Pearl and Hermes day 1

Early this morning we arrived at Pearl and Hermes atoll. This atoll was named after two shipwrecks called the Pearl and the Hermes. Both of these whaling vessels were traveling together and crashed in the 1850's during a big storm. The wreck that we went and looked at today is called the Quartet. The Quartet is a more contemporary shipwreck. The Quartet was a liberty vessel, heading towards Korea, that carried corn and other grains. It crashed onto the reef in the 1950's during the Korean War. The Quartet is a beautiful wreck. It was 462 feet long (which is twice the length of the ship that I am on now). Half of the ship made it over the reef crest into the lagoon while the other half stayed on the fore reef. We only dove around the stern end so that our boat would not turn into a shipwreck on this reef as well. There was a huge propeller, a massive steam engine, and lots and lots of other metal parts laying on the reef. There were more fish on this wreck than I have ever seen in my entire life. And some crazy looking ones that I have never seen. Before I looked them up, I couldn't even tell you what family they were in let alone the species name. For example, one of the fish looked like a zebra with a mow-hawk... I kid you not! One of the other neat things about this dive is that it was in about 30 feet of water, so we were not getting beat-up on the surface by the waves and surge. Needless to say, today was an awesome day. I think the Quartet is the prettiest wreck that I have seen on this trip so far. Tomorrow we are going to do a quick dive on the Pearl and the Hermes and then we are going to go back to the Quartet.

Until tomorrow!
Nyssa