Our time in Tuvalu was spent between two atolls – the
capital Funafuti and the next closest atoll, Nukufetau, almost 50 miles to
the northwest. We dashed between them in frequent overnight trips, each
time navigating carefully through the narrow and shallow passes in and out
of the moody waters of their lagoons. Our intentions to explore further
north, to the ‘outer islands’ of Vaitupu, Nui, Niutao and Nanumanga were
stolen from us – for this is the cyclone season and the waters surrounding
Tuvalu give birth each year to many cyclones. Our abilities to both keep
attention on the current weather and to interpret the fax and radio
information for indications of potential drama were tested. We had
watched the cyclone season in the northern hemisphere spiral out of
control, sending typhoon after typhoon westwards through Micronesia and
towards Asia. We wondered if a rampant season in the south was to follow.
It didn’t take us long to find out – within almost
hours of putting our anchor down in Nukufetau for the first time, we were
hit by what the weatherfaxes called a low pressure system but what we
recognized to be something more ominous. Our first cyclonic encounter was
with Kerry. It didn’t last too long, and our anchor held despite the
gusts of winds over 30 knots that night. The next day, we found a
barracuda patrolling beneath us, guarding our chain while the lagoon
waters churned on themselves, this small basin of tranquility carved up by
a sinister sky.
a shallow narrow
pass
from the lagoon basin to the village
South Pacific peace returned shortly afterwards and
we began in earnest our study of the reef of Nukufetau. The
reef is in general in a healthy state although there are signs of
a bleaching event having occurred in the last few years, especially
evident in the number of dead table Acropora colonies both
inside and outside the lagoon.
a partially bleached Acropora
colony inside the lagoon
We surveyed both areas and found that both had
surprisingly low populations of fish, although all the key species
were present. It was certainly a sharp contrast to our recent
experiences in the Phoenix Islands where almost completely dead
corals were practically hidden by teeming schools of fish.
Here in Nukufetau, the corals were in a reasonable state of health,
although by no means unblemished, but large schools of fish were
absent. For the full details of our study, click
here.
divers at work inside the
lagoon
We spent most of January in Nukufetau, making
our introductions to the community, including the chief, Luni, and
his wife, Vai (which means water). We attended events in their
maneapa, the meeting house where most village gatherings
are held. One such event was a feast for all the teenagers
that were to return to school in Funafuti by boat the next day.
Another was a fatele where two groups ‘compete’ against each
other. The singers gathered around a plywood box on which
they banged their hands to keep a rhythm, the dancers behind them
dressed in pandanus skirts and decorated with tiares of fresh
frangipane, jasmine and island leaves. The tempo increased
and increased, the dancers keeping time to the slamming hands of
the drummers, the singers responding to the call of the whistle-blowing
leader. When moved by the movements, someone would cross to
the other side and spray each singer and dancer with perfume – something
we encountered at Namanuito atoll in Micronesia a few years ago.
The maneapa filled with scent and smiles.
the maneapa
celebrations
The weather held for us for the month and we returned
to Funafuti relaxed, with a boisterous pod of spinner dolphins guiding us
out of the Nukufetau pass until we would see them again in a week or so.
‘February is a useless month’ said Simon, the chief’s
son and semi-permanent member of the Heraclitus crew. He proved to
be absolutely right. The weather drew in around us, and the low pressures
gathered momentum as they skimmed across the grids on our weather faxes.
Cyclone after cyclone developed – Lola then Meena. Airport pickups
demanded trips to Funafuti and we made each journey through the passes
between building seas. But cyclone Olaf drove us out to the open sea. We
spent four days drifting under the shifting winds, waiting for the storm
to subside, waiting for the changes in sky and swells to indicate another
window to anchor safely in Nukufetau. During this time, we enjoyed
the company of director and filmer, Johnathan Summerhayes, who joined us
for 10 days from Australia on behalf of James Cameron and Earthship
Productions. Unfortunately for Jonathan, he was on board during
these days of high seas and overcast skies.
Finally, three days of calm arrived, almost suspiciously
calm. We worked hard on the ship, we pursued our interrupted science
study, we joined in celebrations of the tenth birthday of one of the two
maneapas in the village and we prepared for our own celebrations of
Heraclitus’ 30th birthday. But the weather had other
plans for us. In a few hours of high drama, out of nowhere a storm
gathered around us and we experienced the largest tide
of the year – the flood tide.
Journalists had flocked to Funafuti to film the
rising waters in the increasing media attention on Tuvalu’s threatened
future. The continuing rise in sea levels promise to drown Tuvalu in the
years to come, creating a new Atlantis. Nine islands that currently stand
less than five metres above sea level will disappear, the first entire
country to vanish at the whim of our ever-changing global climate.
