Oahu, Hawaii

Venus sets behind the battleship Missouri.

The Arizona Memorial at night.


Sunset over the USS Arizona Memorial, 16 September 2008.


The sun sets over the Arizona memorial, with the flag of USNS Mercy waving in the foreground.


The moon sets over the USS Arizona memorial.


On the morning of 16 September 2008, the sun rises over Oahu.


Some of the Canadians on board USNS Mercy wore their dress uniforms as we entered Pearl Harbor on 15 September 2008. From left to right, Brent, Jessica, Diane, Bethann, and Tara are standing in front of Sideflare 64, the helicopter that was hit by ground fire at Mindanao.

(By the way, Tara, at the right in this photo, earned a degree in theater before she earned her degree in nursing; she was often out taking photos of sunsets at the same time that I was. And Bethann, second from right, who is an anesthesiologist, rearranged her schedule to stay with the Mercy to San Diego (unlike the other folks from Canada and India who all left in Hawaii) so that an anesthesiologist would be on board in case of emergency.)


On our way back home, in Pearl Harbor, USNS Mercy is at a pier even closer to the Missouri and the Arizona Memorial than we were last May.


Sunrise, east of Hawaii, the morning of 13 September 2008.


Moonrise, near the International Date Line, on 12 September 2008.


Sunset on the Pacific just west of the International Date Line (GPS N 20 29.7344 E 179 20.5978) the evening of September 11 2008 San Diego time.)

Guam

Sunset over the Pacific the day that USNS Mercy left Guam.

Jeff's Pirate Cove, on the East Coast of Guam.


A memorial to the working dogs that lost their lives during the liberation of Guam near the end of the Second World War.


Todd Wright, who works at the Naval Hospital at Guam (and accompanied by 4 year old Elizabeth and 2 year old Elana, whose names I have hopefully spelled correctly), took me on a brief tour of some of the sights of Guam.


Here's another frog on Guam; they sit very still in the grass in the dark, and don't even move when their photo is taken with flash.

Goodbye, Chuuk!

The sunset that we saw on our way from Chuuk to Guam (GPS N 11 6.7486 E 148 9.8608).

As the USNS Mercy departs from Chuuk on its way to Guam, it crosses the north boundary of the atoll. Notice the small islands and the surf at the location where the wall of the atoll is just a few meters below the surface of the ocean.


If anyone has ever dreamed about buying a tropical island, I think that I found one in Chuuk that might be affordable, and I even have the location: GPS N 7 30.2350 E 151 54.4753


The last sunset at Chuuk, with Venus as the evening star.

Goodbye Chuuk!

A group of jellyfish floated past USNS Mercy while anchored at Chuuk.


One of the Micronesian turtles that IT3 Tabboga purchased for me at a gift shop called the "Truk Stop" in Chuuk.


Shell takes one last look at Weno Island, at sunset, Chuuk State, Micronesia.


One of USNS Mercy's helicopters practices with rescue swimmers.
In the first photo, a rescue swimmer splashes into the ocean near Weno Island, Chuuk State, Micronesia.


In the second photo, the helicopter brings the rescue swimmer back on board.


A rainstorm near Romonum Island, Chuuk State, Micronesia.


One of USNS Mercy's helicopters lifts off over the blue water and blue sky of Weno Island, Chuuk State, Micronesia.


Another sunset, with Romonum Island in the center, in Chuuk State, Micronesia.


Me, at sunset, on the deck of USNS Mercy, with Weno Island, Chuuk State, Micronesia, in the background.