them) becomes too hazardous. On August 24, we found conditions to be as above when we traveled to the NE side of French Frigate Shoals, so we canceled dive operations and used the underwater camera tow to film the bottom habitat (right). As sunset neared, we pulled the camera back aboard and traveled 70 miles East to Necker Island, in hopes of performing dive operations to gather data on the coral and shark population on the reef surrounding the island. The trades continued to blow however and on the 25th, we again had to substitute underwater camera tows for diving operations. Around 12:30 PM, the cable feed line to the underwater cameras and the shipboard monitors wore through its jacketing where it passed through the block. Taking this failure into account and the fact that the weather wasn't expected to change over the next 48 hrs, it was decided to head back to French Frigate Shoals and spend another day in the protection of the reef collecting specimens for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Nutrition study. So we spent the afternoon transiting west and reset a string of 13 lobster traps (below left) in 70 feet (about 23 meters) of water, then anchored for the night. On the morning of the 25th we launched the small boats and sent divers and snorklers off to the areas around Shark Island (in the NW reef) and Tern Island to collect specimens. One of the searches was in 50 feet of water just north of Shark Island. We dropped from one of the boats and about 5 feet (1.5 meters) I adjust my buoyancy so as to stay at that depth and float with the current. Effortlessly drifting over beautiful coral and countless reef fish is a fantastic experience. We three divers were constantly followed by 3 curious gray reef sharks and a 4 foot long white tip shark. Watching a shark calmly glide through the water is really an inspiring sight. In the evening we hauled anchor, picked up our lobster traps and sailed east for Oahu. Today (the 27th) we continue to steam east though we decided to stop by Kaula Rock, which is just to the south of Niihau. Kaula is actually the solitary remains of an extinct volcano that has formed a tiny island. The scientists aboard want to survey the coral reef surrounding this speck of an island. ETA is 1230 tomorrow (the 28th). The weather has calmed down so hopefully dive operations will be permissible.

Other Reports For This Cruise

• August 15
• August 19
• August 24
• August 27
• September 02
• September 07

Last modified September 03, 1999