Sailing away from the M/V Kahana and the last flushing toilet I would see for 6 months.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Spinner dolphins escorting our zodiac across the lagoon.

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Greeting the winter crew. We would overlap for a few short hours as we off-loaded our gear and supplies and loaded theirs. The next time I would see Eryn and Coryna would be 6 months later to do the switch again.

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My bunk room and home away from home. It was the only place I could be naked.

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A view of camp from the bunk house steps looking southwest. From front to back: The toolshed and spray pack area, the cistern and reverse osmosis pump shed and the main house.

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A view of camp looking northeast. Thick "forests" of native naupaka covered most the island.

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Coast Guard memorial.

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A Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) resting in it's naupaka nest. They are one of three species of boobies on Kure and the only one to nest in trees.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

One of our first sunsets over the lagoon.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) Albatross adults resting on remains of the old Coast Guard runway with our "nav-tree" looming in the distance.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) adult with it's chick. Easily the most vocal of the birds on Kure, these little guys nest deep under the naupaka's shade and give you a heart attack if you come too close.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) chick resting in it's nest.

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A Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) pair outside of their burrow. Burrow Avoidance Maneuvering (B.A.M.ing) was a skill we all had to learn quickly.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Sunrise over the main house. This was my morning commute to work and my nightly commute to dinner.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Frigate birds (Fregata minor) where my favorite birds on the island. With long black wings, iridescent emerald shoulder feathers and huge red gulars there were a sight to see. They were also the most agile fliers constantly chasing red-tails and boobies for their food.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Cassytha filiformis, an invasive vine on Kure, parasitizes other plants by wrapping itself around their stems and using their leaves for photosynthesis. It is difficult to kill as it is unaffected by herbicide and needs to be carefully removed by hand as partial fragments can grow into full plants.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

A downy Laysan albatross chick cooling it's feet.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

The plywood bunkhouse where Artist Sarah, Literal Sarah, Reed and I lived. The two blue barrels up front collected rain running off the stair gutter and two large green catchments on the side captured water running off of the roof - they were used to wash clothes, gear and bodies respectively.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Our dishwashing stations. Clean freshwater was run through a hose from a catchment into a 'rinsing' bin and a 'sudsing' bin on the right. On the left grey water from the first bins was reused to physically scrub food off of plates and to rinse empty cans and packaging to be packed out. Only after the water was too dirty to be useful anymore was it tossed out.

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Our native plant nursery.

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Sooty terns (Onychoprion fuscatus) fill the sky as we hike westward along the runway towards the old Coast Guard landfill.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Marine debris is nearly homogenous with the sand on Kure. Because of the northwestern Hawaiian islands position within the Pacific gyres much of the plastic debris from Asia and the west coast winds up on our shores.

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My room gecko. All geckos are named, Henry.

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Our pier. This is where Matt and I would pump iron. We are about that tap life.

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The shallow waters of Kure's lagoon reflects it's turquoise color onto low lying clouds. On a clear day one can spot this coloration from sea.

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Marine debris gathered throughout the island to be bagged and sent off with visiting NOAA vessels.

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5-gallon jugs to be filled by the NOAA vessel Hi'ialikai as it drops off our NMFS seal observer. They will supplement our rainwater catchments.

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Our west Lua (toilet). It was a bittersweet experience having our toilet outside because as amazing as pooping under the night stars and fresh ocean air was you were also pooping in the rain.

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Vintage Miller Lite can from Coast Guard days.

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Goose barnacles on the bottom of a buoy.

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Dance party at west lua. Long drop toilet rules were simple: no peeing, no toilet tissue. Pee fills it up too quickly and toilet paper is burned periodically.

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Native kawelu (Eragrostis variabilis) grass was one of several types of landscapes we worked through.

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Reginald and Mathusela watching a Hawaiian Monk Seal give birth on our way to work.

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Wheel barrel-ing marine debris from collection points around the island to our pier was always a tough but necessary job.

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Laundry time.

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Sunset at camp facing northwest from the main house. The buckets lining the house are filled with canned food by type and expiration date. In the distance from left to right are our clothes line, tool shed, cistern, shower teepee and bunk house.