Cyclone Percy was born that night, the most monstrous of the season so
far. We spent a week at sea, staying out of its way and again, waiting
for the seas to calm.
waiting out the
storm
Upon our return to Nukufetau, we finally celebrated
the ship’s birthday, rejoicing to be back in the lagoon with calm waters
and starry skies surrounding. We made toasts and we danced while
Polynesian tunes lit up the lagoon.
Suddenly, we became very involved in the way of life
on the land. The Heraclitus crew and the islanders of Nukufetau
became almost interchangeable in our last few weeks together. Serious
plans began for our ‘picnic’ – a three day event in which between 20 and
30 people hopped onboard, motored with us across the lagoon, set up camp
on one of the motus – a beautiful tree-clad island with turquoise
shallows on the lagoon side and a mini-lagoon on the outer side between
beach and barrier reef.
our picnic motu
We collected coconuts together, harvested laolo,
a wild bush fern whose young sweet leaf-tips are cooked with freshly
squeezed coconut cream to make delicious nourishing greens. We made
umus (ovens in the sand) to bake crabs and fish, ate from freshly
woven coconut palm baskets, used young pandanus shoots for spoons. Drank
pounded utanu (the heart that forms inside the old coconut) mixed
with red toddy (fresh toddy boiled to make a honey consistency) and
coconut cream – a tonic. We sang songs together, learning their language
and harmonies as we made a fatele on board the Heraclitus.
We learned gestures of their dance. We slept together, all packed on our
deck lying on pandanus mats under the stars. We ate freshly caught
mullet, chewing off the bones, while standing in the lagoon, taking bites
of coconut between mouthfuls of raw fish, tasting land and sea together.
We lived, two tribes, as one. We learnt from each other.
living island style for three days
both on the ship and the land
This was strictly a family affair – the chief’s
family attending the picnic and the camping ground belonging to this
clan. The chief paid us a brief visit but he was very busy with meetings
in the village. When we brought the ship back to the village, we joined
in the custom where a returning picnic party brings food from the motu
back to the family that remained behind – another feast at the chief’s
house. Everything is an exchange.
We attended the baptism of a one year old child, the
grandson of one of our picnicers, Natano. We were invited to his birthday
party – a houseful of small children with their adoring mothers, dyed
pandanus streamers decorating the scene, a commemorative pandanus mat laid
out for the little king to lie on, a pastor to bless him, the village
secretary to run proceedings, and of course, another feast. That evening,
there was more dancing in the maneapa – the island ‘youth’
performing their more modern interpretations of dance.
We presented our results from the reef study
to the elders of the community, showing them underwater video footage
of their reefs. Michel talked of the potential implications
of plans currently under discussion. The chief is in the process
of deciding whether to accept a large grant of money from China
to reconstruct an airport in Nukufetau and relocate Tuvalu’s government
to Nukufetau. It spells disaster for this island that is currently
in such a state of harmony, that seems to have got the balance just
right. Everything that they treasure so dearly, their lifestyle,
their riches in nature, in food, in relationships, in community,
would crumble.
We worked with the women and the elders as they
cleared trees around the village – adopting the uniform of white t-shirt
and green sulu (sarong) to help drag severed branches to the trash
heap. Lunchtime break was no small deal – a table laden with food in the
maneapa, the women sang to the elders while they ate, then feasted
themselves. There was perfume spraying, prayers sung before eating,
laughter, speeches – all the accompaniments to any island event.
Kitty and Starrlight helping clear
trees
On our last night together, we hosted a farewell
party on board for our friends. Fifty of us altogether for the last time
– a feast, a fatele, a celebration of our friendships created and a
glimpse into our futures.
dance, dance, dance, that's what's
magic.....
Nobody wanted to go home so for the last time, we all
lay down together for a few hours of rest before dawn transportation back
to the village began. There were many tears shed, many Polynesian hugs
delivered and many gifts exchanged.
We exited the lagoon for the last time, made the trip
through the pass looking over our shoulders, full of fia fia – the
gift given to us by Nukufetau. It cannot be translated in a word but
‘pure joy’ touches a part of it.
We entered just inside of the pass and met a very beautiful jellyfish on our way out. There were several turtles here, a large school of fusiliers, and a healthy fish population in general.
There were clearly distinct zones within the reef - in one area the corals were in a poor state of health, many of them overgrown by various forms of macroalgae and
intertwined with dense clumps of Halimeda. The reef slopes down very gently to about 20 metres and then levels off to a sand substrate. Another area of the slope was smothered in very dense
Acropora colonies - mostly table formations but also some staghorn colonies.
