In addition to being a wildlife refuge, Midway serves another purpose: it's the Pacific's go-to place for medical emergencies and mechanical failures. We've got a Physician's Assistant on island to attend to any injuries or illnesses as well as a fully operational airport facility that can receive any aircrafts wishing to refuel or even land safely in the event of, well, something bad.

Just in the time that I've been here, there have been quite a few events along these lines.

In early March there was a worker aboard a Chinese ship that had crushed his hand. They sailed here so that he could be brought on island to be looked after and then flown to Honolulu.

In this really bad picture, you can see the ship just off the reef.

Later, this Coast Guard plane arrived here to refuel on its way to a rescue mission. The crew was looking for a sailboat somewhere between here and the Aleutians that was sending out a distress call. Turns out the signal was a mistake and everybody was okay. Good thing because that's a HUGE search area.

Just last week, we had a visitor group that was on their way back to Honolulu when one of the plane's engines failed 45 minutes out (!). With only one working propeller and engine, they were able to turn around and land here safely. Yikes.

On a slightly different note, we were recently treated to the arrival of the Kahana, a US Fish and Wildlife freighter boat. Everyone gets really excited about this because the Kahana brings supplies and goodies such as fresh fruit, soda and most importantly, beer. I was excited about this because the Kahana was on my favorite show, LOST.

You know, the freighter that blew up?

Yup, it was that very boat. Don't worry everyone, I got pictures.