Cocos Island

Just off the southern tip of Guam lies a tiny island called Cocos Island.  It's about 1.5km long and 200-300m wide (that's roughly a mile by 600-1000 feet).  Cocos isn't extraordinary on its own, but it has... BIRDS!

Black noddy.

Lots of black noddies.

White tern.

Kinda pretty.  I dunno, I'm not really a birder.

There are almost no birds on Guam because all the babies get eaten by the invasive brown tree snake.  But the snakes haven't made their way to Cocos yet--mainly because people take the brown tree snake problem very seriously--so there are lots of birds.  Perhaps too many birds, actually.  The main beach smells like poop and old fish.

View of Cocos from the ferry on the way over.

A baby bird that fell out of his nest.  We moved him underneath a tree full of birds, but he's probably gonna die anyway.  Sorry, baby bird.  :(

Cocos is mostly a tourist trap catering to Japanese families, but it's run-down and expensive.  I've seen the "Cocos Island Resort" advertised in Tumon (where all the tourists stay) and it's supposed to have a pool, volleyball court, cafe, restaurant/bar, ice cream shop, and watersports equipment rentals.  The word "resort" is a bit of a misnomer, seeing as you can't actually stay there overnight.  The pool and volleyball court are present but not exactly functional.  I didn't see a cafe or ice cream shop, but I did get a free buffet meal with my ferry ticket/entry fee ($25 for locals/$40 for tourists) and that was decent.

To give you an idea of the condition of the facilities, here's the pool... notice that it's half-full, littered with algae and dead toads, and that there are no lounge chairs around it.  Hmm.

Hmm, pretty sure this isn't open for use.

A toad desperately clings to the bloated corpse of another toad.  Very Titanic, don't you think?

The island "resort" advertises jet-skiing, parasailing, etc. for exorbitant prices, but we didn't do any of that.  We went to see birds and lizards, because we're biologists and we like that sort of thing.

Pretty!

Selfie with Guam!

Cocos Island is also home to a few Guam Rails, which I've talked about before.  These birds used to be common on Guam, but the brown tree snakes ate them all.  Now they're extinct on Guam except for a few kept in a captivity.  They've been reintroduced on Rota (a nearby island) and a few have been placed on Cocos.  We looked for them but sadly didn't see any.

We did, however, find some pretty cool lizards!  I spotted a good-sized monitor climbing up a tree, and I (carefully) got my hands on a few little skinks!

IT LOOKS LIKE A TINY VELOCIRAPTOR!

These guys have pretty neat little feet!  Their feet can suck onto stuff like tiny remora-shoes.  Cute!

Cute feet!

They were pretty chill lizards, easy to catch and quickly resigning themselves to their fate.

Not even trying to escape.

Just chillin'.

Eventually this little guy decided it was time to leave, and crawled up my arm before literally flinging himself away from me.  What a cutie!

Anybody who's ever caught a lizard probably knows that little skinks are kind of delicate.  Manhandle them too much and their tails will fall off.  I was very careful not to hurt them because they are awfully cute, and also because writing detached tails are gross.

But that isn't the only lizard on Cocos!  Look at all the other cool ones!

A wee tiny anole!

Anole and skink!

Pretty cute, aren't they?

Blue-tailed skink!

Hmm, not super sure what this is.  I think it's an anole?

I think this is the same as the last one?  I don't know, I'm a MARINE biologist!

There are ongoing efforts to prevent brown tree snakes from invading Cocos, which is why snake traps are abundant on the little island.  Unfortunately this poor mangrove monitor got stuck!

This is a mangrove monitor, locally known as a "hilitai" in Chamorro.

Sorry, buddy.

He's not getting out of there any time soon.  :(

The Cocos forest is pretty and flat.  I like flat places when I'm wearing flip-flops (aka "zories" on Guam).

Jungle path.

Jungle flower.

Other jungle flower.

Southernmost tip of Cocos Island.  This was not so fun in zories (flip flops).

We stumbled across a few WWII relics.  They appear to be engines but I don't know what they're from.

Near these old rusty relics you'll find an unused pier.  It seems to be in decent condition, but I'm not exactly an expert in maritime structural integrity.  

Pretty!

This poor hermit crab is using trash as his shell.  This is why it's so important to pick up your trash and not litter!

Poor mister hermit crab.  :(

I found this in the forest... empty.  Notice that hole in the side?  Something escaped... very Jurassic Park-esque, don't you agree?

