Aloha!

So, I made it back to the "real world" in one piece, and mostly sane. I spent March thru August on Laysan Island, in the NW Hawaiian chain...so about 930 miles NW of Honolulu. This year I was camp leader for the Hawaiian Monk Seal population assessment study. We have just over 200 seals, including the 28 pups from this year.

Laysan is about 1 x 1.5mi and 7mi around. There is awesome diversity of habitat on island, including a volcanic rock ledge, a shipwreck, vegetated interior, hypersaline lake, and lots and lots of beach.

Aerial view of Laysan, north end of the island on the bottom:


I spent 10 days on Midway before leaving for Laysan. The Kahana (the ship many people know from the show Lost) brought be down to the island. Here is the Captain's, Mario, pirate flag:



Camp was moved to higher elevation...err farther away from the waves for winter:





My Tent:


New Lua...stinky
View from the Lua: