Last 2 Days

Hi, I was way too tired to post last night so here's your 2 day update. The little going away party over at the Refuge Manager's house was nice on Thursday night. I took some pictures of pictures in his house, so I'll tell you about them in a minute. 10 people left yesterday, but 8 showed up. I have the house all to myself for now so we'll see how long that lasts.

We had a "plane night" at the All Hands Club last night. The band was practicing and one of the guys made popcorn and brought about a dozen flavored salts. So that was the big excitement, except for the wedge-tailed shearwater flying into the room and going after the drummer.

I think I'll have more time for reading now because the volunteers always liked to do things every night, and the long term people mostly do their own things.

Tonight is beach volleyball night, so that will keep me busy for now.

One of the traditions around here is to sign a poster for people when they leave. Here's Jimmy signing one for Michael.

This is the sign from the old Pan Am hotel that was built for very rich tourists on their way to Asia in the 1920's. This sign disappeared for years and then one day a package came in the mail with the sign in it. It was from someone who's dad was stationed here in the Navy. The son went to school here on the island and he stole the sign when he was little. He had been feeling guilty about it for years, so he finally sent it back. I don't know how old he is now, but now the sign is up on the wall.

This is the Gooneyville lodge. The sign is barely visible back in the shadows.

This is "Reef Hotel". It was built for people who were drilling into the atoll to find out how deep the actual island is. The island sunk millions of years ago and the atoll is here because the coral grows as fast as the island sinks. The islands here are actually just sand and coral pieces sitting on a coral reef. The buildings are on stilts to keep above the surf. All that is left now is the rusty stilts that are sticking out about 4 feet above the water. This is one of the spots we went snorkeling a few weeks ago.

I saw this green sea turtle yesterday afternoon in the harbor eating all those little plant pieces around it.