I personally nominate Guam as the home of any future real-life Jurassic Park attempts.

We tried snorkeling here, but there was a strong current and not much happening in the water here--bummer.  I ended up getting bored and wandering into the forest without a timepiece, and we accidentally missed our ferry, which was 100% my fault.  We ended up catching the last one home.  It was just us and the staff on the ferry.  Whoops!

This pier is actually quite a bit nicer than the unused one.  Guess that's why they use this one instead?

I enjoyed Cocos and all its lizards and birds, but I don't think I could recommend it for tourists!  It's just not very nice or well-kept.  Sorry, Cocos.

Work has kept me busy lately, but don't worry, my job is awesome.  I get to go diving, can't complain about that!  I can, however, complain about the number of very heavy scuba tanks we have to bring on the boats...

Come back next week to hear about hashing, dolphins, and underwater earthquakes!!!

Cheers,
Ashton

Six months on Guam!

Can you believe it's been six months since I landed on Guam?  I certainly can't.  Fortunately life has kept me pretty busy lately!


Reef Rangers

Guam's National Park Service runs a summer program called Reef Rangers, which I volunteered with last month.  The Reef Rangers Conservation Corps teaches high schoolers about the reefs and how to protect them, and these teenagers then lead a younger group of kids on snorkels and hikes to learn about the environment.  It's a great leadership experience for the high schoolers and I was lucky that I was able to volunteer with them!

All I did was snorkel and tide pool with them, but it was a fun day!

Cool sea cucumber!

It's a baby puffer!

Fireworms from the bottom of rocks!

Itty bitty baby fishies!

And two tiny eels!  So cute!

Concerts

Back in late June I went to the Electric Island Festival, which was basically a large (by Guam standards, maybe 400 people?) drunken party in a parking lot.  I haven't been to any electronic music festivals before but it seemed pretty legit.  The DJ's were great, the crowd was super nice and friendly, and most of the port-a-pots were clean and had toilet paper.  What more could you ask for at a concert?

I also went to a free Taking Back Sunday concert on the Naval Base!  I'm pretty sure I saw them as part of a festival around 2007 and I'm pretty sure they played all the same songs.  At one point they let a guy from the audience come up on stage and sing with them, and--I hate to say this--he blew the band's singer out of the water.  Seriously, this random dude was amazing.

Me, my roomie, and my neighbor!

It was a pretty small show!

This was basically the entire crowd.  But it was a good show!

Marine labbers!  I'm apparently the only one who didn't get the "cool sunglasses" memo.

I might be cursed?

I've had a string of bad luck lately, work-wise.  It started on a Monday, when I went work-diving with my roommate to help with her thesis project.  She is starting a coral nursery and is testing different methods of growing baby corals.  My job was to carry the netting on which all the coral babies would be growing.  We got out to the site, cleaned everything off, and then went to install the netting... but it was gone.  Absolutely disappeared, no idea where it went.  Obviously it got loose and floated away because I didn't secure it properly.  It was 100% my fault and I felt really bad, but we had a solution: we could go to Home Depot (yes, there's a HD here and it's a godsend) and get some more.

Once back on dry land, we quickly got out of our scuba gear, packed it up in the lab truck, and hopped in the truck to race to Home Depot... but the truck wouldn't start.  It sounded like it was turning over fine so I suspected a security system issue, since my old Jeep used to have problems like this.  An hour later, one of the lab techs showed up and tried another key--sure enough, the truck started.  The car wouldn't start because the transponder key wasn't working.

For those who aren't aware--which seems to be most people, surprisingly--most car keys made since 1995-ish come with built-in magnetic transponders that deactivate the car's security.  The car is basically immobilized until the transponder is within range.  This is why car keys cost so much to replace, and why some newer cars don't need keys at all.  As it turns out, everyone in the lab has been taking the keys diving with them, which is why they don't work.  You really aren't supposed to get those wet!

The second bout of bad luck occurred just two days later.  Six researchers, including myself, packed up our dive gear and hopped onto a zodiac for a single dive.  For those who don't know what a zodiac is, it's one of those small inflatable boats.  Ours was a six-seater, but with all our dive gear it was very cramped.

Ours was grey, not this lovely shade of orange.  I just found this photo on the internet.

Our dive site was about 150m (500ft) offshore a cemetery Agat, a central-southern village on Guam.  We finished the dive and climbed back on to the boat... but the motor wouldn't start.  The battery had died!  The current and wind began to blow us away into open water, but fortunately we had two paddles.  And using those two paddles, the six of us took turns furiously paddling against the wind and current.  It took us about forty long, hard, sweaty minutes to reach an area we could stand in.

