I can’t see anything. I’m just pushing brush away from my face and blindly taking the next step, hoping it’s not a deep hole. “The trail sure got grown over from last year!” I hear Eric Brown, Marine Ecologist at Kalaupapa National Historic Park (KALA), shout over his shoulder. We are hiking deep into the backcountry of the Waikolu Valley. At the valley’s floor lies Waikolu Stream, the natural feature that brings us here.

Waikolu Valley from the water.

Further up the trail, the brush gives way to infinite guava trees. I can see at least 25 guava trees at any given time without turning my head. As I pull a ripe one off a tree, Anne Farahi mentions, “make sure you don’t have any cuts on parts of your body that will be going in the water. That’s how you get lepto. Senifa (previous biotech at KALA) got it last year and it was not a fun experience for him.” Good to know. I crunch into my guava and keep walking to checkpoint- the mango tree.

Anne Farahi crosses a stream in the Waikolu backcountry.

“The mango tree” is the largest I’ve ever seen. It is close to our first survey site of the day. At the mango tree, we check our GPS and make our way down to the stream. Our surveys at the stream are similar to the surveys I was doing last week with Eric in the ocean in that they are both long-term monitoring projects. Eric has been monitoring this stream for many years. We are conducting fish and snail surveys, measuring water quality (in the same way that we did in the ocean), collecting data on bottom composition/boulder size, and tracking stream flow. Since Eric and the KALA team already have past data from the stream, they can quickly see if something is out of the norm and strategize how best to combat any issues that may arise.

The difference between this study and many others is the remoteness of Waikolu Stream. KALA itself is fairly remote already and far out of cellular service. Waikolu is a 30 minute drive and then another 45 minute hike to base camp. The other big difference is that most monitoring projects monitor things that humans use. Waikolu Stream used to be KALA’s main water source, but it hasn’t been for a few decades.

The hike into Waikolu backs up against breathtaking sea cliffs.

I ask Eric about this, why does the KALA team monitor this stream? “We don’t want this stream to change. So many streams have been dammed up in Hawai’i, this one actually was as well at the bottom and Native Ancient Hawai’ians diverted the stream to put water into taro fields. This stream is still in very good condition though, and we want to keep it that way.”

This resonated with me. Eric and I see eye to eye when it comes to keeping wild places wild for the sake of keeping them wild. Very few people take this approach to conservationism, which is really more of a preservationist view. I’m glad Eric (or as his friends call him, “the good Dr. Brown”) is doing it, and I’m glad to be apart of it.

When I say lay in the stream, I mean lay in the stream.

When we get to the first site, Anne is putting on a 5mm farmer john wetsuit. Seems a bit like overkill to me until I see Anne literally lay down in the stream and start counting fish. She is the perfect person to have in the backcountry. She has the most generous heart, quietly has a bit of wanderlust in her, and never complains. Furthermore, she’s been working with the Pacific Parks NPS Inventory and Monitoring team for many, many years. Even salty veterans admit that Anne knows her stuff.

Amanda McCutcheon counts fish during a survey.

While Anne begins counting fish, I work with Eric measuring stream flow. “Always start at the point furthest down stream on your survey line. You don’t want to go upstream and alter the data down stream,” he tells me. This is also why we are starting with the site closest to our basecamp (which is where the stream meets the ocean) first.

Go with the flow! Eric and Laurene use the stream tracker to measure stream flow.

We use a piece of equipment called the stream tracker to measure flow. It can be difficult when the stream gets deep in some spots and really shallow in others. This is because the computer reads the flow as an error when it moves slowly over a deep spot after rushing through a shallow passage. After we get the data and I start to get the hang of things, we take water quality samples just as we did last week in the ocean and move to our next site.

Completing a survey is quite the process and takes about 2 hours at each site with a team of 5 people working. Luckily, we only do two today since it is our first real day in the backcountry after unloading, setting up camp, and doing one survey yesterday.

“Found it!” Eric says as he puts secures the stern anchor behind a big rock. “Toss the line in!” he shouts. I give him the long bow line to swim to shore. He hands it to Anne and Amanda McCutcheon on shore to tie around a giant boulder. “Ok, I’m ready!” Eric tells Laurene and me. We start handing him coolers and dry bags. One at a time, he swims them to shore and unloads them to Anne and Amanda who carry them up the rocks. This is controlled chaos at its finest.

The process of getting gear onto the beach at Waikolu is a tricky one!

Somehow, nothing gets wet and the process takes less than 20 minutes. “I think that’s a new record!” a sopping wet Eric Brown exuberantly proclaims. Laurene hops in the water and swims to shore while Eric and I make the return mission on the boat through the rough backside of the KALA peninsula back to the harbor. Once there, we will drive to the trailhead and hike back into Waikolu Valley to meet the rest of the team, help set up camp, and conduct our first survey.

Once we are back in camp after our first survey day, it’s time to eat. Eric prepares some delicious vegan chili for us, which is a perfect hardy backcountry meal. There’s only one issue. Everyone is having trouble pouring water out of the giant 10 gallon water filter bag. I tell the group, “I think I can make something to help us. Does anyone have some rope or parachute cord?” Luckily Eric has some, and I get to work.

My contribution to our camp- a tripod.

Growing up in the Boy Scouts, working at a Boy Scout camp, and eventually reaching the rank of Eagle Scout, I never thought I would use lashings much. I’ve been surprised how much I’ve used them through the years. Once I find three tall pieces of drift wood, I use diagonal lashings to create a tripod that elevates the water bag and makes it easy to pour. “This is quite the invention! It’s really useful! I definitely had no idea what you were doing over there with some sticks,” Anne says with a laugh. I respond, “that’s my one contribution this trip! Had to get it out of my system early ha ha.”

After a rainy night and early start getting onto the trail, we are already far past where we surveyed yesterday. Today is our most challenging day where we are going deep into the valley. We have been squashing guavas and wading through brush in intermittent drizzle for about an hour and a half. All of a sudden, we see a cute but terrible scene- a den of tiny kittens. These kittens are unbelievably adorable. Tiny little fluff balls.

Kittens! Not a good sign…

“Ohhhh no. Not good. We’ve never seen cats this far back into the valley. This means there is a mother and father as well. We are going to have to kill them,” Eric states, very matter of fact-ly. Eventually Anne and Amanda’s pleading works and Eric doesn’t kill the kittens. Though, I would not be surprised if he went back and did it.

We arrive at the site soon thereafter and complete our first survey. On the way to our next survey, we see remnants of a housing structure. “This is where the workers would stay overnight when they were putting in and working on the water lines,” Eric tells us. “They would clear brush all the way back to here and use Jeeps to drive up as much equipment as they could.” I’m amazed. We are deep into this valley. Installing a pipe and building structures back here must have been so difficult logistically. It was certainly a feat of engineering.

