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We all dreaded
today, but we knew it had to come: a day of sweating our butts off in
the sun getting much-needed video of the Japanese ruins around the island.
We had a tour scheduled to visit the major bunkers and command posts.
We also hoped to get a decent sunset. But first we had a little adventure.
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LMC approaches
beach for a re-creation of World War II beach landings. |
The island has
an old LCM used to ferry people between islands out here. It's a real
beauty, kept in fine shape and running very well too. Tom was able to
get the captain of the LCM to agree to give us a ride so we could get
some video of what it was like to be in an LCM. (You can't see a thing
out of it until the door drops. Must be very scary when people are shooting
at you.)
| Perched
on a fuel tank, Jonathan films the door opening. If only we had a
sherman tank sitting around that we would have driven out! |
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I was secretly
hoping we could run the LCM up on a beach, just like they did in the war.
I couldn't believe our luck when the captain agreed to do it! We found
a nice empty beach and landed on it, dropping the front gate on the sand.
Then I hopped out and they did it again so I could shoot it from the beach.
Incredible!!
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Tom explores
an ammo bunker on Roi as Jonathan shoots |
| Gator standing
in the remains of a reinforced concrete ammo bunker. |
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Next we took the
golf cart on a sight-seeing tour and stopped at every bunker we found
to shoot video. We used the jib a couple times, but managed to break the
tripod that supported it (oops. Sorry Tom!) Finally after about 4 hours
sweating out of pores I never knew I had, we called it a day.
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Christine
has brought her W.W.II references and is looking for clues about the
locations of important historical sites. |
| Inside
a bunker, Tom points to the creature which drooled all over Jonathan.
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Eighteen
inches of steel-reinforced concrete was no match for ship-based artillery!
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| This bunker
provided a nice view of the ocean. Tom keeps the sun off Jonathan
so the camera won't melt! |
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Inside
this command bunker, the rebar hang precariously down from the ceiling.
Who knows how much longer it will remain standing. |
| Christine
documents the ruins on film. |
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The sun was starting
to get low in the sky and conditions were right for a good sunset, so
we headed over to the beach with a fresh tape and battery. After waiting
a half hour, the sky started getting really orange. The sun dropped behind
the clouds, but the colors were spectacular.
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For once
we were in the right place at the right time - an incredible sunset!
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It was a nice
ending to a really long day. Time for some dinner and a little R&R. Tomorrow,
it's back in the water!
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