Avatiu charter boat in big scientific project

The Avatiu Harbour-based scientific exploration vessel
Bounty Bay … it’s now in Fiji after deploying Argo
ocean research buoys for America’s Scripps Institution
of Oceanography.

Bounty Bay co-owner and
captain Dr Graham Wragg …
Suwarrow, Palmerston, Pitcairn,
Henderson and Phoenix islands
coming up.

What will the weather be like in the years ahead? What impact will the El Nino phenomenon have on cyclone patterns for Cook Islands?
The Avatiu Harbour-based scientific exploration vessel Bounty Bay is now in Fiji after helping a major American research project seek answers to questions like these.
Captained by co-owner Dr Graham Wragg, of Matavera, the Bounty Bay travelled north from Papeete. Then it deployed a series of Argo buoys in the ocean near the equator for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Argo programme uses the floating buoys equipped with sensors to monitor ocean temperatures and salinity. The buoys relay data via orbiting satellites to make “weather maps” of the ocean, according to information from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
It was the latest in a busy programme of voyages for Bounty Bay, operated by Cook Islands company Pacific Expeditions.
Pacific Expeditions was formed by Wragg and fellow scientist and conservationist Ed Saul, of Tupapa, in 2002. Both were interested in scientific surveys, eco-tourism, and exploring remote Pacific Islands.
Their 15.5-metre catamaran Bounty Bay, powered by twin six-cylinder engines, has a cruising range of some 3300 miles and a 1.7-metre draft. This allows it to go where bigger boats cannot.
SCIENTISTS
Earlier this year Bounty Bay went from Rarotonga to Samoa to collect a group of scientists for an ecological expedition to the remote Phoenix Islands in southern Kiribati.
Then after dropping them back in Samoa it travelled via Rarotonga to Mangareva in the Gambier islands in eastern French Polynesia.
From Mangareva it operated a series of expeditions taking groups of birdwatchers, scientists, divers and adventure tourists to Pitcairn Island and the world heritage site of Henderson Island.
After this it went to Papeete, the French Polynesian capital, to pick up scientists involved in the Argo buoy project.
Pacific Expeditions’ recently-released schedule for 2007 shows Bounty Bay will be back in the Cook Islands early in the new year. It will do voyages to Suwarrow national park and Palmerston.
Then from March to May it will again run ecotourism and science expeditions from Mangareva to Pitcairn and Henderson islands.
PROJECT
In May it will be involved in the Tuamotu Atoll ecological restoration project, doing invasive species work with SOP-Manu (Tahiti) as partners. Establishing a rat and cat free wildlife sanctuary is the goal.
Another expedition from Samoa to the Phoenix islands is expected to follow this.
CHARTER
Information on the Pacific Expeditions website describes the company this way (http://www.pacific-expeditions.com): “We are a charter boat company with a difference – we are ready to take you anywhere you want to go, anytime you want to do it.
“We are keen to explore anywhere in the Pacific – it’s our backyard. We are based in the Cook Islands, hence are well placed to voyage to Kiribati, French Polynesia, Pitcairn, Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand.
“We are equipped for numerous activities, with scuba diving, commercial filming, ecotourism and scientific research being our specialities.”

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