It is truly unbelievable that workers built infrastructure deep into the valley many decades ago. Here is a house they used to sleep in overnight.

At our second site, I work with Amanda counting and measuring snails. Once we are ready, Amanda lays in the stream and sticks her face in the water. Without looking up, she hands me 3 snails. I measure them, record that data, and place the snails in a calm pool of water beside me. We do this until all the snails in our survey area have been counted and measured. Amanda pops up from the water, “30 spat, 60 eggs.” She gives me the count of spat (juvenile snails) and snail eggs.

Amanda points to some snails in her survey plot.

Amanda is a seasoned Pacific Island scientist. She completed her graduate school at the University of Guam and has been working with the Pacific Parks NPS Inventory and Monitoring team since. She is based out of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, my next stop. I appreciate Amanda’s understanding of the importance of communicating science and her efficient, workman-like mindset in the field.

After our second site, we make our way back down to basecamp. We experienced a little bit of wind and rain up in the valley, but apparently it was much windier at camp. 3 of our tents have blown up into the valley, including mine. I head out to grab it through some razor sharp brush. The tent is too heavy to pick up, so I have to empty some items into my backpack and then try to move the tent. This works, and then Eric helps me look for my missing stakes. I’ve done quite a bit of camping and backpacking in my life, but I have never had a tent blow away on me.

My tent wasn’t the only one that blew away. Here, Laurene, Amanda, and Anne work to put another tent back into place.

After the tent fiasco, it’s for me to start cooking dinner. I put some rice on to cook and debate whether I’d like to take a “shower” tonight or not. Usually, I go pretty light on showers in the field. It’s hard for me to justify getting salt/dirt off myself when I know I’m going to throw it right back on in a few hours. However, tonight, I decide to bathe. Before I head over to the stream, I let the crew know, “if you hear someone screaming, it’s me being a wimp in the cold water.” Even though I spend a lot of time in cold water back home, it never really helps me deal with cold water. The stream certainly isn’t freezing, but it’s quite a bit colder than the ocean.

Dinner time at base camp.

However, the real reason I’m bathing tonight is that I want to try a traditional native Hawai’ian shampoo/soap that grows all over the trail. It is a type of ginger with a large red bulb that grows above ground. Squeezing the bulb releases a soap-like substance that the ancient Hawai’ians used as shampoo. Turns out, it works really well. Combined with the cool stream, the bath was energizing and invigorating.

The dinner I’m cooking is a peanut sauce stir fry that has few ingredients and is easy to whip up on a camp stove. It’s still a little challenging to cook for 5 people on a single burner with small pots. Once the food is done, everyone piles on the rice, veggies, tofu, and sauce and we feast. The first person to go for seconds is Laurene (she took one of the smallest portions). “Laurene! Going for more?!” Eric asks. Laurene states, “yes! I’m hungry after all that hiking!” To which Eric responds, “Laurene! The bottomless pit!!” We all crack up and hang out around the dining area for a while before cleaning our dishes.

Some of my first shots were of Laurene’s tent.

Around 9 PM, everyone is starting to think about bed and I’m starting to think about getting my camera out. The stars are out in force tonight. It is a new moon with spotty cloud cover, and the Milky Way is coming out. I decide to take my camera out and get a few shots. Unfortunately, I have no way to take my camera out of its underwater housing. I vacuum sealed the housing and don’t have the equipment with me to release the vacuum. It’s still shoots fine, it just weighs about 25 pounds more.

I’m getting some good shots of the stars and Laurene’s tent, but the tent-night sky shot is overdone. I come back to the crew, now completely ready to go to bed and ask, “anyone want to do a stream crossing?!” I mostly get groans and a chorus of “no thank you,” except for Anne. “Sure! Why not? I’m not doing anything else.”

Anne Farahi during a late night stream crossing.

We head to the stream and I have Anne step into the water and stay still. “Ok! I’m ready, stay steady…headlamp on! Headlamp off!” I get the shot I was hoping for, but some clouds block the Milky Way in the photo. “That was so close to perfect! Let’s do a few more, we need these clouds to cooperate,” I let Anne know. She seems pretty excited as well. We take a dozen more shots (they take 30 seconds each to take, so this isn’t a super fast process) and then try something new.

“Susanna from the SRC (Submerged Resources Center) challenged me to try to get an over/under shot of the Milky Way on top and coral reef on the bottom at the beginning of this summer. We can’t get that here, but I want to try an over/under with the stream and the Milky Way,” I say.

The shot proves to be a tough one to take. We give it about 20 tries using my camera strobes and then our headlamps, in and out of the water. Eventually, we find something that works. “Ok, this is it! Ready…headlamps on…headlamps off!” I tell Anne. We only use our headlamps to illuminate the stream for about 3 seconds or they are way to bright in the photo. “That was it!! Susanna is going to be excited to see this!” (See photo at top of blog!)

It’s our last morning at Waikolu. I want to give Anne and Amanda something to use for the Pacific Parks Inventory and Monitoring team, so we head over to the stream for some photos.

Getting this shot was extremely difficult. Rain, lack of sunlight, and tons of suspended particles in the water made for a frustrating photoshoot. I came away with this one, which I was happy with. Here is Amanda with some snails.

We go to a part of the stream that I find particularly photogenic- the old dam. It’s created a mini double waterfall. I want to try to get an over/under there, to showcase both the stream work and the beauty of the valley. Unfortunately, it’s raining. After a few dozen attempts at an over under, I hop in the neck-deep water for some underwater photos to document what we’ve been doing with the snails and fish all week. I wish that I could have had a little bit more time to figure out the best way to get a photo there, but Eric and I need to hike out today to get the boat ready to go tomorrow.

As a rainbow greets us on our way out of Waikolu, I reflect on my time at Kalaupapa. It’s truly one of the most beautiful and haunting places I’ve ever been. If not for this internship, I would probably never get to go to Kalaupapa. This is truly a unique place within the NPS system. With that, comes unique challenges. Eric is the man that makes it all happen. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him and the team that he brings in. He finds a way to get it done under less-than-ideal circumstances and difficult logistical challenges.

A rainbow goodbye as we leave Waikolu. My nice camera was locked away in the housing with a wet dome at this point, so I had to snap this with my phone!

As wonderful as my stay at Kalaupapa was, this marks a personal challenge during my internship summer. I am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities and experiences the internship has and will continue to provide. It feels very uncomfortable to admit personal challenges during my internship, in fear of being considered unappreciative. However, I can also feel the past 8 weeks of constant field and computer work wearing on me mentally. Furthermore, logistic challenges with my equipment along lack of internet and phone service can provide further stress.

