Locality:
Bikini Atoll--Namu Is.
Personnel:
Date:
Same 14.
Aug.
Weather:
20,
1954--Thurs.
Pt. cloudy--some rain.
Water conditions:
Calm.
We left the Amen-Romuk anchorage at 0804 and arrived at Namu
at 0850.
We are anchored about one-half mile offshore in clear,
light blue water.
structures.
On our way from Amen we passed by many broken
The reefs were covered with iron pilings driven in
like a picket fence.
Yuro Island, where in 1946-7-8 and 9 we
used to have picnics and swim in the beautiful little pool
a barren sand spit.
is now
Not a living plant appears to have grown in
the past six years since the tests.
The area is one of complete
desolation.
On arrival at Namu the entire party,
who collected plankton, went ashore.
except for Gary Lewis
Namu Island looks battered,
with many changes since we last visited it.
Messerschmidia
cover part of the island with open grass-covered areas.
are everywhere.
Nesting terns,
fairy,
noddy,
crested,
Birds
fly
overhead and young birds and eggs are in evidence everywhere.
Fish were collected on the northwest shore of the island in
about the same area as the deep pool where we used to swim and
collect Tridacna clams.
The pool is gone now; a sand flat with
only a few large rocks replaced it.
goat fish,
sharks.
convict surgeon fish,
Fish kill was good,
wrasse,
eels,
mullet,
groupers--and