Mandelbrot Monkey: The Evacuation

Monday, 6 June

I woke up in the early morning to the thumping of Minku on the roof. It was raining pretty steadily, which made me a bit concerned about actually making it back to the mainland today. As I lay in my sleeping bag debating whether or not I should get up yet (3-4 hours until company should arrive), I thought I heard a distance voice. At first I thought I was just hearing things, but then I heard it again, sounds that were definitely man-made.

I checked my radio, unsure if it was coming from the radio or outside.

“Hello, is someone there?” No response.

I stepped outside and heard it again – definitely human voices, and even a few English words. In my groggy state I realized it must be for me, if there was English. I rushed down to the beach and saw a fishing boat at the beach.

Are they stuck? Are there here to pick me up? Is this an actual evacuation? Why didn’t someone radio me?

I tried the radio again to see if anyone back at the station knew what was going on, but no response. It was almost 6:30am, so they were likely still asleep and knew nothing about this.

I waved at the boat driver, who waved back and gestured for me to come out there. I raised up my hand, hoping he understood I meant to say “I’ll be right back!” and ran back to the cabin to quickly throw all my important stuff into a bag. (My previous evacuation drill actually had me quite prepared, as I had already once decided what I should and shouldn’t bring back.

I had my large back-pack filled and two empty water jugs, and started towards the beach. In a rush I tied my hiking shoes to my bag and wore my sandals, since I’d just be going to the beach and over a few rocks (it was high tide). On my way down I passed the tent and solar panels, realizing I should probably not leave them out, but guessing I’d be back later in the day with Andrew et al. Unless, they were picking me up so early because a storm was coming, in which case we couldn’t come back…but…the boat was waiting, the panels were waterproof, and I had previously placed rocks inside the corners of the tent to help keep in grounded. And, i’d likely be back soonish.

I reached the beach and decided just to cut through the water to get closer to the boat to avoid climbing on rocks. It seemed like a good idea since I was wearing sandals anyways, but it was not. As I approached the rocks my sandal slipped partly off my foot right before I stepped onto what I assume was a barnacle-covered rock, which then sliced into my toe. It didn’t feel like much and there wasn’t anything I could really do anyways, so I kept going. Getting onto the rocks, I looked down and saw a small amount of blood, but it didn’t hurt (thanks, adrenaline). I managed to haul my backpack and water containers onto the boat with no further injuries. I thanked the boat driver, and he said some things to me in Japanese I didn’t understand, but I assume had to do with either how long he had been calling for me, or how quickly I had come.

We made the 3 minute boat ride to the dock, where I thanked him again and jumped onto the mainland! I noticed a pool of blood collecting in my sandal, but still not much pain. Too bad I left my first aid kit on the island, assuming I wouldn’t need it on the short trip back!

I entered the field station a little before 7am, and everyone was still asleep. I set my gear down at a table and unpacked some of my things. It didn’t take any time at all to decide the first thing I should do was shower.

I realized people would be confused if they awoke to find my things in my absence, especially the lantern whose flashing emergency lights would not turn off (thanks to the events of my previous evacuation drill), so I wrote a note on the dry erase board “The Ghost of Kelly has Returned.”

I turned on the water heater (or so I thought) and jumped in the shower, quickly realizing that the water heater was already on, and I actually turned it off. But, I didn’t care, and the water was no colder than my stream showers the previous week. Oh, the feeling of being clean!

After my cold shower, everyone was still asleep, but soon the site manager arrived to the station, surprised by my presence. I explained to him how I returned, at which point Andrew heard voices and entered saying something along the lines of “What the heck??”

It became apparent to everyone that I was picked up early with the expectation that the weather would not be suitable to return anytime soon.

“Surprise!” Andrew said, “There are three typhoons on the way.”

“What exactly are the criteria for a storm to be considered a typhoon?” I asked, realizing I didn’t actually know what a typhoon was.

“It’s basically a hurricane.”

“Ohh….”

The worst part of this was that this afternoon Andrew was planning to administer the second dose of anti-parasite medicine to the monkeys. Without this, the parasite part of the study was out. D:’

Fortunately, with a bit of negotiating they were able to arrange an hour-long trip back to the island, leaving in 10 minutes.

In a rush we prepared the medication (on apple slices this time). We woke up Cecile and her friend Clemence with “Hey, your only time to go to the island during your visit is NOW!” I wrapped my toe in kleenex and put on my boots, thinking, at least I now have an excuse to take a second (hot) shower.

We arrived back at the island and the monkeys were nowhere in site. After a while with enough noise from the boat's megaphone and site manager, the main group arrived. The brief trip to the island was enough for me to confirm I have indeed learned the monkey identifications, for the medicine to be administered, and for me put away the solar panels and double-check I didn’t leave anything important (I did a surprisingly good job in the morning rush, though now I’m realizing at this point I should have retrieved the dang first aid kit!!).

*Photos by Clemence