I know that I’ll find a second wind and I think it will come at my at my next stop on the big island of Hawai’i at Kaloko-Honokohau. I’m a little disappointed to be leaving KALA. I wish I could absorb everything that is here for a bit longer, but I’m so excited to be going to the big island. It’s my absolute favorite place I’ve been in the Hawai’ian island chain.

With that, I say my goodbyes to Eric, Anne, Amanda, and Laurene at the airport and say thank you for all that they’ve done for me. I get on my 8 passenger plane to the topside airport of Molokai, and in true KALA style, I have to take 2 more flights to get to the big island!

Sunsets at Kalaupapa are special.

The sun hasn’t risen yet, but the sky is no longer completely dark. I’m debating whether it’s more blue or more orange after only getting 4 hours of sleep last night. I came in from St. John, US Virgin Islands to my home in Southern California last night at 1 AM, and now I’m driving highway 101 down to Channel Islands National Park (CHIS) headquarters.

Feather boa kelp adds style to any underwater outfit. Here I am in my natural habitat. Photo by Kenan Chan / NPS.

I know where park headquarters is because I began working with CHIS this past spring. In fact, they blue carded me (gave me National Park Service diving credentials). I’m excited for this week and working with the park on their long-term kelp forest monitoring project (KFM). Not only I am familiar with the marine environment I’ll be diving in this week, I know many of the people that will be on the boat.

Cullen Molitor may have been born in the Midwest, but we’ll claim him for California!

“Cullen! Come here man! How’ve you been?!” The first person I see when I get to the park is Cullen Molitor and I give him a big bear hug. Cullen and I worked together on Catalina for two years. He’s a Midwesterner who has whole-heartedly embraced the laid-back west coast and is known to mumble hilarious dead-pan wise cracks. Cullen is one of the most talented divers I’ve had the privilege of diving with and I can’t wait to jump in with him this week.

We begin loading up the Sea Ranger II, our boat that we will be living on for the next five days. As I begin putting giant coolers of food into the fridge, Kelly Moore pops up from the births below. “Ahhh!! Shaun!! So good to see you!” For me, “so good to see you” is perhaps an understatement of how I feel seeing Kelly. Kelly is the Park Dive Officer (PDO) at CHIS, my diving officer as a CHIS diver, and the reason why I am the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society ® National Park Service Intern. She is the one who told me to apply in the first place, and I would never have done so without her encouragement. Kelly screams California all around, is bubbly ball of positivity, and is always excited to go in the ocean, no matter how many dives she’s had that day.

Kelly Moore is THEE woman! I owe quite a bit to this gal and was so excited to see her at CHIS.

Once the boat is loaded, we are underway in route to Santa Cruz Island. My plan was to sleep the entire way there, but I’m having so much fun talking with everyone on the boat and hearing about the dive plan that sleep isn’t an option. After being called out all too often in the Caribbean for my California flavor, I feel amongst my people at CHIS.

Josh Sprague, marine ecologist at CHIS, teaches me the monitoring protocol on the way out to the islands. The protocols are for the KFM program, a long-term ecological monitoring program that began in 1982 in the park. The operation on the Sea Ranger II is the most complex and impressive monitoring operation I’ve ever seen. This is the first park I’ve been to that uses a full-face mask surface-supply system. It is a boon to the team’s productivity. The diver using the full-face mask has a communication device in the mask so that he/she can talk to the surface support person. In turn, the surface support person is writing down all of the data that the diver is giving them. Using this system, the team is able to collect approximately 6 hours of underwater data in just one hour since the diver doesn’t have to stop every few seconds and write something down.

Josh Sprague working on a full-face mask survey.

The full-face mask diver and several other divers on open circuit scuba gear (“normal” gear) conduct benthic (seafloor) surveys, taking data on sea urchins, algae, and anything else that composes the bottom using several different methods at each site. Urchins are particularly important in the Channel Islands. Over the past 50+ years, we have overfished many urchin predators. In turn, urchin populations have exploded. Urchins eat the kelp that are the foundation of kelp forest ecosystems and provide habitat and food for every other organism in the system. Too many urchins can spell bad news for a kelp forest.

Kelly Moore staying warm as the surface support data-taker for the full-face mask diver below. She can communicate with the diver via the machine in front of her.

There are also at least four divers that are completing a fish survey. These surveys are challenging and what I have been tasked with. They are timed at 30 minutes and taken along 10m on each side of a 100m transect tape (underwater measuring tape). This means fish divers are surveying 2000 square meters and to the surface in just 30 minutes while writing everything they see down! It can be particularly hard when there are 500+ blacksmith above you. How sure can you be that your estimate was good? What does 500 fish really look like?

Anacapa Island from a distance.

All of these measurements give a complete picture of how healthy an ecosystem is, what processes are occurring in that system, and why it might be that way. Over long periods of time, the CHIS team can develop performance metrics for the submerged portion of the park and identify patterns in ecosystem deterioration and recovery. Because they have data from a few decades now in what is the largest marine dataset in the National Park Service, they can quickly determine whether something is an anomaly (a big deal, if you will) or just part of the natural cycle of that site. If there is an anomaly, CHIS can look at old data to figure out why and what can be done about it. Ultimately, this project informs management decisions made by the park and helps the park reassess old decisions to create the healthiest park possible.

One garibaldi! Fish surveys are never this easy…

As we are going over fish surveys, David Kushner, Regional Diving Officer and head of the KFM project, interjects, “how confident are you on fish ID?” “I’m pretty good on my pacific fish,” I tell him. “I need you to be 100% confident or I can’t have you taking data.” David is serious about his data, as any good scientist is. Though he can be frank and serious at times, he is also one of the biggest jokesters on board. He has the energy of someone half his age and anytime he has the chance to dive or snorkel, he’s like a kid waking up on his birthday. As the rest of the crew is catching up with each other after the weekend, David says half jokingly, “you guys have 5 whole days to talk about your weekend!”

Ron Hill of NOAA Galveston fame once asked me, “is diving in the kelp forests as spooky as it looks?” I have never thought of it that way, but I can see why he does.

As the Sea Ranger pulls into Little Scorpion cove on Santa Cruz Island, we prepare to dive. The first person in the water is Kenan Chan. “Yewwwweeeee Ahhhhh AH AH AH AAAHAHAHA!” Kenan screams through his full-face mask rig as he enters the cold water.. After 6 weeks in Florida and the Caribbean, I have fully forgotten what it’s like to put on 12mm of neoprene. Admittedly, this is the one part of California diving that I did not miss.

It’s always strange to hop in the water and get pelted by hundreds of these floating pyrosomes (tunicates) on Anacapa island.

