copyright 1999 Joseph M. Cocozza Jr.
The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, located at the furthest end of Hawaiian archipelago, is literally in the middle of nowhere. At any one time, there are only 250 Humans on the island; yet the atoll is home to 1.5 million sea birds. With the nearest traffic light being 1100 miles away, Midway is a cyan and beige jewel in the vast immensity of the North Pacific blue. Both above and below the water, the natural beauty of Midway is astounding.
But lure of scuba on Midway is akin to that of shipwreck diving. A shipwreck is not just reef of steel, its a drama highlighting the struggle between life and death. That back story, is part of the diving experience. Midway has one hell of a back story.
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Quite simply,
Midway was the focal point of the greatest Naval Battle of the 20th
century. In June of 1942, United States Sailors and Marines
defeated the superior forces of the Japanese Imperial Navy. The
repercussions of which not only effected the outcome of the war in
the Pacific but the war against Hitler and the Nazis. The world
would be a very different place today had it not been for the
exploits of those few brave Sailors and Marines.
As a student of naval history, The Battle of Midway was my favorite
subject. I gleamed from textbooks the names of the heroes and the
names of the ships. I could describe the sequence of events. But,
this knowledge was an abstraction until I looked out of the
airplane window and saw the Midway Islands and that I was flying in
the same airspace where the Japanese and American aviators had
battled.
Midway Atoll is not a wreck diving mecca like Truk. The naval
battle occurred some 300 miles from the island in very deep water.
But, Japanese carrier planes did attack the Navy base on Midway.
During this bombardment, Naval Anti Aircraft batteries shot down
some of the Japanese planes which reportedly then crashed into the
six mile wide lagoon.
Midway Phoenix Corp. is offering a $500 reward for discovering a
new aircraft wreck in Midway waters. The lure of discovering a new
wreck is intoxicating, so along with the staff of Midway Sport
Diving, we did a series of exploratory dives.
99% of the waters surrounding Midway have never been dived by human
beings. It will take years to chart all the potential sites. But we
started on the shallow sand flats of the lagoon. A towed snorkel
diver would scan the bottom, if he saw anything interesting , a
scuba diver would descend and investigate the object. The next
morning with a Tiger shark in the area, we chose a different type
of search strategy. As a group, we donned scuba and did a side by
side drift search in the same heading of the old seaplane
lane.
In two days of searching we covered just a tiny fraction of the
lagoon. We did not find any aircraft, but we did discover five
Japanese aerial bombs. This was eerie evidence of the ferocity of
the battle. These bombs where wedged into sand or reef and had been
submerged for 60 years but they were still potentially
deadly.
There are a couple popular known wrecks sites on Midway. In 1943, a
Marine Corps Corsair fighter plane collided in a training accident.
The pilot ejected but his plane crashed on the ocean side of the
atoll. The Corsair was recently rediscovered at a depth of 115 fsw.
The main fuselage and gull shaped wings are all that remains. The
corsair is now home to a large school of goat fish, slipper lobster
and spiny Lobster. If you look in the sand a few yards from the
starboard wing, you will see boxes of .50 call ammo that was
apparently used in the planes machine guns.
Another wreck dive located just outside the ship channel, is the
submarine tender USS Macaw. In 1944, the Macaw was assisting
another vessel we she ran aground. A few weeks later the Macaw
floundered in a storm. This rather inglorious sinking resulted in
the deaths of the captain and five of the crew. Since the Macaw
sank in the ship channel, Navy demolition experts cleared the
wreckage to a depth level of 35-45 fsw. Today, the Bow of the Macaw
is still recognizable as a ship but the rest of the wreck is a
twisted mass of metal.
The Macaw is covered in massive schools of goatfish, damsel fish
and chromis. Small Galapagos sharks cruise the outer edges of the
wreck. Around the bow are large schools of yellow barbel goat fish.
Sting Rays show up with the tidal movment between the lagoon and
the ocean. The bulk of diving occurs in depths from 25 to 100 fsw
on the miles of endless reef. Typical reefs consisting of numerous
limestone tables, are undercut and hollowed, some with arches,
skylights and swim throughs. The marine life is abundant and
includes: lobsters, jacks, green sea turtles, goatfish, wrasse,
damselfishes, bullet head parrot fish, chubs and sharks. Midway
underwater does not have big walls or deep reefs, but because of
the northern latitude there are species of fish that are only found
in the very deep waters in the main Hawaiian islands.
Since only a small fraction of this reef has been explored, you can
be the first to explore a new dive site. A new divesite was named
after my photographer. Tipton’s Groove is a spur and groove
limestone carst formation. The reef ledge is well populated with
green sea turtles.
Midway has a resident pod of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins.The dolphins
are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act which forbids
chasing or harassing dolphins. We were lucky to spot the dolphins
on the surface and have them ride the bow wake of our dive boat. In
the past some divers have been lucky enough to encounter the
spinners underwater.
Midway is also known for large game fish such as: Mahi Mahi, GTs,
Jacks, Tuna and Marlin. Because of the abundance of these fish,
Midway is a sport fisherman’s paradise. This fish abundance
also makes it excellant feeding grounds for sharks.
Did I mention the sharks? There are lots of sharks on Midway! The
predominant species are Galapagos sharks and Whitetip Reef sharks.