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Red-footed booby adult and it's chick.

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Grown up talk. An adult sooty tern and Laysan albatross have a conversation.

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Just keep spraying, just keep spraying, just keep spraying.

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Working in the sooty tern colonies had it's share of difficulties, namely the deafening sound of hundreds of birds shouting at you to get away from their nests, their sand colored eggs littering the ground and them attacking your head - but it was also an incredibly beautiful experience.

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I made Lok Lak from memory!

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A typical POV shot for most of my time on Kure. Fishing vest to hold GPS, flagging tape, snacks, rite-in-the-rain, headphones and tools. Walkie talkie to communicate with the rest of the line. Herbicide pack and wand to apply RoundUp and long sleeves, long pants and muck boots to protect us from the sun and herbicides.

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Good ol' Oly.

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Older naupaka stands got so thick that you had no choice but to sight for plants on your hands and knees.

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Pizza! Pizza!

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Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal pair spotted during seal survey. An exciting part of our job was to conduct weekly seal surveys. We would walk the perimeter of the island recording the conditions of all of the females and mom and pup pairs. We operated on a 'zero-disturbance' protocol and would sight their tags from a distance using biniculars. (NMFS Permit No. 16632)

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Little native plant keikis (kids) from our nursery!

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An exceptionally proud Laysan chick displaying his freshly regurgitated bolus. Once the chicks are ready to begin flying they throw up all of the undigested squid beaks in their stomachs. Unfortunately a large part of boluses now are plastic debris.

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Laysan teal enjoying some pool time. The endangered Laysan Teal (Anas laysanensis) was introduced to Kure from Midway back in 2014 in the hopes that a successful flock would form.

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Our east Lua (toilet) being guarded by a Laysan chick endearingly named, "Poop Chick".

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The whole crew all cleaned up for Naomi's birthday! From left to right, in nicknames: Mathusela, Naomchompski, Reginald, Canton, McCarty Farty, Literal Sarah.

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S2 was a champ and almost always volunteered for the dirty jobs no one wanted. We made a good team because of our attention to detail and patience and were often assigned the most tedious jobs. Here she is pictured cleaning out the bunkhouse water catchments.

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Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) was one of many invasive plant species we were tasked with killing.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Puncture Vine (Tribulus cistoides) aka Nohu is a native plant found throughout Kure. Unfortunately it's seeds spread themselves by embedding themselves in feet. Pictured is a cluster of 4 seeds that haven't separated yet.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

A juvenile wedge-tailed shearwater chick. Though mostly nocturnal, these chicks would sometimes flush out of their burrows if they heard us coming.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Orb Weaver spiders were one of the few spider species on Kure.

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Sooty tern adults and their eggs. Because of their speckled, tan appearance these eggs required a lot of attention to avoid.

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Flying fish egg cluster.

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Our twin vee used to marine debris collection and reconassance.

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Our first boating operation. The mission was to inspect some of the old shipwrecks, scout out sand island for Hawaiian monk seals and to patrol the surrounding reef for marine debris.

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Spinner dolphins gathered around us and played alongside the boat.

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Kure has two boats: a twin vee and an inflatable zodiac.

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Celebrating our first boating op with home brewed hard cider!

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Vintage Schlitz can.

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A group of albatross chicks facing away from the sun. Albatross lay their eggs in the same spot each year and their chicks will seldom travel far from where they are born - even for shade.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Mathusela stoking our paper trash and seed bonfire.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Kure's lagoon, surrounding reef and shoreline are the final resting places for a number of ships.

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Panorama taken at South Point facing northeast.

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Mathusela's corn bread was a personal favorite of mine.

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A White Tern (Gygis alba) chick waiting for it's parent to find and feed it. All white terns where named, Theodore.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Kure Atoll is so flat that an invasive ironwood tree was spared it's life and is used as a Nav-Tree by incoming boats so that they know where they are along the island and can safely get to our pier.

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The main food sources for albatross are flying fish eggs and squid, the former often clinging to floating marine debris. The plastics cannot be broken down and though, seemingly well-fed, the chicks starve to death.

