Climate zone crazy

Aloha

 This island is a natural scientists paradise. yesterday I traveled back to beach 69 with a few friends from class and because I was just riding in the car got to really experience the beauty of this island. As we drove the 1.5 hours from Hilo to the Kona coast, over the north tip of the island I experienced an array of climate zones. Beginning in Hilo we traveled the winding roads along the tropical Hamakua coast. Every valley you pass over as you drive houses a large array of tropical foliage and some sort of magnificent waterfall breaking though the trees over rocks and to beautiful sprigs below. 










Entering into Waimea the scenery goes from rainforest to more of a rainy grass land area and then as soon as you can see the coast the land scape goes barren.

Waimea 

Few trees sprout from the dry, harsh land and all you can see for miles is dirt and lava rock. It is absolutely incredible to see how quickly the environment changes. This drastic change also serves as an amazing place for studying and comparing different climate zones and their organisms as well as how they interact with one another.

Area between Wiamea and the coast

Rainbows as we entered Wiamea coming back
from the coast. :)



         Once on the coast I got to share what real, developed and striving coral reefs look like to one of my friends in my class. While we went snorkeling as a class at 4 mile here on the Hilo side, the reefs on this side of the island are not really reefs at all, rather they are very small coral communities. Coral communities are individual coral colonies scattered about on a rocky sandy bottom. In short the snorkeling on the Hilo side when we went was awful, but the snorkeling at 69 has yet to dissapoint. There were schools of colorful tropical fish everywhere, a huge pufferfish, a parrotfish that was at least a foot and a half long and two green sea turtles. We also tried our hand at a little rock running while we were in the water. For those of you who don't know rock running is where you have a brick or large rock at the sandy bottom of the ocean, you hold onto it and you run along the bottom until you run out of breath. Then of course you swim back up to the surface. It is used as a training tool for paddle boarding, hawaiian canoeing and other water sports here on the island.














Aloha

The People You Meet

Aloha,

One of my goals when I go to a new place is to fit in. I have a huge problem with being seen as a tourist so I do everything I can to look an act like a local wherever life takes me. Some places are more difficult to accomplish this task than others but in most circumstances I have been sucessful. My fist steps in fitting in always includes learning the lingo, as long as it is not a completely different language, dressing like a local and learning how they interact with one another so I can do the same. Today I met a few people who helped me to expand on my blending in. One of the things that I have noticed since I have been on the Big Island is that the locals always are willing to lend a helping hand, and provide advice to one another. While this is a decent sized community everyone is here to help everyone else. I learned some very insightful cultural norms today while wandering around downtown Hilo from auntie Bev, a lady I met in a Go Local t-shirt shop, which is kinda funny cause she was helping me become more like a local. :) "First" she said, "It is very expensive to live here so you have to look for the sales. The sunday news paper is alway good at showing you where those are. It is also good for finding a job. Second." she told me "go to the farmers market! It is the best place to get any kind of fruit and vegetables you want for really cheap." and finally she told me "honey, don't let any one short change you. You have to let them know your a local, show respect to your elders by calling them auntie or uncle and take pride in what you get to experience because it is a wonderful place." she also gave me a flower and explained that you notice a lot of women around the island wearing flowers in their ears. She said it is  not just for show or a fashion statement, a flower in the right ear tells people that you are single and a flower in the left lets them know you are taken :). As I walked out of the shop, putting the flower in my right ear, all I could think about was what a neat idea it was.

 Continuing my walk through town I stopped in a dive shop to see if I could finish my advanced certification through their dive masters. Of course I ran into yet another lovely person who kindly introduced herself, said she too went to the University of Hawaii and offered me a job in the dive shop. Let me tell you this if I keep getting offers to work in dive shops down here, this being the second time, I am eventually going to take someone up on it! :)

Aloha from this beautiful Big Island and I will have more to share soon :)

Eat Local

Aloha,

         Since I have been on the Big Island I have been working up to writing one of my blogs on all of the unique food found around the island. So far I have accumulated a good number of local foods that I have tried. I have been absolutely dumfounded by the abundance of fruits on the island and let me tell you those of us on the mainland have no clue what fruit is. If you can, I highly suggest going to your market's exotic food section and looking for these fruits cause they are amazing. 

