Northwest Hawaiian Islands 
 
 The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) are a chain of tiny islands, atolls and shoals that spans more than 2000 km of the Pacific. They stretch from Nihoa Island, northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, to Kure Atoll, northwest of Midway. These islands, atolls and banks are remnants of volcanic islands, originally similar to the volcanoes of the Main Hawaiian Islands, which have eroded and subsided beneath the ocean surface. Geologically, the main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands make up the Hawaiian Archipelago, which was formed by active volcanism that continues today on the island of Hawai‘i. The main Hawaiian Islands lie at the southeastern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, with the uninhabited Northwest Hawaiian Islands extending toward Asia. The NWHI are uninhabited except for seasonal field camps on a few islands and a small year-round population on Midway. The coral reef ecosystems of the NWHI are unique in that they are some of the healthiest, most undisturbed coral reefs remaining in the world. The NWHI may be the last large-scale predator-dominated coral reef ecosystem on the planet. 
 
 In 2000 Executive Order 13178 created the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (CRER) and included conservation measures to restrict some activities throughout the CRER. The region's protected status was permanently signed into law in 2006 through Presidential Proclamation 8031, which established the NWHI Marine National Monument as the world's largest marine protected area. It was subsequently renamed Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. 
 
 NWHI Mapping Data Collected 2001-2005 Cruise # 
 
 Date Areas of Study Single-beam w/QTC (km) # Still Photos # Videos Multi-beam (km2) TC0110 
 
 Sep-01 FFS, Brooks, St. Rogatien, Gardner, Raita, Maro 2,963 297 9 - TC0111 
 
 Oct-01 Lisianski, Midway, Pioneer, FFS, Brooks, Necker, Maro 1,717 640 5 - TC0207 
 
 Sep-02 Necker, FFS, Laysan, Pearl & Hermes, Lisianski, Midway, Kure, Maro, Brooks, St. Rogatien, Pioneer 1,309 902 13 - KM206 
 
 Oct-02 Nihoa, Necker, FFS, Brooks, Gardner, Raita, Maro, Lisianski, Laysan, Pioneer, Northhampton Seamounts - - - 38,367 OES0306 
 
 Jul-Aug 03 FFS, Gardner, Maro, Laysan, Lisianski, Midway, Pearl & Hermes, Kure 650 1,894 67 240 HI0401 
 
 Sep-Oct 04 FFS, Maro, Laysan, Pearl & Hermes, Midway, Kure, Lisianski, Necker - - 85 - HI0501 
 
 Apr 05 Nihoa, Necker, FFS, East Brooks - - - 371 HI0503 
 
 May-Jun 05 FFS, East Brooks, Maro, P&H, Midway, Kure - - 12 870 HI0504 
 
 Jun-Jul 05 Ni'ihau/Lehua Rock, Penguin Bank, Molokai (north shore) - - 4 880 HI0505 
 
 Jul 05 Ni'ihau/Lehua Rock, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui - - 28 246 HI0507 
 
 Aug-Sep 05 Surveys of opportunity during NWHI RAMP by survey tech. - - - not totaled HI0508 
 
 Oct 05 Maro Reef & 
 
 seamount west of Kauai - - - 516 TOTALS 6,639 3,733 191 40,364 
 
 Mapping in the NWHI is on-going and multibeam surveys are planned on an annual basis. The bank top areas between 20 and 100m are extensive and still mostly unmapped; for example, Necker Island has an unmapped area of almost 1500 km2 and Gardner Bank, over 2200 km2. Shallow water surveys such as these are very time consuming; typical progress is about 2 km2/hour. Individual mapping priorities are being established by CRER, CRED, and other groups working in the NWHI. Upcoming multibeam surveys are planned first in areas where RPA boundaries are still incomplete, such as Kure, Pearl & Hermes, and Nihoa Island. We will also continue to collect optical validation data whenever possible, in order to provide ground truth information to help interpret the detailed bathymetry data after it has been collected. ||||| It was the largest shipwreck in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, and for nearly 60 years, it was speck out in the Pacific-- waiting to be found. 
 
 Click here to watch Catherine Cruz's report. 
 
 Flashback to 1957. 
 
 The USS Mission San Miguel had left Guam enroute to Seattle. 
 
 But the military tanker ran aground on Moro reef and the crew was forced to abandon ship. 
 
 And no one set eyes on it until two weeks ago. 
 
 "It was 80 feet in water is where it sits. And its sandy bottom there and we think that 20 feet of the ship is still under the sand," said Jason Raupp, marine heritage field leader. 
 
 Marine archeologists had expected to find a ship in pieces. 
 
 "Instead you have a largely intact structure with the steering wheel and helm still standing and it was a pretty exciting moment," said Raupp. 
 
 The find in the remote area of the National Monument came as part of a larger expedition mapping the coral reefs in the marine preserve. 
 
 "We were there four days and they spent 3/4 of their time looking for the San Miguel.” said Scott Goodwin, chief scientist onboard the NOAA ship-- the Hi’ialaka. 
 
 Two marine science students were along the research cruise and were crestfallen after they didn’t find their target after searching for almost a day and a half. 
 
 "And you are like, oh, my gosh. Are we ever going to find this? We spent so much time why can’t we find this at this spot," said Melissa Price, an masters student at East Carolina University. 
 
 "I have been interested in the Pacific Northwest islands since I was in middle school and I have always wanted to go out there," said University of Hawaii marine biology senior Rebecca Weible. 
 
 But the budding marine scientists would not be disappointed. 
 
 "Our coxwain was great. He kept his eye on the sounder and he saw some reef on the sounder and he said you should dive here. So we jumped overboard. 
 
 And I had a look at these two and their eyes were pie plates so it was great it was one of those aha moments," said Raupp. 
 
 Raupp says they got lucky. Visibility was exceptional and with just one day left scheduled in the area--they had just enough time to record these images and begin documenting the wrecksite for future visits. 
 
 A lesson in mapping the monument and bringing the past back to the future.
– The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a chain of almost entirely uninhabited islands, atolls, and shoals that stretch across some 1,250 miles of the Pacific. Amid that large expanse has slumbered what's considered the largest shipwreck to have occurred in the islands: the Mission San Miguel, a naval tanker used in World War II and the Korean War. Now, a three-person dive team has finally found its resting place some 80 feet below the surface. "I turn around and [see] this giant, looming structure, so eerie," a maritime archaeologist tells Hawaii News Now of the Aug. 3 discovery. "This is a ship that wasn't a glamorous part of World War II history, but was an important part," adds the maritime heritage coordinator for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The tanker was responsible for transporting fuel to machines used in the wars and had been recognized a number of times for its service. It was traveling to Seattle from Guam in 1957 when it hit a reef. The crew was unharmed, but the ship was lost. The marine archaeologists had been mapping the area's coral reefs, though the group's main focus was the search for the San Miguel, which they expected to have broken into pieces. "Instead you have a largely intact structure with the steering wheel and helm still standing," the field leader of the dive team tells KITV. "We think that 20 feet of the ship is still under the sand." Though the vessel will undergo further study, it'll remain in the national monument's protected waters.