“From moment to moment I was overwhelmed by the absolute tranquility of the environment. It’s a feeling I never felt in my life. It’s a feeling I found nowhere in the world but here in paradise. I realized now the true meaning of tranquility. From thereon, I started appreciating nature,” he said.
His short visit in paradise has changed his heart, he added.
Staring at the volcanic island through the window of the plane on its way back to Saipan, Cabrera said he realized that Pagan “can be an eco-tourism island and can be sustainable if we implement the right rules and regulations and preserve and protect its natural resources.”
Cabrera said he went to Pagan to look into its potential for pozzolan mining.
He said he still believes that it can be another major source of income for the CNMI.
“It is also very clear that the islands north of Saipan have an abundant and untouched healthy marine life. Their eco-system is perfectly balanced,” he added.
“I learned from my biology class in college about microorganism and the life cycle of marine life. There are primary cycle and secondary cycle of marine life in the Marianas. The primary cycle of marine life generates around the islands. The lagoon, reefs and the submerged cliff of the island provide the main source of food for all marine life.”
Cabrera believes that the waters surrounding the Northern Islands are teeming with microorganisms like plankton.
“Planktons move by ocean current or wave action and can be anywhere on the surface of the ocean. Planktons are part of the marine life’s cycle.
They are delicate and can be easily destroyed by pollutants or a poisonous chemical spill in the water. If the planktons are destroyed the life cycle stops and the rest of the marine life will die and it will take centuries for the marine life in the ocean to recover,” he said.
Cabrera cited the sad example of the Puerto Rico dumpsite on Saipan that was shut down by the federal government years ago.
The marine life there was destroyed, he said. “We can no longer fish in that area because the water is polluted with a lot of poisonous and cancerous chemicals.”
Hazardous materials spilled into the waters near the dumpsite, destroying the primary and secondary life cycles of the marine life there, Cabrera said.
“The lagoon and the beach are dead and have a foul odor. The secondary life cycle continues outside the reef or lagoon,” he added.
Terrestrial wonders
Like a child recounting a Walt Disney movie he just saw, Cabrera narrated his adventures on Pagan:
“As we cruised along the south side of the island we sighted four beaches with a lot of coconuts palms. Some were hanging on the side of the cliff and rocks. The unique colorful cliff and beaches with coconut trees were just awesome to look at. It looked like Jurassic Park.
“We turned around and ended at the northern part of the island. We landed at the black sand close to the lake. The lake was surrounded by pine trees that made the lake look green.”
Located near the upper part of the volcano was the hot spring lake, which Cabrera said was more beautiful and much cleaner compared to any other lake in the entire Marianas.
“We didn’t go to the hot spring because we didn’t have the time to go up on the side of the volcano. As we headed back to the middle part of the island far from the bay our boat suddenly stopped.”
(To be continued)
