Pictures of boobies

The blog post title is just a shameless ploy to get people interested in my blog.  Apparently one of the previous volunteers suddenly got 4,000 hits in one day on his blog that usually only got a hundred or so and it was because he had posted pictures of brown boobies and so he got all this traffic from people searching for brown boobies and were probably very disappointed with the results. The boobies are mainly on Eastern Island and we don't get to go over there that often.  There are three islands that make up the atoll: Sand Island, Eastern Island and Spit Island.  I've never been on Spit Island.  I'm hoping it is more enchanting than its name implies.  

For the first few days here I did not even know that the island I was on was not called Midway Island.  Apparently I did not do my research.  Midway Island is a misnomer and it's actually called Midway Atoll and I live on Sand Island (which is more enchanting than its name implies).  Apparently Sand, Eastern and Spit aren't technically even islands they are islets but really, who cares...

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sand Island is 1,200 acres-3 square miles.  The dark blue parts of the water in the atoll are where the military dredged to make a channel and harbor for the boats. It is one of the most remote places on earth and it's the last place to see the sun set.  The red dot is approximately where our volunteer house is located. The population ranges from about 50 -100 people. When the military was here they had about 5,000 people which completely boggles the mind because when a tour group of just 18 people comes in it makes the island feel crowded. 

The boat ride to get to Eastern is fun and many times people will see spinner dolphins on the way there or back.  I have yet to see them but I've been told they show up right before or after I had just been there.  They are totally taunting me.  

There's a very cute little seal that likes to hang out at the dock on Eastern to say hello, which is nice because otherwise you can't really see seals close up since they are endangered and we can't get closer than 150ft.  The seals don't know about the 150ft rule and even if they did they are total anarchists and don't ever follow the rules.

 

The Hawaiian name for monk seals translates to "dog that runs in rough waters".  They are considered a "living fossil"because fossil records show they've been around for 15 million years and they may be the ancestors to all other seals.  I very much want to hug them. 

 Here's the pictures of boobies that you've been eagerly waiting to see.

Red footed booby doing a little dance.

 A frigate bird and booby had a staring contest. 

The frigate won.