Then there was Tim's very large dive bag, both our carry-on bags, and the 37 in camera stand upright. We had two additional coolers weighing just under 50 lbs each that held two microscopes and lots of other gear. We were bringing back a 90 lb cooler filled with all the tiles that we retrieved after being on the reef for 3 years. While the flight that brought us to Palmyra was configured to hold a lot of cargo inside the plane's cabin, our return flight was configured to maximize the number of passengers it could accommodate. It is a great story.īelow is a relatively small coconut crab I photographed during my first summer on Palmyra back in 2013.įalcon50 approaching the Palmyra Atoll runway Be sure to check it out by going to Tim's Young Explorer blog entry " Tracking the World’s Largest Land Crab". Tim's story is now out along with some great photos taken by Ana. So even when I accompanied Tim and Ana on their night field work, I didn't even bother taking a camera since I wouldn't be allowed to post them on this blog. I had to sign a form acknowledging they had exclusive rights to the photos and story. It turns out Tim had received funding from National Geographic to support his research on coconut crabs. Didn't you wonder what we were doing motoring across the lagoon in the dark, trekking across the sand flats in waist deep water, and then pushing through the chest high ferns of the tropical rainforests covering the Palmyra islets? I am surprised no one commented on my several blog entries this past summer where I talk about the logistics of the night operations Tim, Ana, and I did. Roger Lextrait - 8 years living on Palmyra Atoll
I had not been aware that Palmyra had draughts, but then at the 52 minutes 30 seconds mark in Lextrait video he talks about a 6 month draught and showed how it had killed off many of the palm trees. He informed me the atoll is currently experiencing a severe draught. I was recently in contact with Stefan Kropidlowski, the Fish & Wildlife manager of Palmyra. This latter link includes an hour long home video by Lextrait. The second is the story about Roger Lextrait, the manager/caretaker who lived on the atoll for 8 years prior to its purchase by the Nature Conservancy. The first is a story that appeared in the April/May 2020 issue of Hawaiian Airlines flight magazine. Below are two links to articles about the atoll that came out recently. I am also surprised I continue to run across more information and history about Palmyra. My time there is still very vivid in my memories. I am amazed that over four years have passed since I made my third trip to the Palmyra Atoll.
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