Tag: Tahiti

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Nancy Lewis, September 14, 2003

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Nancy Lewis
Onboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana
September 15 – 27, 2003

Mission: Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO)/TRITON
Geographical Area: Western Pacific
Date: September 14, 2003

Nuku Hiva:  Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Personal Log 

A group of us from the Pearl Lodge signed on to make the day long trip back into the interior of the island to see a one thousand foot waterfall.  We were to have Jean Pierre, a native Marquesan, as our guide, but first we had to take a boat over to Hakaui Bay to reach the trailhead.  Once we reached the mouth of the bay, things got really interesting, with  our pilot expertly navigating the moderate sea swells that seemed much bigger from our small craft.

We came well south of the bay passing sheer headlands that plunged right to the sea, and then entered into Hakaui Bay facing a gray sand beach fringed coconut trees, the perfect picture of a wild, tropical beach.  As we all gathered on shore to begin the trek, an old Marquesan woman appeared with a dog on a leash, seeming to come out of nowhere. She reminded me of the stories of Pele back home in Hawaii. We soon started our trek, and found the very small village of Hakaui, and Jean Pierre, our Marquesan guide, told us that there had been many people living in this valley until 1942 when a malaria epidemic forced most of the inhabitants to leave.  We also met Daniel, a spry Marquesan who’d lived in the village since 1927.

The hike to the waterfall first passed through some of the village’s cultivated cleared areas where they were growing bananas, coconuts, and papayas.  We soon entered some dense tropical jungle, and were glad for the deep shade provided against the hot sun.  We passed many stone foundations of houses, called in Marquesan “papais”, remnants of former human settlement.  At one point, I saw a stone tiki sitting on top of one of these papais, and it seemed to be guarding some secret.  Although there was a trail, we had to cross the river several times, and so we definitely needed Jean Pierre’s services.

Just before reaching the falls,  we encountered several hunters on horseback, who had their kill wrapped in cloth and slung over their saddles.  A little further on, spiky ramparts of needlelike rocks rose up five hundred feet, and Renault, our other guide, told us that there were the bones of human sacrifices hidden in the clefts of one of the needles.

We soon reached the base of the falls with its sheer cliffs rising up in a narrow gorge that reminded me of certain places in Utah.  There was a spacious pool easily accessible,  but further back behind some rocks was the pool where the cascade roared down.  Several of us jumped into the cold fresh water, and eventually we found a way into the cascade pool, and discovered a hidden grotto behind the rocks.  The water was very cold, but invigorating.

After our swim, and a bit of lunch, we started back , but took a slightly different route, arriving at the beach of Hakatea Bay where our boats were waiting.  The ride back to Taiohae was exciting, and well, dangerous.  The seas had kicked up to between 9 and 12 feet, and we were literally holding on for dear life to stay in the boat as it crashed into one trough and rose up to meet the next:  and we had no life preservers! Jean Pierre was in my boat, and a few times had a worried look on his face, but I enjoyed it immensely.

We cruised into the harbor past the KA and piled into the back of an open Land Rover to go back to the lodge.  It was satisfying to turn in early after the excitement of our expedition into the interior of the island, and to once again hear the soft sounds of surf at the close of  a great day.

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Nancy Lewis, September 13, 2003

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Nancy Lewis
Onboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana
September 15 – 27, 2003

Mission: Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO)/TRITON
Geographical Area: Western Pacific
Date: September 13, 2003

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Despite my intention to catch up some sleep,  I woke up for the stunning sunrise across  the bay.  Because of some dense tropical foliage obscuring my view from the lanai, it was not until I walked over to breakfast that I could see that the NOAA Ship KA’IMIMOANA had arrived and was anchored peacefully in the bay.  My colleague, Tom Nolan, a scientist from NASA,  had gone to meet the ship, so I took advantage of this opportunity to steal back to my bungalow and read.  I had brought with me a copy of Herman Melville’s Typee, which is the semi-biographical account of how he jumped ship on this very island of Nuku Hiva, and escaped over into the next valley to live for a period of time with the notorious Typee natives. I mused on his descriptions of tyrannical sea captains, and inhumane treatment aboard his ship, and dreamed myself of stealing over to Taipivai Valley to visit the very place of his mild imprisonment with the “fierce Typees”.

My reveries were soon broken by the arrival of the party from the ship, and soon I was sitting and conversing with Tetsuro Isono, the scientist from Japan who was on board for the first leg of the KA’s mission from Honolulu.  I also met Diane Bernstein, from the University of South Florida, who is working on calibrating an instrument designed to analyze CO2 dissolved in the water. It was great to meet these people and all of the other folks who make up the crew of the KA’IMIMOANA.