The bottom on the inside of the pass consists of sand gently
sloping to 20
meters then it levels off for a width of about 50 meters before
dropping off. This pass is rich with fish; while diving, we saw
a big school of black snappers, many large groupers and other
reef fish plus four Hawksbill turtles were spotted on the second
dive. The coral was in mediocre health. Table Acropora
colonies were the most prominent coral. There were some large
patches of macro algae plus some green sponge.
We anchored in several locations within half a mile of the GPS
point above.
Below our first anchorage there were scattered coral bommies at
25 to 30 meters with some small reef fish gathered around. The
bommies were primarily made up of Acropora
and Porites.
Our second and third anchorages were further from land.
The bottom composition of these anchorages was solely sand with some sea grass scattered here and there.
The water was virtually void of fish life during our dives.
This area of the lagoon consisted of a sandy bottom with closely
scattered coral patches. The patches displayed a high diversity
of coral and appeared very healthy. There was some macroalgae
present. Among the corals present there were table Acropora,
staghorn Acropora, Pavona, Porites, Astreopora,
Lobophyllia, Gardinoseris, and Montipora.
Macroalgae was prevalent among the coral patches as well as a
variety of sponges. Some filamentous algae was present. There
were many small reef fish as well as some giant clams and moray
eels.
We dove the anchor chain a couple of times to check how well the anchor was holding.
There was very little fish life apart from two very large great barracudas, about 1.5 meters in length.
One of these barracudas followed the divers upon descent and ascent.
Dive sites B & C were both at shallow depths along the lagoon side of the reef. Bottom composition
was sand with scattered rubble, shells and coral patches. Visibility varied depending on the current and weather conditions, ranging from "perfect" visibility to very turbid.
Staghorn Acropora dominated the ocean floor. Every turn a diver took, they would encounter very large
Acropora colonies, often growing to over 3 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters in height.
The bases of the colonies were often dead and covered in a film of sediment and filamentous algae.
A full reef study was conducted both inside and outside the lagoon
of Nukufetau - click here for full report. At these sites, as
well as with the other dive sites in the lagoon, many of the corals
were infested with burrowing invertebrates, mostly bioeroding
mussels.
Dives were often conducted at these sites when the weather was rough, because they are protected from the outside swells.
We met 5 turtles gliding through the water around us on this dive.
As the turtle action died down, a very large school of over three hundred rainbow runners came into sight.
Although the waters were not teeming with fish, we did see other schools of rainbow runners, a school of parrot fish, a couple of lone barracudas,
two grey reef sharks and many small reef fish.
The coral here was healthier than any of our other dive sites outside of the lagoon.
There was very little macroalgae present and aproximately 5% coralline algae. However, some of the coral species were beginning to bleach,
most notably the table Acropora colonies. Montipora, Porites, Pocillopora, Favites and Montastrea were
the most prevalent coral species at this site.
This season's storm damage was evident on the reef, resulting
in many broken plate colonies in the reef flat, approximately
10 metres deep. We could see the fresh edges on the broken coral.
This part of the atoll takes the full brunt of the heavy westerly winds that are associated with cyclone action in the area.
Dive Sites E, F and G were characterized by a high diversity of coral, as well as a high percentage of macroalgae, including much Halimeda and coralline algae.
The substrate was made up of coral, rock and some rubble. Despite a relatively healthy reef, there were comparatively few fish.
We saw a few sharks, great barracuda, red and black snappers but most of the fish at these sites were small reef fish - wrasses, surgeonfish, damselfish, butterflyfish etc.
The high surge present on the outside of the lagoon made data collection more difficult that normal.
All of the table Acropora colonies that we observed at dive site F were dead. This could indicate that there was a recent bleaching event. At other
areas of the reef in Nukufetau, we observed many Acropora colonies that were currently afflicted by bleaching.
Upon nearing the pass, the number of live table Acropora colonies
increased dramatically until the entire reef appeared to consists of live table Acroporas.
Our first dives to this pass presented very little fish life. We found one conch.
However upon returning to the pass in February we saw an array of marine life on the dropoff outside of the pass.
Manta rays came within feet of us, and grey, black tip and white tip reef sharks circled about.
Eagle rays and a school of barracuda also made their presence known.
The center of the pass is characterized by ridges of hard coral
separated by sandy troughs. Closer to the outer mouth, there is
a more barren rock zone spotted with green sponges, and closer
to the lagoon side at about 11 meters depth the bottom is covered
in table Acropora colonies, about 70 to 80% alive. The
sides of the pass comprise fields of coral, healthy and abundant.
