October to November 2002
North Western Hawaiian Islands .

I was fortunate enough to be selected by N.O.A.A as the leed photographer on a research expedition th the North Western Hawaiian island group. This expedition, Nowramp 2002, blended 50 scientist and filmakers together on a vovage of reasearch, discovery and documentation of this remote part of the Hawaiian Island chain. The journey covered almost 2, 000 miles of open ocean in the 30 day duration of the voyage and documented a vast amount of this area.

This little known part of the Hawaiian islands is very isolated and seldom visited by man. It holds almost 90% of the live coral reef in the United States and is under the stewardship of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, NMFS, and the State of Hawaii. It is very highly regulated area and acess is limited due to its location. It is truly one of the most isolated part of our planet.

Moving up the chain is like stepping back in both geological and ecological time. The farther North the older the islands and reef s were geologically and more abundant the marine life became. till finally we reached a poin North where erosion overtook the formation of coral and the land masses and reefs were being reclimed by the sea. It was a rare honor to visit these pristine reefs and land areas and get a sense for what Hawaii must have been like hundreds of years ago before the influence of man.

I recorded some 10,000 images from the area during the expedition. A large number of them can be viewed at the expedition web site NowRamp 2002 also on the site is a daily journal and musings by expedition writer Carlos Eyles that will give the reader a sense of what an expedition of this magnitude involves.

You can also view a selection of images by going to the Image Search section of this web site and search the keywords for, Midway, Laysan, Kure, French Frigate shoals, Necker, Lisianski or Hawaii

........................................Jim