Tues. 01 Mar, 2022 starts 7:30 pm on Zoom (due to COVID-19 concerns)
Speaker: David Hoar
Topic: Micronesian Islands – Chuuk to Pohnpei (links to YouTube recording of Zoom presentation)
I was doing DNA studies of peoples from remote populations, and was negotiating with a local physician to obtain blood samples from Pohnpei natives.
We did dives on many WWII wrecks in Truk Lagoon (now known as Chuuk), then travelled east to Oroluk (population of 5!), Atoll of Ant (population zero), and ended up in Phonpei, which has an amazing and fascinating archaeological ruin that should be considered one of the “Wonders of the World”. I plan to show this trip and its amazing sights both beneath the tropical seas and on the islands.
The ship we lived aboard for about 10 days in November of 1988 still operates in Chuuk, and does dive charters, particularly on the wrecks of Truk.
David Hoar is a retired Molecular Geneticist who served on the faculty of University of Toronto, University of Calgary and University of British Columbia during his working career as a research scientist, teacher and consultant. Research interests were in DNA genetic diagnosis, forensic DNA identification, and most recently as a consultant in tissue matching for the B.C. Transplant Program.
Since retirement in 1991 until recently, David and wife Noreen have spent their summers exploring the B.C. and Alaska Coasts by boat. In the winters they prefer to travel to warmer climates, but have travelled to the extremes of the Arctic and the Antarctic. While on such adventures, their focus has been on underwater life in the past, but is now more about above water wildlife, and particularly, the birds. At home in Tsawwassen they are active members of the Delta Naturalists Casual Birding Group.
Delta Naturalists Society 