My first dive was with Josh and David to conduct Roving Diver Fish Counts. I am supposed to stay with them. I see 5 kelp bass, 100 blacksmith, and a kelp rockfish. I start writing the data down on my slate (underwater paper, more or less) and when I look up, David and Josh are gone. I decide to keep taking data while swimming quickly and looking for them since there were other divers counting fish next to me. I continue my survey, looking down under overhangs and up towards the surface and pair back up with Josh and David.

A man and his honey. Josh Sprague forgoes the chips and dried fruit after a dive and heads straight for the honey.

I surface and David looks at my data, comparing it to his and Josh’s. “Not bad for your first time!” After our dive, it’s time to take part in a longstanding CHIS tradition- snacks. The CHIS team takes their snacks seriously, so much so that the entirety of Trader Joes is stocked in the cabinets. As I’m digging into some dried tangerines, Kelly says, “I did my best to pick up hummus, tofu, and all sorts of vegan goodies for you! They have your initials on them!” She went out of her way to accommodate my diet. The biggest downside to eating a (mostly) vegan is feeling burdensome to others. Kelly assures me that it was no burden. Admittedly, I really appreciated the effort. It is awesome to have some delicious snacks after a dive.

The view of Santa Cruz Island from our anchorage.

The sun is setting over the front side of Santa Cruz Island as we prepare to anchor in a protected bay on the backside. Cullen and I are waiting for Captain Keith Duran’s order to throw the stern anchor in. “Keith is pretty chilled out, huh?” I mention to Cullen. Cullen responds, “oh Keith? He’s super chill.” This really means something since Cullen is one of the most laid back people I’ve ever met.

Broken wetsuit- no worries! That’s Captain Keith for you.

A bit later, Kelly starts making dinner. I start talking to Keith about surfing, where we have quite a bit of crossover in our interests. Keith is a long, lanky, extremely tan guy who is usually sports some board shorts and a plaid flannel. Keith and David make the perfect team, because Keith is the ying to David’s yang- David is more excitable and Keith is as cool as a cucumber. “I mean, west coast, you know? Got to be mellow,” he says with a laugh.

Katie takes a plankton sample.

Right on cue, David comes into the galley, still halfway in his wetsuit and announces to us (all in dry clothing), “who wants to go snorkeling?!” After a day of cold, wet diving and an evening of warm, dry relaxing, David doesn’t find any takers. “Cullen! Come on, you know you want to go!” He might have convinced Cullen if dinner wasn’t ready. After a massive, delicious dinner, we all knock out for the night.

I hear the engine start and wake up. It’s 7:30 AM. All the other births are empty, I’m the last one up and semi-caught up on sleep now. When I walk upstairs into the galley, I see Kenan and Cullen along with two of our other crew mates, Katie and Connor, doing squats on the back deck. “We’re doing the squat challenge! Want to join us for some morning squats?” Katie asks me. Usually, I would accept. However, I’m still mostly asleep and Kelly cut and beautifully plated a pineapple.

“Title this one, ‘there’s a lot of love aboard the Sea Ranger II'” – Kelly Moore. David and Kenan keep us all laughing.

Once we get diving, I’m diving with Kenan and Connor. Kenan and I met during my blue card training, though this is his second year working on the KFM project. He and I get along quite well. He is a photographer that loves shooting surfers and went to school with one of my housemates. Kenan and David are certainly the two most charismatic people on board. As such, they like to give each other a hard time occasionally and have a brotherly sort of relationship over the last two years.

Kenan and Connor prepare to open up an ARM.

We descend and look for several ARM’s (artificial recruitment modules) on the seafloor. The ARM’s consist of a log cabin-like cylinder block structure contained inside a metal cage. Once we find our first one, we take all of the cylinder blocks out of the cage, record and measure every animal that is living in the structure, and then put all of the blocks back inside the cage how they were. The purpose of this is to get a snapshot of the diversity, abundance, demographics and distribution of organisms that are settling in crevice habitats on the reefs that we don’t sample using the other protocol.

After all the blocks are put back into the ARM, the creatures go back in!

We have just finished dinner and Kelly is keen to play some games. I’m easily rallied and Katie and Kenan are as well. This is also Katie’s second year with the KFM program. She is incredibly patient, self-motivated, amiable, and academic minded.

Kenan Chan checks out a pyrosome on the surface.

Kelly then pulls out a game called “Utter Nonsense,” where each player has to say a phrase with a specific accent like “Irish” or “giving birth.” It’s my turn to draw an accent card for the group, and I pick “New Yorker.” Everyone does a decent New Yorker accent- especially Keith who has a secret talent for accents. Katie is last to give it a shot.

She speaks at a blinding pace with some sort of far eastern accent and says, “IT’S A GOOD THING YOU ARE JUST A METER MAID–” before she is interrupted by all of us bursting into laughter. Kenan, Kelly, and I are crying and everyone is doubled over with stomach pain- including Katie. At a certain point, we were all ready to stop laughing until Kenan says, “what was that accent?! It was Chinese!” and eeks out one of his signature high pitch laughs, which then spread to the entire group.

One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. Kelly clips her nails underwater after finding some new nail clippers!

This is really indicative of the closeness of the CHIS crew. They live together in small quarters, sharing meals and personal space several months a year. It’s trips like this that have been my favorite this summer- where I am living with the crew in cramped quarters. This sort of camaraderie can’t be replicated in an office and it’s the sort of thing that I love.

The big family-style dinners aboard the Sea Ranger II help bring the KFM family closer.

It’s a warm day out in the Channel Islands. Cullen and I are swatting kelp flies off of us while David pitches a pilot study to us under his wide-brimmed hat. The crew has been seeing brittle star barrens on the backside of Anacapa island. Brittle star barrens are what happens after urchin populations increases rapidly, eat all of the giant kelp (the foundation of a kelp forest ecosystem), and die off or leave. This barren, uninhabited landscape is prime for the taking, and brittle stars capitalize, disabling anything else (including kelp) from growing.

David teaches us how to make the fake algae.

David has noticed that there is a type of algae that the brittle stars don’t like. When the algae touches them, they leave. He has recreated the algae before using a variety of natural materials, all of which ultimately degraded or broke off, damaging other marine life. Plastic is his last resort, which he wanted to avoid, but he believes that it will work and the team can easily retrieve it when the study is done so no trace will be left.

The fake algae also makes a nice neck tie for the Captain.

