ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Since beginning our voyage on August 28th on the Clipper Odyssey in Hilo, Hawaii, we have not seen any other vessels save for the few anchored off of inhabited Tabuaeran and Christmas Islands.

This morning we arrived at Starbuck Island, first sighted in 1823 by Valentine Starbuck, an American-born master on the whaling ship L’Aigle. It is thought that it might have been sighted earlier by Valentine’s cousin and fellow-whaler, Captain Obed Starbuck, but at least the claim lies within the family. Like its neighbor, Malden Island, Starbuck rises from its reef-fringed coast to a steep beach crest. The interior contains several dark-colored saline lagoons and save for the few small coconut palm groves, it is sparsely vegetated with atoll shrubs, herbs, and low grasses. The island is an important breeding site for seabirds, including an important colony of sooty terns (Sterna fuscata), with several million birds, much as we witnessed on Malden. It is protected as a strict wildlife sanctuary although we did find the skull of a cat (Felis felis) upon our visit – not especially good news for a bird sanctuary. Many of these far-flung islands also have the introduced Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans).

Apparently there are the remains of many old wooden sailing ships on the northern shore of the island, flung bodily over the beach rampart by violent storms in the past. We didn’t see any ship wreckage but Starbuck Island is a beachcomber’s treasure trove. Our morning activities consisted of diving and snorkeling. While we were busy with our underwater activities, John Yersin, our Expedition Leader, tenaciously looked for and eventually discovered a small entry into the reef just big enough for a Zodiac to enter. As we disembarked the Zodiacs, we walked the 100-yards through thigh-high shallows towards the glistening white coral beach. Several fish including small black-tipped reef sharks and “virgin” bonefish scattered at our approach.

The flotsam lining the high tide line was quite a surprise especially considering that Starbuck is quite distant from any inhabited island. Among the debris were thousands of unpaired rubber thongs, faded plastic lighters, unbroken fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs, bottle caps, curiously-shaped bottles now emptied, fishing nets and line, plastic bottles and tubes, rusting cans, plastic sheeting, oil drum lids, unidentifiable plastic items, and more – much more. Several Japanese glass fishing floats were found with one exceptionally large one, weighing about 40-pounds, too large for the “finders” to bring back to the landing site. However, the find of the day, something I have never found in my many days of beachcombing, was a bottle with a message in it!

The finder of the bottle brought it back to the ship and carefully, very carefully, undid the screw cap of the bottle. Inside were a cork and a one-page typed message on a fragile piece of paper. Since it was typewritten in Spanish, Edmundo Edwards, our archaeologist from Easter Island, translated it for us. There was no date, no name or address – nothing with which to identify the author. The good news was that he or she wasn’t marooned on a deserted island nor did they seem to be in great distress. You know when you watch a foreign film and the actor talks at length but the caption only reads “I need a cup of coffee?” This was just the same except that the full page came down to one brief message and that was – “We need world peace.” Who could argue with that message?

We departed Starbuck Island not without having considered cleaning up the beach. However, such a task seemed daunting for although we might fill up the entire garbage storage area of the Clipper Odyssey we would not make a dent in the amount of trash on an island that was otherwise pristine. An empty tanker ship, several volunteers, and several weeks with which to complete the job are what’s needed for the job. Perhaps Starbucks Coffee might consider sponsoring the expedition and you might consider joining.

Next stop…and our last in the Line Island group…Flint Island. Daniel Defoe, the 17th-18th century author, could have just as easily modeled his Robinson Crusoe Island on Flint rather than Juan Fernández Islands which gets all the credit.

Be sure to come back and visit us on this site to find what we discovered…

“Fair Winds”
Shirley Metz