This is the closest we got to a group picture during our 10 day expedition. Ken is missing because he was fishing on the boat. In this photo, from left to right, are Glen, Tom, Jenny, Bryan (kneeling), Chris, Laurie (kneeling), Dennis, Patrick, Gary, and me.Glen and Bryan are both public high school teachers. Bryan teachers at Marianas High School and Glen teaches at Saipan Southern High School. Bryan was a huge part of the Friends of the Monument last year and spent countless hours collecting signatures at public events. He may have penned a letter or three, as well.
Jenny was our doctor and Tom is her husband.
Chris and Patrick were our reporters. Patrick is writing a story for Outside Magazine and Chris is writing for Science Magazine. I think Patrick's story is going to be more about the adventure travel opportunities here, while Chris is writing about ocean acidification and how the Maug lagoon may serve as a natural laboratory for understanding the future effects of global climate change.
If you read this blog regularly you should know Laurie and Ken. Laurie worked with me last year as Pew staff. Ken is the guy who quit his job so he could collect signatures and write letters to support the monument. They are also current and former Beautify CNMI chairs, respectively.
Dennis was our essay winner. Gary was our tour guide, or First Mate, as Captain Carl prefers.
In this photo we are standing in front of the church on Pagan.
Our crew was made up of Dalton, Jun, Captain Carl, and Manny. In this photo they are standing in front of the eastern islet of Maug.
Then just to prove that Ken was on this expedition, here we are standing on the bow as we left Maug for Uracas.