At least the view from the boat was nice!

Because the motor was dead and somehow locked (I don't know much about boats) we couldn't swing the motor out of the water.  This made it dangerous to bring it into shallow water because it could hit coral heads or rocks.  So our captain, a lovely lady, waded back to shore to get us a battery a colleague had brought for us.  She then put that battery over her head--those are pretty heavy, mind you--and waded back out to the boat.  And you know what?  That battery was dead too!

She hauled that battery back to shore, took the battery out of her colleague's truck, and made the long hard trek back to the zodiac.  That battery had enough juice to raise the motor, but not start it.  She brought the truck battery back to shore, put it back in the truck, and finally the driver came back with a brand-spanking-new boat battery.  After a three-hour ordeal, we finally got the motor running and could take the boat back to the marina.  I did not pack nearly enough sunblock for that trip and looked a bit lobstery for the next few days.

If you're wondering why we didn't just call the Coast Guard to come rescue us, we actually had a good reason: the Coast Guard won't tow your boat.  They'll pick you up, but they make you leave your boat and gear behind!  That's an awful idea because your boat could be stolen, burgled, or just get loose and float away into the open ocean, never to be seen again.  A few years ago a National Park Service boat got stranded, and the poor NPS folks had to watch from the Coast Guard vessel as their little boat drifted into a reef, broke apart, and then all their gear floated to shore and was snatched up by local fishermen before they could do anything about it.  So sad!

And finally, a few days after that stranding incident, I lost a $700 camera while diving.  It was a work camera, not a personal one--thank goodness--so it will be replaced, but I still felt awful.  One minute it was there, secured to my BCD with a carabiner, and the next minute it was gone!  My roommate and I went back and combed over a mile of beach looking for it, but I suspect it washed up and someone took it home.  This happened at the same site where I lost the netting.  Nobody lets me touch important stuff at that site anymore!  :(



Other Updates

My car is STILL in the shop!  Everything on Guam is a little bit slower but car service seems to be extreeeemely slow.  My car hasn't been running for two months!  Thank goodness I have friends I can borrow cars from.  Despite my car troubles, I'm still a very lucky lady!

We survived another typhoon over the 4th of July weekend, which put a bit of a damper on our plans to barbecue on the beach.  But it was really just a few days of rainy weather, nothing bad.

A friend from high school and former neighbor showed up here unexpectedly (as sometimes happens with Navy folks on submarines) and I got to show him around the island!  We drove around the entire island and stopped a few times for touristy stuff, which took all of about four hours.  Guam is really small!

One last exciting thing: I got an ice cream maker!  I found it at the only Salvation Army on Guam for $10 and it was easily the best item there.  I've already got three mixes sitting in my fridge.  I can't fit the freezer bowl in my own freezer so I'm keeping it at the marine lab.  Looks like I'll be getting my ice cream fix in at work from now on!



Diving

I went on a boat dive a few weeks ago, but I haven't finished going through the underwater photos.  I've been busy!  Fortunately I've finished with the above-water photos.

Dive Team!

Upper Tumon is prettier from sea!

That's Tanguisson beach and the power plant in the center.

That's Two Lovers' Point on the right.

Waaaay up there, that's Two Lovers' Point.

We saw dolphins at Gun Beach!!!

I also got some nice pictures a few weeks ago down in Merizo, the southernmost village of Guam.  We had to be there at 7am to beat the low tide for some research work.  Fortunately we got a nice view of the sun coming up over the island, and a quick squall brought us a nice double rainbow!

Too early!

Sun just coming up on the southern tip of the island!

Seriously, doesn't this remind you of Jurassic Park?

Guam is so pretty!

I couldn't capture it on camera, but there were TWO rainbows at one point!  In this picture there's just one.

The sun is finally up!

The sun is SO BRIGHT here.  Seriously, it's why I spend so much money on sunblock.

And here's a a neat flower I found on a run recently.  (Confession: I don't normally paint my nails.  I'm too lazy and the saltwater makes it peel off.)

Ok, last one: this is a mangrove monitor I spotted crossing the road a few days ago.  Isn't it cute?  (Yes, I stopped the car to take this picture.  I promise.)

That's all for now!  I'll try to post photos of my trip to Cocos Island (which isn't far... it's literally a mile off the southern tip of Guam) as soon as I can.  Cheers!

-Ashton