The dropoff is studded with an array of different corals.
Although we did not see dolphins during any of our dives, they often visited our small boat on the way to and from dives outside of the lagoon.
They also accompanied the ship a couple of times upon entering and leaving the lagoon.
This was our second anchorage inside the lagoon, which although it allowed us to be closer
to the pass, presented many swells. We dived here to check the anchor. There were no coral bommies around, and therefore no fish.
Diving here was very dependent on the tide--a strong current
can be present at different times of the day. The purpose of this
dive was to collect vitareef data.
A grey reef shark over 1 meter in length and one white tip shark were seen on this dive.
The bottom composition was sand with coral rubble next to a small coral wall from ranging from 3m to 10m depth.
This was a coral patch ranging from 8m to 18m in depth. Astreopora and Acropora were the dominant
species. Astreopora was highly affected by burrowing mussels - there
was not one coral colony that we observed that didn't have invertebrates
present. Macroalgae was also prevalent at this site.
Coral patch in the middle of the lagoon ranging from 4m to over 25m in depth. On the northern side of the patch the majority
of coral below 5m was dead. However, the coral above 5m
appeared healthy, roughly 75% alive. The Halomitra colonies at this dive site were very large, some of them
over 1m by 1/2 meter in diameter and at depths over 40 feet. We conducted a transect on the southern side of the patch, we found healthy coral
below 7m.
At low tide the swells break over this patch and present a moderate surge.
There was a high diversity of sea life present including sharks, large parrot fish, porcupine fish, many large groupers and clams.
Divers:Michel, Lindsey, Kitty, Nada, Starrlight, Eddie
Date: Feb 23rd
TI: 1530
TO: 1640
MaxDepth: 09m
Divers:Heather, Keely, Rich, Starrlight
The coral here resembled the dive sites below Teafua Pass. The topography was characterized by deeper furrows of sand and coral rubble, and
our transect line contained higher populations of black spine sea urchins and giant clams than previous dives outside of the lagoon. The coral
was suffering from invertebrate infestation and algae. There was ~2% bleaching.
The northern boat pass, Deafatule, was richer in both coral
life and fish life than the southern pass. When the current was
running out, it presented a peaceful current dive. Starting before
dive site O and drifting to N was a good 50 minute dive. The pass is deeper but much narrower than
Teafua Pass. At 28 meters in
the middle of the pass, the sandy bottom was lost in the turbidity of
the water and we could not tell its max depth. Either side of the pass was lined with a densely populated and healthy
coral wall. Below 20 meters we saw Pachyseris, the only place that we spotted this coral while in Nukufetau.
At shallower depths the coral composition was dominated by massive Porites.
At both this and site O, we encountered sharks, eagle
rays, turtles and many fish.
Dives to site O often started on one of the forks in the pass and ended at the point where the two channels converge into one.
Both forks were shallow at depths ranging from 10 meters to over 20 meters and were characterized by many table Acropora colonies, including some
substantially large colonies.
The start of the northern fork was typified by a sandy bottom that slowly increased in the amount of coral cover.
There was some bleaching present, more at the beginning of the fork than at the end.
The coral was roughly 40% alive in the beginning but increased to about 70% alive towards the splitting of the pass.
Once the forks of the pass came closer together the bottom depth began to drop off to over 30 meters where they meet up.
Where the channel splits into the fork, there was always a teeming fish life including a large school of big eye trevally.
There was a relatively large amount of marine life here incluging emperors, hobfish, paddletail snappers, moray eels, turtles and giant clams.
The corals included Acropora, Pocillopora, Favites, Pavona, Porites, AstreoporaFungia, Halomitra, Favia and Montastrea.
Some corals were damaged by sediment, with macroalgae overgrowing some of those affected.
The majority of this dive was above 11 meters depth. Upon descending
on a sandy bottom, we swam around to various coral patches
spread out on the sand floor. Large burrowing
clams were embedded in most of the corals. We encountered multiple
coral formations that were very picturesque - a very
peaceful dive.
This anchorage placed us close to a large coral patch teeming
with different species of fish dominated by unicorn fish, emperor
fish, small snappers and many other small reef fish. The patch
was surrounded by a sandy bottom which our anchor dug into nicely.
Dive sites T and U were both coral patches in the northeastern part of the lagoon.
Large groupers swam in and out of caves below 40 feet. A couple of nurse sharks were also spotted.
While there were many giant clams present at dive site T, they were more scarce at dive site U. Both sites displayed less than
20% live coral.
In summary, our stay in Nukufetau was long enough for us to explore almost all of the lagoon and the navigable zones of the exterior of the atoll, given the
weather conditions. We found many signs of a recent bleaching event, including current bleaching on up to 10% of coral colonies (especially Acropora).
