Sept. 28 log aboard the Oscar Elton Sette’s

By John Dax Moreno
Special to the Saipan Tribune

The Marianas Archipelago Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program 2005 cruise recently finished their shallow reef habitat assessment of Aguiguan, also known as Goat Island. Rota will be the last stop for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel Oscar Elton Sette, wrapping up the voyage Sept. 29 through the 30. The month-long research voyage took scientists and crew across the whole stretch of the Marianas Archipelago.

On the first leg of their voyage, the scientists and crew finished their evaluation and mapping of the shallow reef habitats of the Northern Islands of the Marianas Archipelago. The second leg brought the Sette back to Saipan, Anatahan, Tinian, Aguiguan, and finally toward Rota, their final destination. They also conducted assessments on Pathfinder and Arakane Reef west of the CNMI.

You can go online and interact with the scientist and crew via the Coastal Resources Management website: www.crm.gov.mp/maramp. On the website, you can read Qamar Schuyler’s daily logs of the voyage and learn about the ongoing research as well as the work that has been completed during the first leg of the cruise in the Northern Islands. Schuyler is the Sette’s onboard educator, and coral outreach specialist for the CNMI Coral Reef Initiative. She gives you a first-hand account of their experiences in the water and on land. Here is Schuyler’s daily log for Sept. 28, 2005:

“Aguiguan, or Goat Island, has proven to be the most difficult name for people to pronounce. This can partly be blamed on the fact that it’s spelled Aguijan on the charts, but I can’t count the number of times I have said, ‘It’s A-GEE-Gwan.’ Although Aguiguan is only 20 miles from Saipan, it’s not a very commonly visited island. There is no public transport to the island, and you must get permission from the Tinian Mayor’s office in order to land. I must say, though, that even with permission, landing would be a tough ordeal. Driving around the island with the mooring team, all I saw were sheer cliffs, some with caves etched into them, but mostly perfectly vertical. Above the cliffs, the island is almost perfectly tiered, like a wedding cake.

“Somehow, 10 employees of the Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Tinian Department of Lands and Natural Resources managed to land on Aguiguan in 2002 to do a wildlife and vegetation survey. Among other things, they found a huge population of feral goats. As in many other islands we have seen, the goats have caused severe damage to the native forests here. They eat the young sapling trees, and also ‘ring’ older trees, eating their bark up to a certain height, which ultimately can kill the trees. The survey also found a small population of Pacific sheath-tailed bats, as well as an estimated 30-50 Marianas fruit bats, and a population of Micronesian megapodes.

“There is also evidence on the island of ancient habitation. In fact, according to Tony Sanchez of the Guam Bureau of Statistics and Planning, Aguiguan is the site of the last battle between the Chamorros and the Spanish. Apparently the Spanish used planks to cross over to the island from their masts. It is said that residents of Tinian can still see the light of Taga’s grandson signaling for help that never arrived. Taga, legend has it, was the strongest Chamorro ever. He could uproot coconut trees by himself, and he was so big he could step from one island to another.

“I was very excited to put in our first STR (Subsurface Temperature Recorder) because Pete says that the site we had chosen was his favorite dive in all of the CNMI! After a brief encounter with spinner dolphins riding our bow wake, we arrived at the site. We installed the instrument in about 20 feet of water, in an area with very large spur and groove formations down to about 60 feet. This is the classic growth form of reefs; peaks of coral growth alternating with valleys of sand. The corals were pretty abundant, although on the higher surfaces of the peaks there were many skeletons covered with dark algae. They were probably killed by Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS), and subsequently overgrown by algae. Although this reef did experience a pretty heavy outbreak of the COTS, Pete says it still has a lot of life in it, and will hopefully recover well.

“After we finished the STR, we used the rest of our air to explore the reef. At about 55 feet, the spurs and grooves gave way to a fairly steep wall dropping to about 120 feet. The wall was almost fully covered with coral, both branching and lettuce-like. The visibility was fantastic, and we could see over 100 feet into the distance. We came across a couple of small sharks, and multitudes of luminous small blue anthias. There was a pretty strong current, so we flew over endlessly cascading corals.

“The only downside to the dive was coming back to the surface. From below I could see raindrops falling above, and knew it would be chilly on the boat. It’s beautiful to see a squall pass by underwater, starting with only a few droplets pock-marking the surface of the water. Then it builds until the surface seems choppy, misty, churned up by buckets of rain. When it’s overcast and rainy outside, underwater is the best place to be. Come to think of it, when it’s sunny and muggy outside, underwater is still the best place to be! But, we were out of air, and had work to do, so up we came.

“Just off of the southern tip of Aguiguan lies a small islet called Naftan Rock, riddled with cave entrances. Birds flock around the island in huge numbers. According to Ron’s notes from two years ago, the STR was placed “60 feet north of the mouth of the large cave.” We had a little bit of trouble working out exactly where he was referring to, and had a couple of strikes against us. First, he was not on the boat with us, as he had decided to stay on the ship and work on data. Second, the GPS point that we had indicated that the STR was 13 feet inside of the cliff…clearly an impossibility. So, we decided to check inside the cave. The swells must have been much smaller on the day that Ron and Stephani installed the instrument two years ago. Today they were huge, breaking high up the cliff and cascading back in a flurry of whitewater. We tentatively slid into the water on snorkel to search for the instrument, and encountered a virtual wall of miniscule bubbles. I can see now why it’s called whitewater, because all of the bubbles make it impossible to see through. We swam into the cave, but could see next to nothing. We searched in vain, then exited just in time! Just as we emerged from the entrance, a set came pounding in, with much bigger waves than we’d seen yet. They turned the cave into a boiling mass of whitewater, bouncing off of the walls and jetting high into the air. We had left at the perfect time!

“We searched on the outside of the cave, but the swell kept growing, so we decided to pick Ron up from the Sette to see if he could remember the location better. Matt also came along for the ride, tired of being stuck on the ship with the BOTCAM all day, but even with their help, the STR eluded us. We thought back to a month ago, when Typhoon Nabi had been here. If the swells were this big today, imagine what they must have been like last month! Probably plenty big enough to rip an STR off of the wall. While they avoided being dashed onto cliffs, I snorkeled away from the island, where the visibility was much better. I was searching for ordnance, of which there is a lot. An unconfirmed rumor says that Aguiguan used to be used for target practice, much like Farallon de Mendinilla today. Whether or not that’s true, I found many torpedo-shaped objects. Some were in shards, but others looked intact. I stayed pretty far away from the intact ones!

“We continued around the point of the island, finishing up our last measurements, and spent about half an hour exploring the boulders at the base of one of the cliffs…a birthday snorkel for Matt! All in all, a very productive day. Thanks to Fran Castro and Tony Sanchez for providing information for this story.”

The research cruise will wrap up its assessments on Rota. Visit the MARAMP website to experience first hand accounts of the cruise. If you have a question about the cruise or any questions about the research being conducted, write Schuyler via the website. Log on today and learn more about CNMI’s underwater and terrestrial environment. (PR)

(John Dax Moreno is the Coastal Resources Management Office Outreach & Education coordinator.)