Lots of LOVE-Lauren
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Johnston Island-Jan.31, 2010
The CO was nice enough to arrange for one of our small boats to take us to Johnston Island, which we had been working near for about a week. It was wonderful to get on land, even if just for an hour. The island was used by the US military until about 6 years ago. All of the buildings but one were demolished. The one that remains is a creepy tall structure sealed off with spraypainted messages from the last people to be there-including people who survived a Hurricane in 2006 by riding it out in there. We climbed to the roof for an amazing 360 view of the island. The island is now a wildlife refuge filled with amazing birds. Other than that, it has a weird feel of a town that no longer is-roads and sidewalks overgrown and buckled from plants taking over, an old runway strip, and the lone creepy building. I hope you enjoy the photos. Also, if you are on facebook we have a page for the ship with lots of shiplife photos: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=525291031#/pages/Honolulu-HI/NOAA-Ship-Hiialakai/285876056583
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lauren, that "creepy" building was known as the "J.O.C" and it was sort of like city hall. The building was designed to protect people in the event of a major accident involving release of nerve gas as the island was a storage facility for a huge amount of old obsolete chemical weapons. The building was pressurized to keep all toxic fumes outside. I used to work there on occasion as an MP. We sat in this control room with a civilian policeman. His job was to monitor the radar screen... any planes or boats passed within 50 miles of the atoll would trigger a response... IE the "reserve force" of MP's would gear up and stay on alert until the "threat" passed. My job was to maintain communication with Hawaii. I wish I could visit there again one day to go diving.
ReplyDelete