Ed, first, if you make it, great, if you don't, keep looking. We have dug enough
holes to dispose of all the trash in Metro Manila and have spare.
Some good advice here, I have been reading through the threads. Set down, slow
down, get a large sheet of white paper on a board and walk the island with a
compass. Map every old tree, every white rock outcrop, stream and places that
make your hair on the back of your neck register.
After finally looking at your pics. this is a limestone/coral island. In one pic you can
see the surf starting to build off shore. That is no doubt a low coral reef. The Japs
were symbolic in about everything they did. Shinto to the bone. Don't let
excitement
have you reading signs into rocks. Man, have we been through that. Because the
island is so loaded with salt, metal detectors will have a hard time working there.
Borrow or what ever something like an 808 which is easy to operate and replace
batteries. Scan the island for any scrap, old ammo dump, construction metal etc.
The island most likely was an observation post manned by no more than 40 men.
The eye witness may have seen them bring onshore supplies or radio equipment.
Animal markings other than Bird is very rare. The heart is always the gateway, the
entrance. In Shinto the heart is the entrance to the person or persona. This site IS
NOT a blow hole, in the pics.. You should reconfirm it was in fact oil or oily mud
you found. If oil, there is no other explanation other than put there by man. I have
seen Jap cement mixed with limestone or coral that even fooled me and I was a
mining geologist. It was only the old men insisting that kept us going to the successful
end.
Use the metal detector and scan for any small thing someone may have left outside
the hole. Often at the drip line of the largest tree or in a collection of rocks where
heavy surf hits. We once spent 3 years digging a hell hole. Pulled out 2 trucks,
bombs, fuel drums, the dead etc. etc. and spent a lot of money. One day one of my
tribals went to the river below to fish among the rocks. Looked down and found a
6.2kg bar shoved into a hole in a rock. Apparently one Jap solder was not all that
honest and sneaked out a bar for himself and tried to hide it at the river. Eventually
we found the source of the bars inside. We sure needed that find to keep us going
though.
I agree, this hole is far from the end.
I would need to smell the gas to identify it. If you are having a hard time washing out
the smell with salt water, it may not be organic but rather chemical. Dry dead smell like
an old burnt cigar or formaldehyde, wet deat or more toxic. If not organic you have gasoline, diesel, fuel oil.. Old gasoline is very toxic especially aviation gas. We once pulled out a stack
of depth charge setting on top of several fuel drums. We were delayed 5 months to
air out the tunnel. Finally we flooded it and washed out the fuel, then pumped it out
dry. If there is a fuel drum, it is always setting on top of some explosive. The good
thing is, being all salt water, the likely that it is still active is low, unless it was
waterproofed with wax or tar before being placed. In any case. If you find a drum
or metal can, DO NOT PULL ON IT !! Dig besides it and go down parallel. ((That applies to ANYTHING you find. If you find a buddha, you can count it will be setting on top of an explosive)) Then study what the column is and how it is structured. Deactivation is not that hard, just you only get one chance to make a mistake.
Zobex
(just joking man...)
That will be Cool
