Towboarding at Jarvis the past few days has been incredible. This is my first time to this island which is legend in our program and it has not disappointed. The water has been a little nippy, but the fish life has been incredible. We are towing through clouds of tiny brilliant orange and purple anthias so thick it is hard to see the other fish behind them. We have seen manta rays, schools of over a thousand jacks, hundreds of barracuda and seventy-three green turtles on a single survey. It is enough to boggle the mind and put a cramp in my hand.
Now I know many of you may breathe a little quicker for this part, but it is the number of sharks at Jarvis that sets it apart from the rest and what many of us were looking forward to seeing. This is very much an intact ecosystem where the apex predators have yet to be fished into oblivion. Not looking too much like fish (or surfers for that matter) the sharks have paid us little attention aside from an initial curiosity before moving on down the reef. We have seen hundreds of grey reef (who follow us around like little puppies), white-tip and black-tip reef sharks and scalloped hammerheads in magnificent formation. Rest assured we are well aware of their behavior patterns and are ready to quickly get out of the water if any start acting unusual. They really are beautiful animals.
We have one more day here before moving on to Palmyra and none of us are ready to leave.
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