We were surprised that there were not more fish, especially outside the lagoon and in the main pass. We also found that many corals were overgrown with coralline algae, especially
outside the lagoon. But the reef in general is intact enough to sustain a healthy fish population. And areas of both the lagoon and the smaller pass have stunning coral formations.
meters then it levels off for a width of about 50 meters before
dropping off. This pass is rich with fish; while diving, we saw
a big school of black snappers, many large groupers and other
reef fish plus four Hawksbill turtles were spotted on the second
dive. The coral was in mediocre health. Table Acropora
colonies were the most prominent coral. There were some large
patches of macro algae plus some green sponge.
Below our first anchorage there were scattered coral bommies at
25 to 30 meters with some small reef fish gathered around. The
bommies were primarily made up of Acropora
and Porites. 
This area of the lagoon consisted of a sandy bottom with closely
scattered coral patches. The patches displayed a high diversity
of coral and appeared very healthy. There was some macroalgae
present. Among the corals present there were table Acropora,
staghorn Acropora, Pavona, Porites, Astreopora,
Lobophyllia, Gardinoseris, and Montipora.
Macroalgae was prevalent among the coral patches as well as a
variety of sponges. Some filamentous algae was present. There
were many small reef fish as well as some giant clams and moray
eels. 
Dive sites B & C were both at shallow depths along the lagoon side of the reef. Bottom composition
was sand with scattered rubble, shells and coral patches. Visibility varied depending on the current and weather conditions, ranging from "perfect" visibility to very turbid.
Staghorn Acropora dominated the ocean floor. Every turn a diver took, they would encounter very large
Acropora colonies, often growing to over 3 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters in height.
The bases of the colonies were often dead and covered in a film of sediment and filamentous algae.
Dive Sites E, F and G were characterized by a high diversity of coral, as well as a high percentage of macroalgae, including much Halimeda and coralline algae.
The substrate was made up of coral, rock and some rubble. Despite a relatively healthy reef, there were comparatively few fish. 
Our first dives to this pass presented very little fish life. We found one conch.
However upon returning to the pass in February we saw an array of marine life on the dropoff outside of the pass.
Manta rays came within feet of us, and grey, black tip and white tip reef sharks circled about.
Eagle rays and a school of barracuda also made their presence known. 
Coral patch in the middle of the lagoon ranging from 4m to over 25m in depth. On the northern side of the patch the majority
of coral below 5m was dead. However, the coral above 5m
appeared healthy, roughly 75% alive. The Halomitra colonies at this dive site were very large, some of them
over 1m by 1/2 meter in diameter and at depths over 40 feet. We conducted a transect on the southern side of the patch, we found healthy coral
below 7m.
The coral here resembled the dive sites below Teafua Pass. The topography was characterized by deeper furrows of sand and coral rubble, and
our transect line contained higher populations of black spine sea urchins and giant clams than previous dives outside of the lagoon. The coral
was suffering from invertebrate infestation and algae. There was ~2% bleaching.
Dives to site O often started on one of the forks in the pass and ended at the point where the two channels converge into one.
Both forks were shallow at depths ranging from 10 meters to over 20 meters and were characterized by many table Acropora colonies, including some
substantially large colonies.
The start of the northern fork was typified by a sandy bottom that slowly increased in the amount of coral cover.
There was some bleaching present, more at the beginning of the fork than at the end.
The coral was roughly 40% alive in the beginning but increased to about 70% alive towards the splitting of the pass.
Once the forks of the pass came closer together the bottom depth began to drop off to over 30 meters where they meet up.
Where the channel splits into the fork, there was always a teeming fish life including a large school of big eye trevally.
There was a relatively large amount of marine life here incluging emperors, hobfish, paddletail snappers, moray eels, turtles and giant clams.
The corals included Acropora, Pocillopora, Favites, Pavona, Porites, Astreopora
Fungia, Halomitra, Favia and Montastrea.
Some corals were damaged by sediment, with macroalgae overgrowing some of those affected.
The majority of this dive was above 11 meters depth. Upon descending
on a sandy bottom, we swam around to various coral patches
spread out on the sand floor. Large burrowing
clams were embedded in most of the corals. We encountered multiple
coral formations that were very picturesque - a very
peaceful dive. 
Dive sites T and U were both coral patches in the northeastern part of the lagoon.
Large groupers swam in and out of caves below 40 feet. A couple of nurse sharks were also spotted.
While there were many giant clams present at dive site T, they were more scarce at dive site U. Both sites displayed less than
20% live coral.