As I mentioned last night and this morning, we were very fortunate to have had no real effects from the tsunami on Tern. We have a nice big atoll around us, which serves a a wonderful buffer, for which we are very grateful. Kure, Midway and Laysan were not so fortunate -- the wildlife were really hammered there.... All the people are safe, though, so that's great!!!
So a couple shots to share the Tern tsunami experience...
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| We heard that Laysan experienced large waves, so evacuated to the top of the warehouse, a strong weather-proof structure which puts us up out of harms way. We only had two cushions, though, so all six of us were pretty cozy... Note that we have emergency radios, immersion suits, first aid, EPIRB, etc, all handy.... The team handled the stress of a potential emergency so well. Either that, or they were actually asleep at the time. :-) |
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| The crew wakes up after a not-so-comfy night on the roof. From top left: FWS Volunteers James Macaulay, Kristina Dickson, Melinda Conners, Sarah Youngren, and Dan Rapp (laying down on the job). |
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| The crew packs up in the morning, to have bacon and pancakes for breakfast before starting back to work...and another beautiful day. |
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| Our animal friends and their homes are also okay. ʻĀ wāwae (red-footed boobies), mōlī (Laysan albatross) and kaʻupu (black-footed albatross) chicks in the foreground. Yeah! |
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| ʻEwaʻewa (sooty terns) and one koaʻe ula (red-tailed tropicbird) fly overhead today. There's roughly 4,000 ʻewaʻewa flying over the island now -- These birds are so amazing. They just fly and fly, and donʻt land at all, until it's time for them to lay an egg sometime in the next couple weeks. |
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Life goes on in Kanemilohaʻi....
p.s. We'll try to get a pākalakala video soon!
