Day 9 • 4 July 2016 • Arno Atoll back to Majuro

With torrential rainfall several times during the night, lying snugly in bed seemed to be the best thing early in the morning. But then at 0615 h Morgan Lewis sounded the call that she had found a sea turtle down at the beach, turned upside down and unable to right itself! Given the swells on the lagoon side from the storms at night, this turtle was left stranded and in its uncomfortable predicament by a receding tide. With the entire team awake and curious about this find, we picked up the turtle, cleaned the sand off to ensure there were no injuries, and realized it was missing the front right flipper! We identified it as an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) based on the characteristic head scale and carapace patterns, and launched it back into the ocean. According to the literature I carry with me on my computer, this may be the first record of this sea turtle species for the Marshall Islands!

After our early-morning turtle task, we began cleaning and packing up. There was a little bit of confusion regarding our transportation back to Majuro, and first there was going to be a boat at 11 am, then at 2 pm, and then we were told there would not be another boat. Well, this called for some serious “fact-finding” on my part, and we eventually had a ride at 3 pm. This time, it was smooth sailing on a beautiful day, with the ocean presenting itself at its Pacific best (the term “pacific” does mean “calm,” after all). After our arrival in Majuro, it was time to shower and celebrate a little bit of the Fourth of July Holiday, with Schawna Mitchell’s various patriotic masks and glowsticks!

 

During her early morning walk, Morgan came across this poor creature, shown here as she found it. She realized this animal was in trouble and brought it to the edge of the property so that we could clean it and check it for injuries. It did present with a significant disability, a missing right front flipper. Photo courtesy of Morgan Lewis. 

 

Once we had cleaned the sand off the turtle and determined that its injury was old and well healed, we identified it as an Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), a small species of sea turtle. This one was probably a small adult of about 55 cm carapace length. Photo courtesy of  Mitzia Zambada.

The only thing left to do with a stranded sea turtle is to send it on its way before any predators (especially humans and their friends) get to it. As the discoverer, we asked Morgan to do the honors. Video courtesy of Alex Mitchell.

One of the things team members noticed about life on Arno was that livestock roams around freely, essentially at will. This included a healthy population of pigs. These tended to give us dirty looks when encountered, and this one seems to do its best Robert de Niro impression: "You talkin' to me?" Photo and cinematic concept by Alex Mitchell.

One of the perks of these kinds of trips is that the instructor can get to know an excellent group of people. This is a very fine group photo of what most will readily admit is a fine-looking group (with a thing for purple). In this photo we also included our hovering friend, Marlin the Drone. Front from left: Mitzia Zambada, Dakota Brooks, Marlin, Jose Huerta, Amanda Callahan. Rear from left: Morgan Lewis, Ruby Resendez, Hinrich Kaiser, Alex Mitchell, Kaitlin Rickerl, Mindy Hull, Schawna Mitchell. Photo courtesy of Jose Huerta.

Even though this image is out of sync chronologically, I felt it was a fitting end image to our Arno days. A beautiful place with rustic charm, but certainly not one where life is easy—the Pacific islands in a nutshell. Photo courtesy of Mitzia Zambada.

The boat ride back to Majuro was very different, with sunny skies, blue ocean, and a smooth deck. From left: Kaitlin Rickerl, Mindy Hull, Mitzia Zambada. Photo courtesy of Morgan Lewis.