So here it goes!!! My very incomplete, for sure going to be added to, hopefully I can describe the food, food blog or I guess fruit blog, that I have been quite excited to finally get to put together :) 

Starting things off with a bang here, I gonna go strait for my favorite new fruit, Lychee. While at first I was very skeptical about this fruit with its rough red skin and very bitter outer peal, I was pleasantly suprised the sweet, juicy white flesh beneath. I soon decided I could not get enough of this wonderful fruit. I am going to fail in describing what lychee tastes like right off the bat here, I have no idea how to describe it. The fruit has a very distinct flavor that cannot be compared to anything I have ever had before. It is very sweet and a bit strong when you try it for the first time. The best part is not only does lychee taste wonderful but it is really good for you, containing more vitamin C than an orange and about the same amount of dietary fiber as an apple. 

The second fruit is the liliko'i also known as passion fruit, (momentary freak out because after looking at the flowers of the liliko'i plant I honestly think we have one in our yard, parents you know where it is!) This fruit comes in yellow (the type I had) and purple varites. It had a little bit of a sour hint to it but is sweet as well. The fruit looks somewhat like a lemon and when you cut it open it has many seeds suspended in a orange mucusy (ok probably not the best word choice) like substance. Practically everything from pancake syrup to ice cream is flavored with liliko'i here. 

While some of you might have had the previous two fruits I am guessing the next fruit is one you are not familiar with. Chico sapote, as a whole fruit is brown. To me it looked like a cross between a kiwi and a pear but the inside proved to show no resemblance. The inside is an yellow orangish color and the texture of the fruit is something between the mixture of custard and an a cooked spaghetti squash. While the texture was interesting the flavor was amazing, it was like eating juicy, refreshing honey put into fruit form. I was also told that there are different types of sapote, one of  my friends said he has eaten one that tastes like chocolate especially if you add a very small amount of coco powder, which supposedly brings out the chocolate flavor. 

I hate to cut this so short but I am off to my sharks lab :) Wish us luck! Hopefully we will catch some sharks to tag today!!!

Aloha

Go Snorkeling with a marine biologist!

Aloha!

After going an whole week with beautiful weather, Hilo has finally gone back to its usual rainy self. It had rained so many times in the last two days that I have lost track. The rain however did not keep my coral reefs class from going out in the field for lab on Monday nor does it really effect any activities. I guess you just learn to accept the rain and know that it will be gone in little while. On Monday my coral reefs class, combined with the turtles class made our way to Richardson's Beach Park for our first snorkel lab. After assessing the conditions and taking note of the couple dozen "warning: strong rip current zone" signs we decided to scope out a new location. We ventured north up the coast a bit to four mile, decided conditions were workable and got in the water. While the current was very strong and it took a whole lot of effort to keep yourself from being pushed backwards, let alone swim forward, the water was fairly warm and I was glad to be getting my feet wet in a little marine biology...literally. At first it was really difficult to see due to the high energy of the waves stirring up the sediment on the bottom of the ocean, however we eventually met up with our professor and a whole new world was revealed. Let me tell you there is something incredible about being in the water with an experienced marine biologist. My two buddies and I had seen a whole lot of nothing up until that point, but the moment we met up with our professor the marine organisms were everywhere!!! With in a matter of minuets we saw two brittle stars, a green sea turtle, a puffer fish, and a sea cucumber!!! It was crazy!

Common Name: Spiny Brittle Star

Scientific Name: Ophiocoma erinaceus

The brittle star is said to be Hawai'i's most abundant echinoderm. There are 57 known species of brittle stars found in the Hawai'ian waters.  These little organisms move very quickly along the bottom of the ocean once their hiding places are disturbed. (we found them hiding under rocks) The spiny arms of brittle stars are their fist line of defense, breaking off if they are attacked to get away from the predator. No worries though the lost limbs regenerate very quickly. (Hoover, 1999)

Common Name: Green Sea Turtle

Scientific Name: Chelonia mydas

The Green Sea Turtle is one of the largest turtles on earth getting up to 700lbs. Unlike most sea turtles, as adults Green Sea turtles are herbivores, consuming algae off of rocks. Sadly these turtles are endangered and much of the decline is due to human actives such as net fishing and encroachment on nesting land. (National Geographic 2012)

Common Name: Stripebelly Puffer

Scientific Name: Arothron hispidus


Puffers were given their name to due their self defense mechanisms of puffing themselves up when alarmed. There are 14 species of puffers that have been recorded in Hawai'i. If you are wondering it had a very soft almost jelly like feel and the skin was mucusy in texture due to the mucus produced by the fish in order to keep disease and such from entering the body (Randall, 1996).