The day ended for all of us in a very special way.  After dinner, a local dance troupe came and entertained the party with traditional Marquesan dancing and drumming.  The young men and girls were decked out in hand made costumes of feathers, beads, and raffia, and they brought out huge homemade drums.  The performance was a spirited dance that had the bare, painted chests of the young men glistening with sweat.  The only complaint was that the dancing didn’t go on all night.  I thought again about Melville’s time that he spent here on Nuku Hiva.  His story helped to fuel the romantic ideas associated with the remote South Sea Islands.  I walked back to my bungalow with the scent of tiares wafting down the path, and the moonlight reflecting off the waters of the bay.

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Nancy Lewis, September 12, 2003

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Nancy Lewis
Onboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana
September 15 – 27, 2003

Mission: Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO)/TRITON
Geographical Area: Western Pacific
Date: September 12, 2003

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Personal Log 

I arrived in Nuku Hiva on Friday, September  12, 2003  after flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles, and from there to Tahiti.  I spent one night in Papeete, Tahiti, then boarded another flight for Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands,  3 hours by air from Tahiti.  From the air I could see many of the other islands and coral atolls that make up French Polynesia, and which are strung out over one thousand miles of ocean.  The Marquesas Islands are one of 5 island groups comprising French Polynesia.  The other island groups are the Society Islands, the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands, and the Tuamotus.

Lewis 9-12-03 Nuku Hiva
A map of the island of Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

The plane landed on the southern end of Nuku Hiva, its landing strip right beside the ocean, as the island rises sharply into craggy peaks affording little flat, coastal ground. I was greeted by Jean Claude, who asked me if I spoke French, as he informed me, in English, that he would be my driver to the village of Taiohae, on the other side of the island.

We soon departed in Jean Pierre’s Land Rover, and  it was to be a two hour  ride over a very rough, unpaved road, definitely a four-wheel drive track.  The road wound its way up into the mountains of the interior, and the views were spectacular.  One particularly deep valley, almost at the summit, is called the Grand Canyon, and it aptly deserves that name.  We bounced over the deeply rutted, twisting dirt road, and I was very glad that the rainy season was past, as I could tell that the road would have been absolutely treacherous under wet conditions.  In many places, we were right on the edge of steep precipices, with no protection, but Jean Pierre was an excellent driver.

Along the way I was observing the plants and trees, and saw many that were the same or similar to what we have in Hawaii.  We began to descend out of the steep crests of the interior mountains, and passed pastures with cows and horses grazing.  All at once we came to a paved road, and Jean Pierre joked that we had reached the “freeway”.  A young Marquesan waved to us from his horse. A freeway indeed!

Soon the village of Taiohae was laid out below us, nestled around the horseshoe-shaped bay, truly a delightful scene of tropical tranquility.  We descended into the village and came to The Pearl Lodge, my accommodations while in Nuku Hiva.  The grounds of The Pearl are a botanical garden, carefully tended by Rose Corser, an American woman who started the lodge with her late husband, Frank.  The bungalows are built in the Tahitian style, faced with split bamboo, and most tastefully decorated.  My lanai faced the bay, and at last,  I could have a rest from my long journey, and drink in the serene beauty of Nuku Hiva.

In the afternoon, needing some exercise after two days of being on an airplane,  I rode a bicycle from the lodge to the far end of the village,  and stopped at the quay at the end of the harbor.  Young men were just coming in on outrigger canoes and there were a number of people from the village there.  On my way back to the lodge,  I was hailed by some girls from the school, who said “stop” and indicated they wanted to talk to me.  They soon brought their teacher over to talk to me in English, as my French is not very good. It was wonderful to meet these young people and to explain why I was on their island.

I had dinner that evening with Rose and Tom Nolan,  a scientist representing NASA from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and who would also be joining the NOAA Ship KA’IMIMOANA. Tom endeavored to coax Rose into telling some stories from her adventurous past, as evidently she had sailed around the world and certainly had a wealth of tales to tell.

My first day on Nuku Hiva closed with the moon shining brightly over the bay, back-lighting the peaks of the mountains cradling the bay, and with the soft whisper of the surf  a lullaby of the island.

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Diane Stanitski: Days 20-25, September 4, 2002

