DAILY JOURNAL

Palmyra: a dream come true

Wednesday | August 17, 2005

Palmyra Atoll arose from the sea mist like a dream. There it was, a beautiful green patch in the midst of a silver sea, surrounded by dark clouds threatening with rain. Palmyra is what we dreamt about and more, it is the realization of almost two years of hard work and great expectations. What we observed on land mesmerized us. What we observed underwater gave us hope and filled us with excitement.

As soon as we arrived to Palmyra after a night of sailing in smooth seas, the crew of the White Holly launched the small boats while we prepared for our first dive. It rained in Palmyra today, a tropical torrential rain that lasted an hour. We left the ship totally soaked under the warm rain. The atoll felt like a sauna. When we jumped in the water, the sky was dark grey and the underwater landscape was dusky. Underwater visibility, however, was excellent, more than 100 feet. The first life we saw was a couple of sharks approaching our boats to investigate. And then two more came. In one dive we saw more sharks than in 450 man-hours of diving in Kiritimati and Tabuaeran.

Ten minutes into our dive the clouds disappeared as though burned by the sun, and underwater we felt like the lights had been switched on. The coral reef looked clean, covered with live corals and encrusting coralline algae, without apparent seaweed or microbial turfs. In addition to the sharks there were many large snappers, a turtle, a manta ray, and Napoleon wrasses. In contrast, the countless small fishes in Kiritimati and Tabuaeran were now much less abundant.

Coming back to the White Holly we sailed near small islands covered by a lush tropical forest and coconut trees. Terns and boobies flied over our heads by the hundreds. The sun set after delighting us with a display of rainbows and pink and red clouds.

We had dinner and spent several hours discussing about what we saw and felt. We went to bed happily, wishing for the night to pass quickly, to deliver a new day where we will dive again in Palmyra.

—Enric Sala
Scripps Line Islands Expedition 05