The team starts assembling the plastic fake algae on a long weighted line, which will be laid on the bottom of a brittle star barren in an effort to displace the brittle stars. Though we are all focused on the task at hand, we can’t help but notice Connor’s sunburn. Connor is the only one aboard who spent some of his formative years on the east coast and this is his first KFM trip. Needless to say, his skin is not used to the sun on the Sea Ranger II. He’s a tall strapping lad who is wholesome in every way. He is just a likeable guy, so agreeable, polite, and hard working. He also has a super power of generating warmth underwater that isn’t shared by anyone else on board.

Connor’s advice on prepping dinner for a crew of 9? “Make way more than you think you need.”

As we set down our coconut La Croix’s (the KFM drink of choice) and dive in, the pilot study dive turns into a real treat for the crew. Captain Keith comes along as well in a 3 piece wetsuit (it was a two piece farmer john, but then one of the arms tore off). This is the first time in a long time that the crew gets to work all together on one task. I have my camera in the water documenting both the crew and what the site looks like at the start of the project. At the end of the project, they will compare the photos to mine and see if this management tactic worked.

I am blown away by the brittle star barren. It’s an incredibly boring landscape to look at, but one that I’ve never seen. It’s impressive- millions of brittle stars just carpeting the bottom. The real highlight of the dive for everyone though was the giant sea bass that cruised by us a few times. Giant sea bass are the largest fin fish around the Channel Islands, growing to 500+ lbs and 8 feet in length. Though they are more common now than when I was younger, they nearly went extinct in the 1970’s due to commercial and recreational overfishing.

Katie Grady checks out our giant friend.

I have dove with giant sea bass before and it’s hit or miss in terms of approaching them. Some are much more skiddish than others. This one was medium-skiddish. I ended up not getting the exact shot that I wanted, but I was just happy to see the big fella.

“You, making me happier

Now I am snappier, while I’m with you”           

I’m feeling great today and feel the need to sing this morning. “Anyone like Shuggie Otis?” I ask the crew. After getting a bunch of shoulder shrugs, Katie asks me, “who’s that?” “He is a musician! I’d say he’s like…one step below Zappa in terms of notarity.” Kelly spits out her coconut La Croix, “HA! Is Frank Zappa now a unit of measurement?!”

Eat, Drink La Croix, Be Merry. David sporting the KFM drink of choice.

Soon enough, we are all descending onto Admiral’s reef- a site known for it’s ripping current. Today is more mild than usual, but the current is still very strong. I get to step away from survey work again today and take some photos. My goal is to get photos of everyone, but the depth we are working in makes it difficult to spread myself out- particularly with the current. I start with Kelly, migrate over to Connor and David, and then spend some time with Katie and Kenan.

When you see the kelp starting to go horizontal, you know the current is ripping. It makes avoiding entanglement impossible.

While I am setting up a shot of Kenan, I notice an octopus on the backside of a rock. I get Kenan’s attention and we try to get a good shot of the octopus. I’m always mesmerized by good octopus shots, and after trying to take one myself, I respect those shots even more. Octopuses have an incredible ability to camouflage themselves instantly…which is exactly what this octopus did. How do photographers get an octopus to not do that so that it can easily be seen? After a few attempts, I had to race over to Josh before surfacing.

Find the octopus! Hint, it’s on the right side in the center of this photo.

I only get to spend maybe 3 minutes with Josh before I have to surface, but overall it was a productive dive. On the surface, David yells, “Cullen! We are going to get schooled!!” I already know he is talking about yellowtail, the fish of choice for seafood eaters in California. David convinces Cullen to hop in with him and look for yellowtail on our surface interval. David’s enthusiasm for getting in the water at any time of day is incredible and really sets the tone for his team.

Katie measures an urchin.

Today is the last day of my KFM tour. David feels good about what the team has accomplished this week and decides to let us do a fun dive. He chooses a spot where we might some giant sea bass. Josh and Keith stay behind on the first dive to keep an eye on the boat while the rest of us descend. After 30 minutes, we don’t see a giant sea bass, but we do get a visit from a curious sea lion. Cullen also takes it upon himself to prank David by putting a lobster carapace on his tank band.

A big group dive is the perfect way for me to close out my time at CHIS. CHIS really was a homecoming for me. It’s where everything started, from my Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society application to my blue card certification. I felt at home in the kelp forest seascape, surrounded by familiar faces that speak my California slang.

Something that Channel Islands does very well is outreach. Part of that is creating some of their own media. Here, Kenan is getting footage for an underwater video.

The CHIS team is one of the most tight-knit I’ve worked with in my entire life. They know how to perfectly walk the line of having fun and remaining productive. It was an honor to work with this crew under the California sun, but I can’t lie- I’m excited to head to my next stop in Hawai’i and lose 9mm of neoprene!

I’ll miss the Channel Islands, but I’ll be back before I know it! Here is the full KFM crew on the Sea Ranger II. Back (top-bottom): Kenan, Josh. Middle (L-R): Connor, David, Keith. Bottom (L-R) Myself, Kelly, Katie, Cullen.

“That’s the last flight of the day, your luggage will probably come in tomorrow. What hotel are you staying at?” a sea plane employee tells me on St. Thomas. “I’m not staying in a hotel. I’m supposed to be in St. John right now,” I respond. I have been waiting in the sea plane terminal in downtown Charlotte Amalie for 3 hours for my camera gear that won’t be coming in today. I’m more than a little bit concerned. The camera gear is incredibly valuable and it’s not mine. Furthermore, I’m supposed to start work on a boat tomorrow morning on St. John.

The sea plane ride was beautiful, but proved costly.

Phone service is spotty at best in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I try calling a few people that I know on St. John, and get finally get ahold of someone. “Good grief, well, welcome to the Virgin Islands!” Jeff says after hearing my story. “No worries, do what you need to do, get your luggage, and we’ll see you tomorrow evening back at the dock.”Luckily for me, I know some people on St. Thomas as well. I meet my friend Lora, who grew up with me on Catalina Island, for some dinner downtown and she takes me across the island to the Red Hook area.

Life in the Caribbean, particularly St. Thomas, is a paradox. It is very laid back and incredibly frantic all at the same time. Music blares out of cars weaving in and out of traffic on busted roads while the weather switches constantly between brutal heat and pouring rain, but no one really has an issues with it. As we approach where I’ll be staying for the night, I get a text from Andy Davis. “Hey brother, I won’t be back at the condo when you arrive. Joey Contillo is there.” I worked with Andy at Dry Tortugas National Park. He is a member of the South Florida Caribbean Network (SFCN) monitoring team and offered me a couch to crash on for the night.

Lora and I in my St. Thomas residence for the evening.

