Kure day 1

Today we arrived in Kure, the most northern coral reef atoll in the world. The day started out a little rough. It was storming in the morning so our launch got delayed a little bit. We started out at a wreck called the "Dunnottar Castle." This is another huge wreck. It was collier carrying coal to California from Australia and crashed up here in the NWHI in 1886. It was trying to make a speed record and clearly did not make it. Unfortunately, because it was so rough in the morning, I could not really see much of the wreck because it was all turned up. We are going back tomorrow though so hopefully I can get a better look. We did two dives on the D. Castle and then went into the lagoon of the atoll and went to another wreck called the "Parker". By this time the storm had died and it actually turned into a gorgeous day. It was raining when we jumped into the water, but when we came out it was like we were in a totally different place! The water was like a lake it was so calm and clear! You could see huge schools of manini (see video above) and lots of other really cool fish. The Parker was another Whaling vessel heading to the Japanese fishing grounds (do you see a trend here???). And they allllmost made it because the Japanese fishing grounds are only a few miles from here. But, they crashed during a big storm and the ship broke up into a million pieces and went everywhere. We are going to a few more wrecks in Kure tomorrow so until then!
Nyssa