We had another ship this week.  The NOAA ship "Oscar Elton Sette" came through on their way to pick up the monk seal crews from the other islands.  They usually stay over night to give the crew a break, but this time they were only here for the day on Friday.  A few of the people from the ship are flying out on our next plane, so they will help us out on the island until Thursday.  Julia, Nicky, Naomi, and Ilana were on Kure Atoll.  Nicky was a volunteer here a few months ago, so it's nice to have her back for a few days.  Irene and Tyler were the turtle techs at French Frigate Shoals this summer.  They counted and marked over 800 nesting females this year which was the most ever recorded since they started the program a few decades ago.  I worked with Irene a couple of years ago, so I think I may have a photo or two of her on my Tern Island blog.

I went out snorkeling again today, with our new visitors.  We were going to take the boat out, but the weather wasn't so great, so we just went out from shore.  There isn't much coral at all, but there are still some good fish to see.  My photos from last week are better so I'll show you those, instead of the not so great ones I got today.

 Our new helpers are waving goodbye to the Sette.  This is Naomi, Tyler, Irene, Ilana, and Nicky.

 Irene, Tyler, David, and Greg are planting bunchgrass near the cargo pier with the Sette in the background.

 Amelia, Eryn, and David are collecting some short-tailed albatross decoys that we'll be cleaning up.

 Here are some of last weeks pictures.  Derek and Kristin are picking up some net and rope stuck on some coral.  Derek is working on a water tank painting project on island.

 This is a Blackside hawkfish in some nice purple coral.

 This is a Blackspot sergeant and a Surge wrasse.

 This is a little closer view of the surge wrasse.  They are a bit more colorful than the photo shows.

This is Kristin swimming above some nice coral.