Lora and I pull up to the condo and see a shoeless man outside. He is extremely tan, has a long blonde ponytail, and looks like he’s been on the water everyday for the past 20 years. “Is that your guy?” Lora asks me. I tell her that I don’t think it is. We spend a few minutes grabbing my gear and head to the front door. I knock three times. “Delivery?” someone inside says. I respond, “no?” The blonde tan man that we saw earlier walks casually toward us from the other side of the screen door. “Sorry man, I’ve been waiting on a food deliver. I’m starving!” he says. “No worries, I’m Shaun. Did Andy get a chance to tell you about me yet?” I ask. “No, I don’t think so,” he ponders. “Well, umm, I’m staying with you guys tonight,” I inform him. “Right on! Come on in!” Turns out, this is Joey Contillo. One of the most senior members of NOAA’s dive team, with personality as laid back as he looks. Also turns out that Lora knows him and my other housemate for the night, Laughlin Siceloff. They all worked together on the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) on St. Thomas last year and Joey and Laughlin are working on NCRMP right now on St. Thomas.

As Joey chows down on his delivery food and Laughlin fires up Game of Thrones on the TV, we all chat and get to know each other. As Andy arrives, Lora leaves. I say my goodbye to my old island friend and greet Andy as we get ready for bed. I am incredibly thankful for Andy, Laughlin, and Joey taking me in, being stranded on St. Thomas for the night, and Lora for driving me an hour over to the east side of the island.

I’m at the Red Hook ferry terminal slapping mosquitos in the heat and talking to local cab drivers about how they never make money driving people all the way to the airport. I can barely understand some of them through their thick Caribbean accents. A cab driver pulls in and walks around looking for someone. I think it’s me, so I go up and ask. “Can I see your ID please?” he asks in return. I show him and he says, “follow me.” He has my camera gear. I had debated calling my supervisor (Brett Seymour) to let him know that I didn’t have my camera gear and didn’t know exactly where it was. I didn’t, figuring it’d be best not to get him involved unless it didn’t come in today. Glad I didn’t call him!

Kelly O’Connell, subsurface.

Upon arriving at the terminal on St. John, Kelly O’Connell (SFCN intern from the Dry Tortugas blog) picks me up. After grabbing groceries, she takes me up to the “Biosphere,” the name of U.S. Virgin Islands National Park headquarters.

The view of Cruz Bay from my window at the biosphere.

As soon as we pull in, I hear someone shout “Shaun!” like they are about to get crushed by a heavy object and need my help moving it. Then I hear someone else shout it the same way. It’s Lee Richter and Mike Feeley (SFCN team members) saying my “nickname” from my time at Dry Tortugas National Park. “Come here divers!!” I say as I give them both a big hug and help unload their dive gear for the day. Hugging Mike is always a challenge, since he’s about 6’4” and I’m a meager 5’9”. I’m extremely excited to see these guys and be able to work with them. I really bonded with the SFCN team at Dry Tortugas and this feels like a homecoming of sorts.

I’m here in St. John to help with NCRMP. NCRMP takes place on all of the Virgin Islands every year. It is a big multi-year multi-agency project between the National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Atmosphere (NOAA), and several universities. The NCRMP teams take data on the health of the reef systems around the islands, including reef fish populations, coral growth and abundance, and water quality. By taking this data year after year, they can see whether the coral reefs and fish populations are growing or shrinking and whether water quality is improving or not. When compared with weather and temperature records along with policy and management decisions, the NCRMP study can inform managers and law enforcement of how their decisions are impacting the health of the parks’ natural resources (which in turn affects the entire region’s natural resources).

NPS, NOAA, and EPA are represented on every boat. Here we have (L-R) Lee Richter (NPS), Myself, Jeff “J Mills” Miller (NPS), Debbie Santavy (EPA), Caitlin “T Dubs” Langwiser (NOAA), and Shay Neve (NOAA). Photo Credit: Jay Grove / NOAA.

Once we get all the gear rinsed and put away, we head out to meet some of the rest of the team for dinner. “Shaun!” Rob Waara shouts, in only the way that an SFCN team member can. We hug it out while I meet Jay Grove and Caitlin Langwiser from NOAA. Caitlyn was an intern for SFCN a few years prior and now works for NOAA. Like many others in the Caribbean, Caitlin is a “Nutmegger,” or someone from Connecticut. She is quick-witted, always positive, and has the most unbelievable air consumption underwater that you will ever witness.

Rob Waara at an SCR site…my favorite kind.

Rob takes out a bunch of genips, a small tropical fruit that I love, while Jay tells us how allergic she is to tropical fruit- especially mangos. Not a minute after, a mango drink that is on the table tips over and spills all over Jay. Jay laughs and is a good sport about it. “Secretly, I can feel the hives breaking out,” she says half-jokingly. “Jay, you’re not going to be able to dive with us tomorrow! You won’t be able to get into your wetsuit once you’re all swelled up!” Rob chimes in as we all laugh. This is a such a classic SFCN moment. I missed these guys.

Jay Grove underwater, once the mango hives wore off.

“Always Alert, Never Hurt…sounds like a Thomas Kelly catch phrase,” Caitlyn says. The phrase is displayed on the Acropora, the boat I am on today with Caitlyn, Jeff, Lee, Debbie Harris (EPA), and Shay Neve (NOAA). We get to the boat after Randy gives the entire team our morning brief and introduces me to everyone. It is a pretty awe-inspiring operation. NCRMP is happening on St. Thomas and St. John concurrently, involves three different organizations (NPS, EPA, and NOAA), and draws on staff that live as far as New Orleans and Maryland. Since the surveys require an intimate knowledge of both Caribbean fish and coral species (which I do not have), I have been assigned to take photos for the team. I will be hopping boat to boat during my time in St. John to try to get as many photos of as many different teams as possible.

Me living up to the motto, “always alert, never hurt.” Photo credit: Jay Grove / NOAA

One of the biggest issues that the science community faces, and the one that I am most interested in, is how can we effectively communicate with the general public? While I have many thoughts on this broadly, specifically, the first step for this team in communication is simply to let the public know what they are doing. A photo can tell that story more quickly and effectively than a press release. It’s easier (and let’s admit it, more fun) to consume. Needless to say, I’m excited to get going on my photo tasks.

The NCRMP team. Front (L-R): Myself and Caitlin Langwiser. Middle (L-R): Debbie Santavy, Cheryl Hankins, Peggy Harris, Shay Neve, Jay Grove, Kelly O’Connell, Mark Monaco. Rear (L-R): Matt Johnson, Justine Kimball, Lee Richter, Adam Glahn, Thomas Kelly, Randy Clark, Jeff Miller, Mike Feeley.

As I grab the last cylinder to load onto the boat, I’m followed by Jay Grove, or as I’ve begun to call her “J-groove.” “I’m coming with you for moral support!” she says, as I huck the cylinder on my shoulder.

