Photo By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal | U.S. Coast Guard Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Chris Summers assigned to the U.S. Coast...... read more read more
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MIDWAY ATOLL, Hawaii -- Coast Guardsmen assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui, Honolulu, inspected 12 buoys and two fixed navigation ranges during an aids to navigation mission around the waters of Midway Atoll Sept. 1-3.
Coast Guardsmen ensure that safety is paramount while operating, but take further steps of precaution here.
The Island of Midway and it's waters are the home to an abundance of endangered and critically endangered species of wildlife that have little experience in interacting with people.
"It's the most beautiful place on planet earth but you have to have extra precaution here," said U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Grant Kelly assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui. "When you're driving a small boat and there are sea turtles the size of you or monk seals the size of you that are endangered you have to be extra careful. The wildlife here doesn't see humans so they don't know how to react to us and they're not afraid of us."
The island of Midway Atoll was declared a wildlife refuge and Coast Guardsmen conducting missions in its waters pay close attention to detail while sailing through the harbor and operating equipment.
"We have to make sure we take our time with everything because we have a lot of restricted water and we have to be careful about the things that we do," said U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Armond Thompson assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui. "This is a very sensitive environment and very sensitive ecosystem. We take our time and do a lot more safety precautions to make sure that we're in compliance with everything that goes on at the wildlife refuge here."
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Nicholas JB Devine, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui dive officer, explained how the dive team's capability is beneficial when working in an environment like Midway's.
"We've got a lot of sensitive environmental areas and things of that nature, we've got coral reefs and things we need to take care of," Devine said. "The dive team has got a certain kind of finesse where we're able to get in without disturbing the environment too substantially in order to get the same kind of aggressive work done."
The dive team was responsible for inspecting, unchaining and hauling certain buoys back to the Kukui.
"Specifically for the dive team, we were responsible for eight buoys, very busy work," Devine said. "A lot of max depths we were experiencing were about 45 feet and we got an exceptional amount of bottom time, about a total of 770 minutes over the course of three days."
Once buoys were brought back to the Kukui they were lifted on board for inspection and fastened on the ship for transport.
"These buoys are in the ocean taking a lot of abuse and we'll see the chain that's connecting them break free," Kelly said. "We pull these buoys out of the water and we check everything on them. We make sure that they're floating correctly, we check the chain on them, and we check that they're attached to the weight on them to make sure that they are not moving."
Twelve buoys beyond there service life were taken to a buoy yard in Honolulu where they will be either decommissioned or repaired to be used at a different location.
The dive experience marked the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui dive team's last opportunity to perform their job at Midway.
"It's an incredible place," Devine said. "When you look at the history of Midway itself and the impact it had during World War II it holds a very special place in my heart and I know it did in the dive team's as well."
| Date Taken: | 09.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.09.2014 18:36 |
| Story ID: | 141622 |
| Location: | MIDWAY ATOLL, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 229 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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