On to Palmyra Atoll, Part 1

Oceania » Kiribati
December 14th 2011

Published: April 10th 2012

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North beach-Cooper Isl

North Beach, our 'home' island on a typical day

After a nearly 400 mile sea journey, we arrived at Palmyra Atoll, roughly 1100 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands. Palmyra is a US territory, a US Wildlife Refuge and national monument. Partly owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy, its an amazing low lying volcanic Atoll, home to hundreds of thousands of pelagic birds, and covered by dense jungle and Coconut palms. Palmyra is really a group of smaller islands, and was nearly cleared of trees during WW2 to facilitate use as a military base, a project that dramaticaly altered the atolls ecology and landscape. 70 years later, nature is coming back in force, but many old war relics such as gun turrets, bunkers and ammo magazines can be found all over the atoll, mostly covered in thick jungle growth, giving the island a weird 'Lost' sort of look, such as a manhole deep in the jungle, or remnants of underground passages. My 3 months here are part work part travel, seeing a part of the Pacific tourists and backpackers cannot visit. To go here you need to work here,

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Antarctica: Year on

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Just over ten years ago, I walked away from my career as a space shuttle systems and launch pad technician, a job I actually loved, and many would say, crazy to leave. Shortly after, I flew 9000 miles by way of New Zealand, to the the 7th and most remote, unexplored continent-Antarctica. This for a much lower level job that would last less than 6 months. From a career progression point of view it was like driving down a steep mountain in my old 88 GMC pickup truck-the brakes would very likely fail! I was 40- not a particularly good point in life to just 'bail' on the job and the 401K- but ... full info

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