Because the sites were so uninteresting, I tried to use the sun for a bit of fun. Here’s Shay Neve with her data sheet.

The first two sites that we go to are classified as “SCR,” or scattered coral rock. SCR sites are unanimously the least liked sites. It’s not hard to see why- the sites are essentially rubble formed from dead and broken coral on a homogenous, flat bottom.

These sorts of soft corals are non-existent at SCR sites.

Shooting in this kind of environment is a challenge for me. It’s hard for me to make a photo visually interesting when there is so little that is inherently visually interesting in the environment. The third site that we go to is extremely shallow. “What’s the depth on this one?” Lee asks as wind-driven little waves lap past the hull. “3 feet, you guys are going to have to swim in a bit from the drop off point,” Jeff responds, fearing the possibility of running the boat aground.

Turns out, the site really is 3 feet deep. It’s a challenge for the whole team to try to stay down while minding hard corals in the area. That being said, it’s the most dynamic environment we have seen all day and I’m pretty happy to be there.

“When it comes to us that live here in the VI, we are all out here, but we aren’t all here,” Thomas Kelly tells me during a surface interval. Thomas is the Chief of Natural Resources at Virgin Islands National Park. Sporting a serious mustache, Thomas is a well-liked leader within NPS. He leads by example, working long hours and always staying level-headed. He is also quite the history buff when it comes to St. John in particular.

Kelly O’Connell runs a benthic survey.

Also on the boat with us is Kelly, Mike, Cheryl Hankins (EPA), and Matt Johnson (NOAA). Cheryl is responsible for taking water samples at many of the sites we visit. While the rest of the team largely focuses on the health of fish stocks and corals over time, Cheryl’s water quality data can help answer the question of why. For example, why have corals recovered in these two bays but not the third? Though water quality cannot be ordained as the single reason why, Cheryl hopes to find out how big of a role it plays in the health of the ecosystems around St. John.

Kelly O’Connell and Cheryl taking water quality samples.

After struggling with a few sites that had strong current, big waves, and whipping wind, we head to a more protected spot behind the shelter of some magnificent jagged rocks offshore a bit. This is a bedrock site, so it should have more interesting structure. Once underwater, I take some photos of Kelly and Cheryl while they run benthic (sea floor) surveys. I’m not allowed to go near the fish survey team until they finish their survey. I can skew their data by scaring fish into or out of their survey area.

Kelly and Cheryl tag team a benthic survey.

I get a few shots of Cheryl and Kelly that I like, so I begin exploring the site. I swim to the backside of the site where there are three distinct and fairly dramatic underwater slot canyons. I signal to Mike that I want him to come over when he can. I try to explain, using hand signals, the shot that I have envisioned in my head. Admittedly, I’m still learning how best to communicate staged photo ideas underwater with my hands, which Mike found out quickly.

The underwater structure at this site was incredible.

“I can’t believe I messed up the tunnel shot!” Mike exclaims back on the boat. Mike not-so-secretly really enjoys photography. He isn’t explicit about it, but he lights up when he sees a good image or takes a nice shot himself. Hence, he is always up for helping me out as a photographer. “I couldn’t figure out exactly what you wanted. Man, that tunnel was so cool, I can’t believe I messed up the tunnel shot!” I assure him that we’ll find something else equally as cool to photograph later on.

The shallow part of “the tunnel.”

On our next dive, it’s more of the same on my end. I take photos of the team performing different surveys, trying to show the methods they are using in a way that someone looking at the picture can understand. After the fish survey team is done, Mike signals to me to come over. He points out some fish that caught his eye- dog snapper, giant porcupine, and a few indigo hamlets. I think that Mike figured it out pretty quickly at Dry Tortugas. I am a fish guy. Corals are wonderful creatures and the backbone of tropical ecosystems, but from childhood, I’ve always been a fish guy. My earliest memories of wanting to go into marine science came from looking at fish in buckets that fishermen on local piers would catch. Mike is also a fish guy, so anytime that either of us see an interesting fish, we point it out to one another. Of course, he has a much better idea of what makes a fish interesting in the Caribbean than I do.

Mike Feeley- a fishy guy completing a fishy survey.

Thomas also pointed out a fish to me- a juvenile spotted drum. It is truly an incredible fish. The size of a thumbnail, with huge ribbon-like streamers coming off the top and bottom of its body. Watching the fish swim is like watching a talented gymnast perform a flag floor routine. Because of its small size, I can’t get a photo of it, but it will forever stick in my memory.

Even the smallest corals get measured!

Back on board, we secure the deck and head to St. Thomas to get our nitrox cylinders filled. There is only one dive shop on St. John and they don’t have the ability to fill nitrox. We arrive to be greeted by Andy Davis who out of his way to say hi and help us unload after diving the full day himself, pretty telling of his character.

“That’s an aggressive stance!” Thomas Kelly tells me in regard to this iguana charging me while I take this photo.

We are waiting for the cylinders to finish filling and Thomas is taking a phone call. Kelly is cracking up, “Tom’s getting charged by that iguana!” I see an iguana racing towards Thomas. He stamps his foot and hollers at it to scare it off as we are all laughing at this point.

Being the one with the camera, I have very few shots of myself at work underwater. Here’s one Mike Feeley snagged!

It’s 7 PM in St. John’s Cruz Bay. It’s really the only “town” on the island and it’s center is small, but full of life. Myself and many members of the NCRMP team are out to dinner. Justine Kimball (NOAA) is there as well. I’ve been crossing paths with Justine for the entire week but haven’t actually been able to talk to her. She is in charge of this NCRMP mission.

“Half Moon Bay?! Home of the famous Mavericks?!” I exclaim upon finding out that Justine is a Californian as well. It’s fairly uncommon to meet Californians in the Caribbean, so I relish in meeting my fellow west coast friends when it happens. Not only is she from California, but she went to school at UC Santa Barbara, where I am currently enrolled. Justine is particularly interested in my photos, since she wants to make NCRMP more visible and get the mission a little more publicity. It’s fulfilling to come to a park where the park (and in this case EPA and NOAA) are interested in using the photos that I’m taking. It certainly makes me feel like I’m contributing something unique.

“You’re going to get some great photos here in Coral Bay today. You’re going to love it, great vis, 5 feet at least,” Rob tells me. Today I’m diving the south side of the island (a departure from the other days I’ve been here) with Jay, Rob, Mark Monaco (NOAA), Adam Glahn (NPS), and Peggy Harris (EPA). As Rob predicted, the water is extremely green and murky. Once we drop down, the fish survey team aborts the dive. The poor visibility inhibits them from taking a proper fish survey. The surveys are done by a diver who records all fish within an imaginary 7m radius cylinder around them. If they can’t see the fish in that 7m, than the survey method doesn’t work.

