NMC Ecology/Marine Biology Club explores the wonders of Palau

For the third straight year, the Ecology/Marine Biology Club of Northern Marianas College embarked on a science education expedition to Palau.

Following 16 weeks of fundraising, the club toured Palau during NMC’s Winter Semester Break, leaving on Dec. 15 and returning on Dec. 21.

As in all previous years, the undertaking was a tremendous success, according to NMC’s John Furey. “All 28 participants, twice as many as in previous years, thoroughly enjoyed the trip and learned a great deal about Palau’s biodiversity, geology, history, and culture,” he said in a statement.

In Palau, the club visited the world famous Rock Islands via fast Yamaha speed boats, swam with non-stinging jellyfish at Jellyfish Lake, had close encounters with Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins at the Palau Dolphin Sanctuary, kayaked and toured pristine coral reef ecosystems in Nekko Bay, explored limestone caverns, toured still remnant pillboxes, and other World War II defensive fortifications on Koror Island, visited Palau’s International Coral Reef Center, and toured the giant clam and other marine life Mariculture Demonstration Center.

Part of the group also traveled to northern Babeldaob Island to view Palau’s newly constructed Capitol building. Other trip highlights included seeing the wide variety of corals in Nekko Bay, each growing to their maximum potential size due to the 360-degree wave protection, which the bay’s surrounding islands provide. At the bay (while already aboard the speedboat), the group saw a poisonous sea snake swimming with its head elevated on the water’s surface. The club also viewed three, now very large, captive saltwater crocodiles at the Coral Reef Center—practically doubling in size from the previous years. Other highlights included cliff jumping into deep clear water near a sea cave entrance at the end of the kayak tour, observing an intact Japanese Zero fighter in the waters off Malakal Harbor, and observing coral propagation experiments and even touching a captive baby silvertip shark, along with a captive juvenile hawksbill sea turtle at the Coral Reef Center.

“Three members of the group were able to spend a full day at the Dolphin Sanctuary learning to become dolphin trainers. An overnight camping experience at beautiful Ngemelis Island, a site which is only allowed to be visited with the written permission of Palau’s High Chief of Koror, Yutaka B. Gibbons, was a first for this particular Club group and hopefully one that will be allowed to be repeated in future years,” said Furey.

As they are developed, photographs of this year’s trip will be added along with the other NMC natural resource management and science activity photos, which are on permanent display in the hallway between NMC’s Nursing and Science Buildings.

This year, the group was able to raise more than $9,000 to fully cover its per diem, ground transportation, and entrance and tour fee costs while a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education provided matching funds for the air travel costs.

Five community volunteers also attended, entirely paying their own travel expenses. The overall group expenditures for this year’s Palau excursion was approximately $35,000. As in each occurrence of these now-regular semester break science journeys—with eight voyages to Tinian, to Rota, to Guam, and to Palau since 2001—this semester’s trip was undertaken without any direct costs to, or financial support from NMC itself. The group did, however, receive a tremendous amount of donated support from the CNMI community, as well as strong support from family, friends, and officials in Palau.

NMC president Tony Guerrero lent his personal support for the group’s fundraising efforts by purchasing 20 t-shirts, by challenging NMC’s two deans to each also purchase 20 T-shirts, and by encouraging all other NMC employees and supporters to purchase one or more of the club’s main fundraising items.

The group actually returned from the trip with approximately the same amount of funds it had inherited from the previous semester’s fundraising, about $3,000. These and future raised funds will be applied to the expenses of the group’s next planned scientific excursion, a weeklong natural history trip to Pagan Island in the early summer of 2006. This year’s club officers included Eluene Basa, treasurer; Wilma Atalig, secretary; Andrew Campo, assistant secretary; Nerine Villagomez, T-Shirt project committee chair; Joleen Salas, vice president; and Angeline Ayuyu, president. Advisors/chaperones for the group included Kaye Christian, Mary Anne Campo, and Furey.

For more information and/or to arrange to make a very welcomed contribution to the NMC Ecology/Marine Biology Club, contact Furey at 234-5498, ext. 1210 or by email at johnf@nmcnet.edu. (PR)