498 Words on Kirimati and 5 Photos

I was asked about the most interesting place I've ever visited.  Kirimati tops my list because so few people have been there, and because it is so important to how modern science views ocean health.  My trip was only about 3 months ago, so it's still fresh in my memories.  If you asked the question again in a few months or even years, I'll probably say something different.

Some of my other favorite places to visit, in no particular order are:

Bimini Island, The Bahamas.  Home of the Bimini Biological Field Station, and favorite fishing spot of Ernest Hemingway.  Bimini has large megafauna swimming in its waters that can usually only be seen at an aquarium.  The only place I've ever seen a wild living hammerhead shark.

Easter Island.  I've been there twice this year.  What an iconic place.  I've learned a lot about myself by visiting other Pacific Islands, and Rapa Nui -- as it's called locally -- was no different.  Seeing what others consider Pacific culture has helped me learn about our universal values shared across vast distances.

Maug Island in the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument was a highlight of my professional life, and was incredibly important to my cultural identity.  Several generations of Villagomez have worked to protect our nature in the Marianas, and I continue to work towards fulfilling my kuleana.  Standing on the rim of the Maug volcano expanded my understanding of home.

Taga Beach, Tinian.  This tiny pocket beach on the island just south of Saipan has the clearest water I've ever seen, plus I have fond memories of swimming here as a kid.  I remember going there at night and marveling at the size of the ocean.

A few more: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Cartagena, Colombia.  Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.  Nan Madol, Pohnpei.  Rock Islands, Palau.  Bau Island, Fiji.  Assateague Island.  Cooperstown.  Fenway Park.  Tagaytay, Philippines.  New York.  London.  Paris.  Amsterdam.  Tokyo.  Manila.  Miami Beach.  Phi Phi Island, Thailand.  Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam.  The Killing Fields, Cambodia.  Angkor Wat.  Hoi An.  Kauai.  Kwajalein and Ebeye.  Forbidden Island, Saipan.  Grande Riviere, Trinidad.  Saba.  Maho Beach, St. Maarten.  Iquitos, Peru.  Turks & Caicos.

So anyway, this is what I wrote about Kirimati:

I visited Kirimati Island in the Line Islands of Kiribati this past summer. I've been reading about these specks of coral in the middle of the Pacific since college and they have been on my bucket list for years. They are where scientists discovered the most pristine marine ecosystems on the planet, and changed our understanding of what a healthy ocean is supposed to look like.

The island is remote. The airport is only open on Wednesdays, and there are only two flights, one from Fiji, the other from Hawaii. There are no islands between Hawaii and Kirimati -- just a blue expanse for nearly 3000 kilometers -- about the same distance as Los Angeles to Chicago.

The 5,000 people living there are recent arrivals. The British used the island for nuclear tests in the 1950s, and most are transplants from the bustling, overcrowded capital of Tarawa.

I visited the island to attend the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures conference, an annual meeting of lawmakers from across the region. I’ve worked with this group to protect sharks and create marine protected areas for nearly a decade. But most people come to Kirimati for the fishing. While I had to spend a few days in a conference room, I also had the chance to test my skills as a fisherman.

Kirimati boasts of the best bonefishing on the planet. These fish can grow up to a meter long, but most I saw were about half that size. And they were everywhere. They swim in the shallows of the coral atoll’s shallow lagoon, but their mirror-like scales make them near invisible. Local guides have a supernatural ability to see the fish. I only saw them when they tipped their heads into the sand to feed on small crustaceans. As their heads went down, their tails would pop up and stick out of the water. American fishermen spend thousands of dollars to spend a week trying to catch the fish with fly reels, but they don’t eat any of them. All of the bonefish fishing is catch and release. Anyone caught killing one can be fined US$1,000.

While all of the fish caught inside the lagoon get thrown back in, all of the fish caught outside of the lagoon end up on the dinner table. And this is the reason why the island is studied by marine biologists. I found Kirimati to have more fish than any island I’ve visited anywhere in the Pacific or Caribbean – it truly has the best fishing anywhere on the planet – but when compared to islands to the north, where there are no people and no fishing, scientists say that the island’s coral reefs ecosystems are damaged. There are fewer large predators like sharks and groupers, fewer fish overall, and many more smaller fish. A few thousand people over a relatively short time period have had a significant impact on the ecosystem. This tells us that we need to do much more to protect these fragile ecosystems.

I also was asked to share five photos I've taken, and I picked these:

Shark Island in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.  One of my favorite dive sites on the planet.  Lots of baby sharks.

Diving with 83 year old marine biology legend Sylvia Earle in Easter Island and a Chilean television personality.  An epic shot on an epic day.

Caribbean reef sharks in The Bahamas.  The Bahamas have figured prominently in my professional career.  Bimini is one of the best places I've ever visited.

Easter Island selfie.  Does this one really need explanation?

Whitetip reef shark in Fiji.  Bula!  Oh, Fiji.