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Diane Stanitski

Aboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana

August 16-30, 2002

Day 20: Friday, August 30

We arrived in Nuku Hiva with a bright sun beginning to set behind a band of gorgeous clouds. There was an air of excitement flowing through the group as land came into view. Because it’s customary to raise the flag of the country that you’re visiting, Steve, the ablebodied seaman and the XO, Doug, raised the French flag before arriving in port. We had a morning all hands (all on board) meeting to collect passports and explain procedures for docking. I spent most of the afternoon answering emails and working on lesson plans, two things I hadn’t had time to do this week because of the daily broadcasts that we completed. I also packed my books and clothes and began taking more pictures of all the spaces and people I hoped to remember on the ship. Aaaahhhh, I had such mixed feelings about leaving. We slowly made our way into the middle of Taihoae Bay, anchored, and raised a round black flag on the front mast designating that the ship is anchored. As we were waiting to hear from the gendarmerie, Nemo spotted three manta rays off the port side of the bow. They sailed through the water with kite-like bodies. Rain began to fall and we were finally told that we could take the RHIB to shore and that our passports would be stamped the next morning. A group of us decided to visit one of few local restaurants, a place that serves pizza, and we all enjoyed an evening together on land. Many people said that they still felt the rocking of the ship, even though we were on land, but I felt firmly planted. Don Shea and I felt so good that we decided to run back to the pier after dinner. Oh, what a feeling to run on solid ground!

Day 21: Saturday, August 31

I awoke early on the ship to depart on the 7:00 AM boat taxi to town. We wanted to make sure that we received the appropriate departure paperwork so we wouldn’t have a challenging time leaving French Polynesia in four days. With all paperwork complete a group of us walked along the one main road in the small fishing village to the bungalows at Pearl Lodge where John Kermond and I would stay. Wow, what a wonderful place! It overlooked the bay and had a beautiful (very small) pool with a pretty patio. I filled out the necessary paperwork for my room, but it wasn’t quite ready so I decided to return to the ship to gather my luggage. After a final goodbye to the KA (or so I thought), John and I returned to the Pearl Lodge, found our rooms, and were able to unpack and settle in for two nights. The Captain led a group hike over the mountain behind the lodge to beautiful Colette Bay where we swam in the waves and imagined that we were part of the Survivor series. We then scaled the volcanic cliffs to the end of the peninsula where a group of people were fishing for barracuda. Upon return to the hotel, I showered and decided to return to the KA one last time to check and reply to emails from my students. The ship was quiet because almost everyone was cherishing the last moments on shore before ship departure the next morning. I walked around the ship and a real feeling of sadness came over me. I was very surprised at my response to bidding farewell to this ship and the people I’d learned so much from during the last two weeks. I could really get used to life at sea. With a wave to the XO and Fred Bruns on the ship deck, I hopped back onto the boat taxi around 9:00 PM, was whisked away into the night air, and then returned to the bungalows for a much needed rest.

Day 22: Sunday, September 1

Nuku Hiva is predominantly Catholic and so the 8:00 AM Catholic service in town was the place to be on Sunday morning. The entire town was there. The church was absolutely beautiful and the music lifted the roof (as John said) off the building. The service was in both French and Tahitian, but very traditional and so easy to follow. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE sang the songs and that made it very powerful. After the Mass, we walked back to the bungalows to film the ship’s departure, however, it didn’t leave until nearly noon and so we waited for 2 hours on the hotel’s patio while the weather changed from hot and sunny to a torrential downpour with strong winds. After its departure we were then invited to take an afternoon jeep tour to the Typeevai, the valley where Herman Melville wrote his book Typee. We hiked to a ceremonial site with 11 Tikis carved in 1200 AD from the volcanic rock of the island – beautiful! It poured on us and our guide broke off a huge banana leaf that we used as an umbrella. I managed to receive about forty mosquito bites on my legs and arms and our guide picked a lime, cut it open, and applied it to the bites to relieve the itch – marvelous. What a gorgeous island.

Day 23: Monday, September 2

After a few hours making final arrangements for our flights and filming the last shots of Taihoae, we departed by four-wheel drive Land Rover later in the morning for a two-hour exciting trip to the airport northwest across the mountains and valleys of the remote, rugged island of Nuku Hiva. In the pouring rain the trip was treacherous. At times, the mud was up to the top of the tires and, although we had a difficult time seeing through the fog, we could tell there were steep cliffs on one side. Our driver had clearly made this trip before. We arrived safely and waited for our 3-hour flight to Papeete, Tahiti. We flew over atolls and through beautiful trade wind clouds.

Day 24: Tuesday, September 3

This was our only day in Tahiti. We awoke early and called Meteo France to see if we could have a tour of the weather station at the airport. We were trying to discover where the meteorological readings had been taken for the 100+ years of data recorded and now used to determine the Southern Oscillation Index. After a challenging conversation half in French, half in English, we were finally able to ask the necessary questions and receive a historical summary of the station. We were given a tour of the airport’s weather station and pamphlets to provide to my classes. John filmed the entire meeting. I was especially excited about this side trip because I’d always wanted to visit this specific weather station. Next on my list is Darwin, Australia, the sister site to the Tahiti station – maybe in a few years.

This experience has been like no other for me. I am so grateful to Dr. John Kermond, Jennifer Hammond, Rear Admiral Evelyn Fields, NOAA, NSF, Shippensburg University and all those responsible for my incredible journey. I will use the information that I learned on this trip in my classes, but more importantly, I hope to share the excitement and wonder of science with my students and my teaching colleagues so that they can understand the importance of conducting scientific research to discover more about our world and ourselves. Thank you to all!

