I thought folks might be interested in a quick summary of the trip to Nikumaroro aboard the Fiji Princess organized by Bechart Expeditions.
We set sail from Port Denarau on Friday, June 19th with 58 passengers excited to make the trip to Niku. Rather than going directly to Niku
on the route taken by the Nai'a, we sailed to Rotuma, Funafuti and then over to Niku. This route allowed for the two stops on the way.
While we sailed, Dr. Tom King presented a number of very interesting topics ranging from "Why Niku?" to an explanation of "PISS".
We arrived at Nikumaroro on Wed, June 24th (Fiji time) around 2pm. Ric boarded the ship and shared highlights of the work done by the
Niku VIII effort and the crew of the Fiji Princess made preparations for expeditions to the island. Ric and a number of the Tighar expedition
members joined us on the Fiji Princess for dinner.
On Thursday, June 25th, Art Carty led a small group of us from the landing area to the potential Camp Zero areas. We were joined by Ric and
other Tighar expedition members on the trek across the passage and up the long (& very hot beach) past the Norwich City, the landing zone,
and to the Camp Zero areas. Since the Tighar expedition team was preparing to leave at the end of the day, we headed back after a bit of
looking at the site. Another group was led by Dr. King to explore the colonial village area and begin plans for the rest of our visit. We also had a
group of divers that explored a number of areas, as well as a glass bottom boat that was used for a view onto the shallow reef area.
On Friday, June 26th, after the departure of the Nai'a several Tighar members on board led groups to areas for exploration. Dr. Tom King worked with
the group to set up a search grid in the colonial village area just beyond the landing area, and another team focused on investigating the shoreline of
the village. Rachel King found a hair piece that appears to have been constructed of aircraft aluminum in the village search area. I was part of the team
exploring back from the beach, and discovered 4 graves that had not been logged previously. Dawn Johnson used the newly discovered graves as a
source for her project using the soil for canine investigation. These graves were established by those in the colonial village, but had not been previously
identified.
During Sat and Sun, the treks and searches were expanded. Dr. Tom Roberts led four teams to the Seven Site for the opportunity to see the Ren tree, Skull hole,
Buka forest area, water container and other areas searched extensively by Tighar in previous expeditions. Several teams searched both sides of the Buraki
Passage for the orally reported door in that area....but no door was found. Another team made the trek back to the Camp Zero area for more searching. A very
large area in the colonial village site was cleared and searched....producing a number of artifacts, including another hair item made from aluminum and additional
bottles in the store area. The divers made dives at the Candy Jar site at the north of the island, at the Norwich City, and at the blocks on the beach.
Over the four days, we experienced a variety of weather ranging from the very hot on our first day, to heavy rains, to a nice overcast day.
We sailed from Niku Sunday afternoon, June 28th head back to Fiji. The seas were a bit rough, but the style of the Fiji Princess handled it very well. We planned to
stop at Funtuna, but had to settle for a short 1-hour cruise through the harbor due to high seas at the wharf. We continued on back to Port Denarau arriving on Thursday,
July 2nd around 5pm. Many of us headed directly to the airport to catch the 9:40pm flight to LAX. Imagine our surprise when we ran into Ric and 8 of the Tighar expedition
team at the airport and on our same flight back to the US.
Here is a video that crams 4 1/2 days at Niku into 50mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h8DXqmzEPYMark
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Topic: Quick Summary of Fiji Princess trip to Nikumaroro (Read 79145 times)
