There is a haul-out place in the SE corner of Apataki, so we did not expect much wildlife there–surprisingly enough the bommies were quite lively with relatively healthy coral and some small fishies. There were even a few terns flying around. Sailing up the eastern side we were happy to see lots of endemic shrubs, so we expected nesting birds–but nothing. The motus are silent and empty and the few small fish that are around scatter in panic when they see a human shadows. It seems the lagoon is overfished, but then we hardly see local boats. Very strange.
2020
05
Sep