Signing off for now, but I hope to hear from you again at dmstan@ship.edu.
Best wishes,
Diane

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Diane Stanitski: Day 19, August 19, 2002

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Diane Stanitski

Aboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana

August 16-30, 2002

Day 19: Thursday, August 29, 2002

The FOO (Field Operations Officer)’s quote of the day: 

“The art of art, the glory of expression…is simplicity.”
– Walt Whitman

Weather Log:
Here are our observations at 1600 today:
Latitude: 4°59.00’S (into the Southern Hemisphere!)
Longitude: 139°49.2’W
Visibility: 12 nautical miles (nm)
Wind direction: 95°
Wind speed: 12 kts
Sea wave height: 3-4′
Swell wave height: 5-6′
Sea water temperature: 27.3°C
Sea level pressure: 1009.3 mb
Cloud cover: 2/8, Cumulus

Science and Technology Log:

I awoke early to be sure that I could hop on board the RHIB when it was ready to depart for our next buoy retrieval. John K. wanted to try something new…a live broadcast from the RHIB while he filmed from the ship. I suited up with a life jacket, hard hat, radio, microphone, and cameras. This would be a challenge. As it turned out, Larry, our electronics technician who assists with the technology end of the broadcast, and John could only hear me for a short distance away from the ship. John, however, caught the entire scene on camera. Upon arrival at the buoy I jumped on to it after Dave Zimmerman and asked him questions while he was dismantling the instruments so they didn’t break while the buoy was being retrieved. It was so much fun. There appeared to be quite a few barnacles and algae (very slimy) built up below the waterline on the buoy.

We then hopped off and drove back to the ship where we finished the broadcast. Ensign Sarah Dunsford then joined me and described the entire retrieval procedure from the boat deck of the ship looking back at the fantail. She did an excellent job.

We decided to hold off on the shooting of our general broadcast so that we could all pitch in to assist with the spooling of the cable as it was brought up from over 4000 meters of depth. This takes a few hours and I helped by turning one of the spools while the nylon cable wrapped around loop after loop. In between spools I helped Nadia with the barnacle removal. We scraped the entire buoy clean.

Someone then shouted that whales were spotted off the stern of the ship and I ran back to see if I could find them. There they were!!! I was told that there were ten of them, but I only saw about five. They were pilot whales, not too large – perhaps 12′ long – but still very beautiful as they swam through the water. What a treat!!! We completed the retrieval and went into the mess to eat lunch.

The afternoon consisted of conducting interviews during our final general broadcast from on board the ship. We are hoping to complete additional broadcasts from Nuku Hiva, if possible, and to shoot video footage in Tahiti at the Meteorological station. This was a fun broadcast. We interviewed Takeshi from France who played his flute and said a few words in French, Nemo who described his duties on the ship and showed up how to tie a few important knots, and Mike Strick who can often be found assisting in the kitchen as well as on the fantail – he does it all! The broadcast ended with the deployment of the buoy that would replace the one removed earlier today. A great day in my book!

Personal Log:

I began taking photos of all the people on the ship today. I don’t want to forget any of them as I leave this ship and sail back to my life in Shippensburg. It’s the little things that people do along the way that make all the difference, isn’t it!? During one of the CTD casts to 1000 meters, Jason Poe helped me miniaturize and mold a group of styrofoam cups that I could bring back to my family, friends, and students. Doug McKay (Nemo) assisted many times when I needed a hard hat or life jacket at the last moment in order to be able to experience something on the ship. Fred Bruns provided insight, feedback and tidbits of history about the ship. Larry Wooten was always ready to help with any technical problem that arose, no matter the time of day or night. Paul Freitag answered an unending array of questions that I had about the science on the ship. John Kermond, of course, was always there with new ideas and ways to make my experience the most exciting and informative possible. All of the officers on board cooperated during each of our broadcasts and permitted great flexibility so we could produce interesting and educational webcasts for all of you. I could go on and on…and probably will tomorrow during my final day on the ship while it’s at sea.

Takeshi taught one last French lesson tonight just after dinner while watching the sunset so that we would be prepared for arrival in Nuku Hiva. Most people are ready to see land before they complete their journey by ship, taking them back to Honolulu in the next few weeks. Six of us will depart in Nuku Hiva. I look forward to an opportunity to explore the island and to shoot more footage to be used in our videos on the web. After another productive day, it’s time for bed.

Question of the day: Name two of the instruments that are placed on the buoys at sea, and state what they measure. Email me one last time with your response. If you’re the first person to respond and I receive your answer early enough tomorrow, I might be able to include your name in my final logs.

Last full day at sea…
Diane