I did a fantastic trip out to a remote island for the solar Eclipse. It took two days to get there, which was a big improvement on the time I did it before, in Altair, which was 5 days. The trip was pretty easy, not huge seas or anything. Upon arrival, I found some cool things. There was an unexploded ordinance, which is a bullet, probably fired by the navy as a test and it didn't blow up when it hit the sides of the volcano.
There were a bunch of Masked Boobies, and they are very nice looking
And a new species of frigate bird to me. This one has a reddish head and is a bit smaller than the magnificent frigates, I believe it is the Greater frigate
I found a baby Laysan Albatross
And nice god beams
The ash of the cone is beautiful, but the wind scattered some across the boat.
The eclipse was awesome. There were some clouds, and I had to drive around in the skiff to get a great cloud free spot, but it was really cool. Like nightfall, with a big storm.
I got a closer view of the eclipse and this shows some solar prominences, so I am happy about that.
Another view of the ash cone
There was a bunch of sharks there, and also lots of giant manta rays. I found this one on the beach.
On the way back I took the skiff out for a joyride while the boat sailed herself along.
