We have measured the carbon isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in bottom waters of the Ontong Java Plateau (western equatorial Pacific) and on the northern Emperor Seamounts (northwest Pacific). Each of these locations is several hundred miles from the nearest Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) stations, and the observed Δ13C values at each site differ substantially from regionally averaged GEOSECS Δ13C profiles. We discuss the possible causes of these differences, including horizontal variability, near-bottom effects, and problems with the Pacific GEOSECS Δ13C data. We also measured the isotopic composition (C and O) of core top C. wuellerstorfi from a depth transect of cores at each location. The Δ18O data are used to verify that our samples are Holocene. Comparison of foraminiferal and bottom water Δ13C values shows that this species faithfully records bottom water Δ13C at both sites and demonstrates that there is no depth-related artifact in the dissolved inorganic carbon-C. wuellerstorfi Δ13C relationship at these sites.