Lori quickly made friends with one of the two resident cats.

Red footed boobies.

Several kinds of birds came over to welcome us to Palmyra. They liked to play right over the antenna on the roof of the boat. They took turns trying to nip at the tip of the antenna as we moved through the water. Imagine the story back at the nest about the new boat "but mom, it followed me home - can I keep it?"

There are several types of boobys on the island. This is a brown booby.

Scott and Karin bird watching at sunst in Pamyra. Does life get any better than this?

Bird

The trees along the lagoon were filled with birds and their chicks.

Lori and I walked down the runway and then walked along the beach (hoping that it ran all the way back to the cabins). Along the way we saw lots of fish and crabs.

We heard some splashing and saw what at first we thought was a snake, but was an eel fighting with a crab! We learned later that eels can come out of the water for almost 20 minutes (as long as their gills are wet).

After catching and killing the crab, the eel tied itself into a knot and pulled the crab's body through the knot to pull it apart. It did this four times, until it had small enough pieces that it could eat the crab. Lori had the presence of mind to pull out her phone and shoot some video. It was one of the most incredible things I've seen.

Click here to see the videos.

Hermit crab. He's about 3-4 inches across.

Fairy Tern

It wasn't sooty tern nesting season, so I didn't see any nest or chicks.

There were lots of fiddler crabs running around. If they didn't move you would never see them; they blend right into their surroundings. but they are so big and heavy that they make a lot of noise running over the big dry leaves on the ground.

I saw the fairy terns a few mornings in a row. Each time they called out and swirled around me as I took their picture. They seemed attracted to the lens on the camera.

Young boobie.

Fiddler crab

Fairy Terns

Fairy Terns

Coconut crabs! These guys are just incredible! They seem to come in every possible color. They are big and almost spiderlike in their looks and movements.

Jenn is making friends with one of the coconut crabs.

The crabs build burrows in the ground or under raised roots. When they molt they need to hide until the new shell hardens and they are protected again.

They really are strong enough to rip apart a coconut!