Jay Grove drops into Coral Bay, while the color-coordinated Peggy Harris waits her turn.

While we wait we wait on the surface for the benthic survey team, we find a way to pass time. “It’s a cool one, it’s French I think,” Jay says in deep thought, “Des Moines!” We all groan and can’t believe we forgot the capital of Iowa. “Ok, Kentucky,” Mark announces. As we try to guess more state capitals, the benthic team surfaces. “Frankfurt!” Jay exclaims. “As you can tell, you guys really missed out on some exciting times topside,” Mark tells the benthic team. Peggy hops back on board and I take a minute to admire her color-coordinated dive gear. Her fins, mask, snorkel, wetsuit, BCD, and head band are all pink. Quite the fashionable feat really.

Peggy preps for a benthic survey.

We finish one more murky site and then meet with Mike Feeley to give him our used cylinders that his boat will then take into St. Thomas. Our next site is much more clear and provides me with the first useable photos of the day. “Nice work down there guys!” Rob says to Jay and I. “Well, us Scorpios are known for our high quality work,” Jay responds. Jay and I have been joking all week about being a Scorpio. Our astrological sign seemingly gets the short end of the stick when it comes to redeeming qualities. We try to prop up our sign at every possible turn when someone compliments us. Besides being a Scorpio, Jay is quite the jokester and speaks as quickly as her New England roots would dictate. She can find the comedy in anything, which keeps her smiling all the time.

Strangely, this was the first sting ray I saw all summer.

Our last dive of the day signals the end of diving for NCRMP and my last dive in the Caribbean. I’m going to miss diving in a rash guard and board shorts at my next stop in California.

“Shaun!” Lee shouts in the way the SFCN guys say my name, “there may be an opportunity to get on a surfboard before dinner if you’re interested.” “Done, when are we leaving?” I reply. We are waiting on Lee’s car to arrive. After about 30 minutes, Lee gets a little pessimistic. “I may have gotten a little ambitious, we certainly aren’t going to have much time,” he voices his concern to me. I encourage Lee, who doesn’t need much encouragement, and say, “it’s always worth it!” Lee is a lot like myself in many ways, and doesn’t need much convincing when it comes to doing something outside.

Colorful tunicates and sponges are common underneath rocky overhangs.

After a catching some really fun, tiny waves that we had all to ourselves, we head to the first of two final dinners. At the table, I ask Caitlyn about her nickname. SFCN loves to give nicknames to their interns. They say my name in the funny way they do, Kelly is known as “R. Kelly” (after the rapper), and Caitlyn was lovingly given the nickname “trainwreck,” or “T Dubs” for short. She was given this name not because of her work or tendencies in the field, but because of the oddly comedic and slightly tragic events that happen to her (and could only happen to her) in her daily life. “When I was about 12, I was doing a long road trip with my dad and the back windows of the car were rolled down a little less than halfway. We are driving along, enjoying the scenery when a bird flies in through the window, slams straight into my head, and dies immediately in my lap. I’m scared, confused, and a little emotionally scarred with a dead bird in my lap. I am balling, crying, and telling my dad that there is a dead bird in my lap. He’s convinced that there isn’t, so we just keep driving,” she tells us while we erupt into laughter.

It’s the last day that the NCRMP team is in St. John. I decide to go on a hike with Lee, who knows the trails in the park better than most island residents. He picks me up and we make a stop at the pharmacy for me. I need to pick up thank you cards and Jeff told me my best bet is the pharmacy. After strolling through the card section, I ask an employee if they sell thank you cards in packs of 10 or so. They usually do, but don’t right now. They only have one pack of any kind of card right now, and it is a religious card that has a cross on the front and the words “In Celebration” beneath it. I debate whether I should buy them. Deciding they are likely blank inside, I buy them thinking I can work with that.

Lee Richter capturing my best Tarzan impression on our way up Fish Bay Gut.

20 minutes later, Lee and I are hiking up Fish Bay Gut- a boulder ravine full of mild rock scrambles. Lee points out edible and harmful plants along the way and I’m very entertained by the creative nature of the islander naming convention. “This one looks like a pineapple plant, but isn’t. The fruits are small and taste fairly similar to pineapples. It’s called ‘false pineapple.’” Further along, my hat gets caught on a sharp vine and stays there as I walk past. “This one is called grab and keep, you can see why.”

Taino petroglyphs.

On our ascent, we talk sports, relationships, careers, and everything in between. Lee is an amazing guy who, at this point, I see as a friend first and a colleague second. The rest of the hike is filled with Danish roads, sugar mill ruins, Taino petroglyphs, and dry waterfalls. “This is some heart of St. John stuff right here, few visitors do this kind of stuff,” Lee remarks.

Back at Lee’s place, we get ready for our last night out with the NCRMP team. I take out my religious “In Celebration” cards to start writing thank you notes for the NCRMP team that brought me out to the island. “Oh boy. These are actually event invitation cards and they are pretty religious. Wow. I’m not sure I can use these,” I say to Lee. The cards are not blank like I thought they would be. They have lines for date, time, occasion, place, and RSVP. At the bottom it says “Praise the Lord! Psalms 52:1.” “I think you could, you just have to play it up right,” Lee convinces me. “Well, they will certainly remember me and it’s all I have, so I’m going with it!”

The dramatic landscape of St. John.

“This is ‘B-‘ material,” Caitlyn criticizes my card jokingly, “an invitation card with no invitation!” she says jokingly. The cards end up going over quite well with the team. Our final night is lots of fun and a great opportunity to chat with everyone that I may not have seen as much throughout NCRMP. There are challenges of bringing three agencies together to work on a project. Each agency has their own protocols, schedule, and have staff that are based in different and distant locations. However, the NCRMP team seemed to work seamlessly throughout the week. I believe it’s because this group of people enjoys each other on and off the water. Everyone gets together almost every night to tell stories and share laughs. The synergy goes past the point of functionality and is really something for any other inter-agency project to aspire to.

As I prepped to head out in the morning, Mike Feeley gave me his hooded vest so I could stay a bit warmer back west. I thanked him in particular for having me out a second time. I already felt strongly about my connection with the SFCN team after Dry Tortugas, and that has only grown stronger here in St. John.

I’m going to miss all of the NCRMP team and SFCN in particular as I head west. I will certainly miss warm waters and the ease of diving without a wetsuit when I’m covered in 12mm of neoprene at my next stop. Though admittedly, I’m excited to head back to Channel Islands. It’s the National Park that started it all for me. So until next time, this is “Shaun!” signing off from the Caribbean.

Kelly O’Connell peaces out after a week of NCRMP!