Today we spend our final full day in Midway. Wayne and I started on email, which was faster than last night, and got some electronic things done. After putting on sunscreen, rain jackets and a hat, we headed out on our bicycles to tour the island pre-brunch. We went over to the water point first, going down the back roads and over the one hill on all our trails. Some nice shots had there, including the one of the Laysan ducks above. You cannot approach them, however, when you sit down on the ramp near the pond, the ducks get curious and come to visit. Great early morning photography!
Then we continued around the airfield, making it almost to Bulky Dump when the rear tire on my bicycle blew. We walked the mile back to transportation, which was locked, and continued on towards camp. Luckily Janice and her husband (he works here as a 3 month volunteer) came along, and took the bike back to transportation for us. Our naturalist Wayne (imagine his confusion every time I call for my Wayne) had a spare, luckily, so no worries for the rest of the day.
After brunch, we reconvened, and rode our bikes back to the airfield, following the two golf carts. We’ve found that we much more enjoy riding on our bikes than the carts while here, it has been fun! We walked along a trail we had not taken before that goes towards West Beach, paralleling it in the beginning. Lots of brown and black noddys, red-footed boobys, white terns, and albatross.
From there, across the airfield to see Bulky Dump, the pillbox, an old ammunition storage bunker, and a few other overlooks Wayne and I had already discovered. Then (after a water/personal break at the Fish and Wildlife offices), we headed to the far side of the finger piers, going down trails and to another duck weep.
Once we were done here, it was back to the cargo pier for a beach cleanup. As it was miserable mid-day sun, I hid under the pier and discovered at least 100 pounds of junk, both plastic and abandoned/lost nets. We had quite a take as a group.
As we went home, my left heel was throbbing. I had taken some sort of thistle in the heel while on Eastern island, which apparently has an irritant in it to which I am allergic. Note to self: buy hiking boots 8 years from now for use on Eastern island! So, we abandoned evening activities in favor of a compress on my heel, and some Nero Wolfe. All in all, we biked/walked for about 7 hours, very much worth the final frozen custard cone!
