Fakarava, Day 1

MFT: DATA, popsicle, and showering
LFP: Bl**dy Trimble GPS not working nicely

Hallo, so today was our first full day in Fakarava. I spent the morning testing out my sea based equipment and then testing my land based equipment in the afternoon. The students all went ashore to talk with more local officials (the mayor) while I motored around on one of the small zodiacs with 2 crew. Sayzie (our steward) very nicely accompanied me on the bathy collection and Mackenzie drove the zodiac. Of course even after all my pre-packing and planning, it took longer than I would have liked to set up the Hydrolite Bathy system. Things wouldn’t work for about 30-45 minutes but in the end with help from various people we got it going. Then we zigzagged around the lagoon  (a very small part of the lagoon) for an hour or two. Sayzie and Mackenzie both took turns sticking their face with mask on into the water to look at the coral & sharks. It was a nice way to spend the morning.

In the afternoon I managed to get ashore and begin my one woman trek across Rotoava (the main motu on Fakarava). I gathered all the GPR, surface sampling, and GPS equipment into 2 bags (very impressive) plus my personal gear (first aid kit, water, etc.). I was probably carrying about 60-70 pounds of gear! I tried to get internet again at the post office when it was open with no luck (URGH). Then I spent about 30-45 minutes setting up the GPS & GPR so I could carry it all on my back or drag it behind me. It took a while and I was definitely entertaining the local teenage boy contingent who were lounging nearby. At last I was ready to head out.

I managed to cover about 4 miles on the island all around the town. The main motu is actually quite long (tens of miles). So I concentrated on walking the main part. I walked for about 2.5 hours before my back and legs gave up. It’s hard to carry 30 lbs on your back plus drag another 30 lbs behind you. It would be better if I had brought a heavier duty pack (30 lbs is pushing the limit of the weight my backpack carries). But honestly it worked out pretty well. Anyways, I definitely provided entertainment to the locals. I made the brilliant move of writing out in French a description of who I was so whenever my French failed (pretty quickly), I would whip out the paper and let them read it (thank god for google translate). While my GPS didn’t really work (URGH), I was getting GPR data and interesting data at that. So overall it was huge success! Plus I did cover a reasonable portion of the town area (given I was on foot by myself, I am happy).

The day ended with a yummy pasta dinner, salad, and a SHOWER. Tomorrow I get to rent a car (woohoo) and go with Jan (Chief Scientist) and Sayzie (wonderful steward) around the motu. It was a great day. Hopefully I can get the GPS to work better tomorrow but who knows. I have to figure out a good translation for my instruments description into French (like GPR and what it does). I am happy however, things are working and data is being collected. Plus tonight I get a whole night of sleep! I’ll try to post this sooner rather than later. Thanks!



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