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Whenever a large marine debris conglomerate was spotted along our reef or close to shore we would dedicate a day to boating out to it and retrieving it. Once we arrived at the entanglement we would free dive with boat knives to cut the mass loose, swim it to our boats and haul them in. This particular operation took 1 hour to cut and swim to the boat and 5 hours to load it. Heavy with water and broken coral heads, these massive conglomerates were made up of fishing line, netting and houser lines. Boating op days were often long, dangerous, exhausting and extremely rewarding.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus pileatus) egg spotted in a colorful debris nest.

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I perfected the art of making fish cakes from scratch. The trick is to save and reuse your oil until it becomes too disgusting for it's use to go unnoticed.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Lion-maned, partially feathered Laysan albatross chick.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Sooty terns nest in colonies numbering in the hundreds. The location changes every year and can be anywhere on the island. The noise is deafening.

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Half of the 5-hour conglomerate.

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My faithful Casio PAG-240 broke it's compass gasket.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Mathusela showing off on his cook night. We had a propane powered stove top and grill.

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No date, phone number or email address. Everyone was so excited that we found a letter in a bottle but I was just mad we got the class slacker. #norespectforminimaleffort

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One of perhaps two mushrooms I found while on Kure.

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Regurgitated flying fish. A favorite food of many of the seabirds.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

A wedge-tailed shearwater adult and red-tailed tropic bird share shade under a naupaka.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

We hand collected the seeds of certain species of invasive plants to be burned with our paper trash.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

A juvenile Laysan albatross resting on our doormat. It has shed most of its down and has all of the feathers necessary to fly.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Adult white tern prospecting nest sites. Please no, not there white tern.

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My cook nights were often Asian themed and it didn't take long for me to exhaust my cooking repertoire. This was a combination of Lok Lak and fried rice.

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1 box of extra firm tofu + 1 can of salmon + 1/2 cup of eggs + a pour of panko bread crumbs + a pinch of furikake + 1 potato masher = Chris' famous fish balls! Garnish with Mae Ploy and sesame seeds.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

The plastic is usually a give away that it was an albatross chick carcass.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

As we navigate through the dense naupaka we have to be mindful of baby birds perched on branches and nesting on the ground. Whenever we find a particularly precarious chick we flag a branch near it so the next time we treat the area we know to be wary. This chick had grown up into a strapping teenager!

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A Laysan duckling inspects my work as I re-dig our sump.

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"Don't knock me over!" - Don't worry we won't, Theodore.

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The man. The legend. The toothbrush. Mathusela had a habit of brushing his teeth and bathing at the same time.

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The evolution of the Miller Lite can.

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Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) parent with it's chick. Brown boobies and masked boobies nested on the ground.

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This white tern chick was lost in a level of contemplation only cynical hipsters could understand.

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The little brown noddy egg hatched into a healthy little chick!

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Checking compromised cans of fruit cocktail - ate them regardless.

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The Kure clean up crew hard at work. Ghost crabs would merge every night to feed on carcasses.

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Paralyzed spiders dropped by metallic wasps. The wasps would seal them in holes with their eggs for their larvae to eat when they hatched.

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Asian banana dessert made from a recipe my mom emailed me via sattelite phone.

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Weather was a part of life on Kure. Besides dictating our tasks for the day it was also a form of entertainment.

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My basic load out. Kure is mostly unshaded so proper coverage was crucial.

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I only ate breakfast on weekends as I valued sleep more, however, a heaping bowl of cereal and peanut butter was a major highlight of my week.

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Juvenile Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra) would play the 'stick game' by grabbing it from our hands and tossing it around in the air.

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Seal surveys were an excellent opportunity to catch the sunset on the lagoon.

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They were also good opportunities to haul out ocean trash.

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Brown noddy chick using an eel cone as shelter from the sun and wind. Marine debris was such commonplace on the island that much of the wildlife incorporated it into their nests, shelters and, unfortunately, their diets.

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

The remains of a Laysan albatross chick filled with bottle caps, toothbrushes and small toys.

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Juvenile red-footed booby. It has lost all of it's down and is slowly changing into it's adult colors.