From the surface we also spotted tiger sharks. In the past, there
have also been sightings of Threshers and Oceanic Whitetips.
On almost every dive there were sharks. Some sharks were big and
some were little. On some dives there was just one or two sharks.
On other dives there were a dozen or more. I have been diving for
twenty years but when there were sharks all around me I had the
tingling of fear that started in my spine then moved up to my
shoulders. I had seen more sharks, in my first two days of diving
on Midway, than in my previous diving career. Compared to these
cartilagous fish, I quickly realized how clumsy and slow I was in
the water.
The sharks seemed curious of the divers. They would approach us
within a few feet and then deftly vector away. Most of the sharks
we dove with were Galapagos sharks. The Galapagos are supposed to
be a very aggressive species, but the Midway’s Galapagos
sharks seemed to be cautious of divers. After a few days of diving
with them, I felt absolute no fear and became fascinated by their
behavior.
There is a three dimensionality to the shark’s universe. Out
the blue vagueness of the ocean they dart into your vision.
Drifting along the reef with a dozen cruising sharks, I had the
simultaneous surge of endrenolyn and a peaceful calm.
The Galapagos sharks were beautiful; the epitome of grace, speed
and shape. A shark would cruise a zig zag course around the
perimeter of the dive group. Just when I thought the sharks were
avoiding me, a shark would suddenly turn towards me. Before the
shark got within arms length, it would dart to the left or right,
then speed out of my sight. Then, as I turned around Isaw another
curious shark who was paralleling my course.
In the summer months, tiger sharks are drawn to Midway waters by an
abundant food source of large game fish, seals and young fatted
albatross chicks. June/July is prime time for diving encounters
with the tiger sharks- I was hoping to get lucky. The 14 feet long
tigers are the most dangerous and unpredictable shark in the ocean.
Compared to tiger sharks, the Galapagos sharks are mere kittens. A
few tigers were spotted on the surface; it was with both fear and
awe that we hoped for a chance to dive with a tiger shark.
The tigers cruise not only outside the reef but inside on the
lagoon sand flats and within the harbor. Fortunately the tiger
sharks are well feed. In spite of Midway’s large shark
population, there has never a documented shark attack on divers or
swimmers. Human beings are not considered very appetizing as we
have a low body fat content compared to Seal pups or albatross
chicks. (Would you eat celery when you could have pizza ?).
But I really wanted a close encounter with a tiger. I was told by
one of the divemasters at Midway that open circuit scuba seems to
make the tigers skittish. Apparently the loud honking of regulator
second stage make tigers sharks vacate the area when divers hit the
water.
During my stay, a Japanese film crew had come to the island with
the express intent of videotaping a tiger shark underwater. The
Japanese rigged a video camera on pole and got video footage of the
tail end of a tiger cruising the sand flats. But when they left,
they offered $2000 for anyone who got any good underwater video of
a tiger shark. A few days later a BBC crew came to complete a
documentary on Midway’s wildlife. It seems that everyone
wanted to dive with tiger sharks.
Sad to report, but neither me or my photographer Don Tipton, got a
chance to dive with a tiger shark. But, one day as our boat was
racing back to the dock (the crew did not want to miss lunch at the
galley ), we spotted a dark shape in the water approaching an
albatross. In a smooth and fluid motion the tiger shark extended
its head out of the water and swallowed the bird whole. Without a
splash or a scattered feather the shark descended into the depths
below.
After a full day of diving, we would hop on our bicycles and head
out to the wooded paths that paralled the restricted beaches. On
these beaches, we photographed Albatross (aka-gooney birds) and
Monk Seals. US Fish & Wildlife Service monitors and protects
the 60 Hawaiian Monk Seals that live on Midway. The Seals have
protected beaches where visitors can only watch from a minimum 100
foot distance. All visitors are instructed in the proper etiquette
regarding viewing monk seals and other marine mammals. The seals
are magnificent and rare creatures. We were lucky to be able to
photograph them on the beach. On our last diving day on Midway, we
hit the jackpot.
Our last dive of the trip was at a dive site called Keoki’s
Ledge. It was another great dive along Midway’s outer reef.
Near the end of the first dive, as the my photographer and I swam
along the a reef ridge I saw a large dark shape emerge from under a
ledge. The young seal was probably searching for a meal of spiny
lobster. We immediately backed off to give him his space. But this
seal was apparently more curious than hungry. As we backed off he
followed us. The Seal being faster than us, cut us off as we tried
to return to the boat. He began to swim under the boat. Its not
being anthropomorphic to say that it seemed as though this seal
wanted to play with us. As the seal was swimming under the boat, we
hovered at the stern of the boat waiting for him to move on. After
about 15 minutes of play, the seal either got bored or hungry and
went else where.
On our final evening on Midway, Don and I invited two cute (female)
USFWS rangers to have dinner with us at the Clipper House
restaurant. We enjoyed the French Novell cuisine as we gazed at the
sun setting over the lagoon and white sand beach.
It was hard to leave Midway. At 7:00PM the twice a week charter
flight was leaving for the 3.5 hour trip to Honolulu. I said
goodbye to the new friends I had made. Midway is like a small town
in the middle of a Pacific paradise- it would be a culture shock to
go back to the big city. I walked the tarmac to the Aloha Jet, I
felt the history of the place, both present and past. Midway Island
was now part of me: the diving, the history and even the
birds.