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Cailin cooked bulk pasta for most of her cook nights and I had zero problems with that. As far as remote islands go we were well stocked with over 300 buckets of canned and dry goods and had 5 solar powered chest freezers to keep frozen goods and leftovers in. If you had a craving you just had to be creative - it was surprising what was possible!

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Zigzags for days. Our main job was to rid the island of invasive plants species and to do that we carefully walked back and forth in tight zigzag patterns while spraying herbicide. Repeat this for 6 months and we covered the entire 200-acre island 3.5 times!

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A White Tern (Gygis alba) chick that had fallen off of its perch. We lifted it back up and provided it shade from the sun. White terns had one of the highest survival rates mostly thanks to their extremely protective parents.

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Laundry day. In the beginning of the season freshwater was strictly for cooking and drinking - bathing and laundry was done in the lagoon. But as our cistern and catchments started filling in more we were allowed to do freshwater washes.

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Matt busted out Rouge's Monk Seal Ale in commemoration of a successful release of a rehabilitated pre-weaned pup.

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With big, open horizons uninterrupted by trees and tall buildings you could often see weather systems as they passed by.

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Vintage PBR can.

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In august the Coast Guard arrived with a contracted excavation crew to extract and rebury a PCB dumpsite at the western end of the old runway. The chemicals were buried there while Kure was still an active LORAN station and had been leaching toxins into the lagoon ever since.

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It was also the arrival of a care package from S2 and I's parents. For the first time in 4 months I was able to see my family in the form of 100 Costco-printed photos.

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All of my aunts and uncles pitched in different snacks and treats including a USB filled with photos and the new Lumineers CD, a CD from my grandfather's car and dried shredded pork from my grandma. The shredded pork confused folks at the Honolulu office to the point that they were googling "Ma So" (what I call my grandma) to figure out what it was!

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

The Coast Guard represented our largest contact with other people since we arrived on the island. They brought with them machines, energy drinks, candy, all sorts of fresh meat, BEER and the most delicious squid jerky I've ever had. In a strange way it felt like we were being colonized.

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We spent a week preparing the reburial site for them. We chose an area that would impact the least amount of nests and cleared out vegetation to create a road for them that we knew didn't have any birds.

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The PCB contaminated sand's acrid smell was so strong it gave you a headache. By reburying it further inland we prevent further leaching into the lagoon.

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Once they finished we spent the next week planting hundreds of new plants.

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A cloud above our little island. Taken from the far edge of the surrounding reef facing south.

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Treating plywood for out new long drop lua. Pictured right is the winter crew leader, Andy. He arrived early to help manage the reburial project and was a fun addition to the team.

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Once the albatross began to fledge tiger sharks moved into the lagoon in search of easy prey. For a couple of months we had to take baths in turns while someone kept watch fins and wakes. Pictured is a (Great White?) shark I saw in August well after we though our "shark months" were over.

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Partially feathered frigate bird chick.

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An extreme case of CASFIL infestation.

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From July onwards the heat and humidity was so bad that low-wind days meant sweating non-stop.

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The dramatic difference between an area that's been treated (left) and an area that hasn't (right).

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Invasive seed heads.

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Naupaka flower.

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Once the tarp was filled with all of our belongings and empty buckets we closed it up with another tarp and gassed it to remove any potential insects from transferring to the Kahana and thus to the other islands. We took our biosecurity protocols seriously!

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

After 6 of the most eye opening, challenging, breathtaking months of my life came to an end I looked back at the experience and the island as home away from home. Like the Coast Guard put it so well, "You can leave Kure but...Kure will never leave you."

Shot with an iPhone 6s.

Because of the rough, hot, sandy and humid conditions I, for the most pat, took pictures on my iPhone 6S These next photos where shot on my DSLR.

U.S. Coast Guard flying over Kure doing a damage assessment after hurricane Darby passed over the islands.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II.

An adult white tern waits for its chick. White terns will continue to feed their chicks well after they can fly on their own and will sometimes wait for over 30 minutes.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II.

Long exposure thunderstorm.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II.

I took advantage of the intense darkness on Kure and played around with night photography. The photos came out quite grainy but I learned a lot about long exposures as well as the movement of the milky way. This was also shot during a thunderstorm.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II.

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