Sorry y'all I have no clue what type of sea cucumber this is... I will identify it and inform you later :) although the hawaiian name that includes all cucumbers is loli.

Most cucumbers are soft bodied, and they feed by sweeping their mouths along the bottom of the ocean like a vaccume. A funny fact is that sea cucumbers not only use their anus for excrement, but it is also the location of their respiratory system. As they contract and release their muscles water flows in and out of the anal opening rushing over respiratory trees which extract the oxygen from the water (Hoover, 1999).

As for today, Tuesday, I did not do much of anything other than go to class and read some research papers about sharks.

Tomorrows my day off so hopefully I will have some wonderful stories to tell!!!

Aloha!

Enchanted by the Environment

Aloha!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been very busy and by the time the end of the day and blogging time rolls around I have been too tired to write anything interesting. So I guess I will start with Friday and my Sharks lab.

Despite the lack in shark catch we did have a wonderful
view of Hilo from our boat stationed in Hilo bay. 

Friday night around 6:30 we climbed aboard the Makani Aha, the marine science programs boat, and  began preparing for our four hour shark fishing trip. The purpose of our fishing for sharks is to obtain information on them including size, and sex and then we tag in order to receive information on them in the future. When we catch a shark we place it between the inflatable zodiac boat and the Makani Aha and then preform our measurements and such. While these tasks sound quite invigorating, and slightly dangerous we did not exactly have the picture perfect lab experience like we all were looking forward to. Rather our lab turned out to be nothing more than a glorified, failed, night time fishing trip. We had nine fishing poles and a benthic line with 40 hooks on it along the bottom of the ocean but we caught nothing more than a measly wahoo. The trip was incredibly fun however. Its amazing how quickly you can make friends when trying, with out much success to untangle two fishing lines with only a small head lamp as your light source. We are hoping the fishing will pick up in the weeks to follow, but like my professor said, "its called fishing for sharks rather than shark catching for a reason." 


Moving onto Saturday when the real adventures began. 

One of my favorite beaches along the Kohala Coast
Beach 69.

This was the view from our lovely, slightly
hidden location on Beach 69. 

My day began and mostly consisted of hanging out  with friends at beach 69 on the Kohala coast. Some of us were literally hanging out... 

At one point a few of the boys decide to try some yoga on the beach. While it did not work out very well and both of them ended up completely covered in sand it made for a good picture. 

We collected coconuts and cut them open, drinking the water and eating the fleshy fruit inside. I have never been particularly fond of coconuts but the water was absolutely delicious. I was also very amazed by how different coconuts could taste based on their age. Some were strong and  almost bitter in flavor while those which were older were extremely sweet. 

 Our goal for the day was to watch the sun set over the water since being on the east side of the island deprives one of the magnificent sunsets. After a week of not seeing the sun set we were given one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. At first it looked as if it was not going to be very impressive due to the clouds but as the sun got closer to the water it lit the ocean and sky on fire. 

As we began to drive up the coast towards Hawi (Pronounced Havi) I got to experince something I have been dying to experience for quite some time...
       Have you ever been amazed by what organisms in our environment could do? Ever experienced a phenomemon in which you could do nothing more than absorb it? Some things are impossible to explain, impossible to capture on film, they are things which can only be experienced in real life. Those who have experienced such happenings strive for a way to convey their experience but find that the only way to do their observations justice is to bring others to experience the phenomenon themselves.
       I have been intrigued by bioluminescence for a very long time now. I have seen videos and heard of people talk about the bioluminescent experiences they have had but I had never gotten the chance to experience such a magical organismal feature until Saturday. The experience was more than I could have ever imagined. I was more amazed by what organisms in our environment are capable of than I have ever been before. If you do not know what bioluminescence is, it is the ability of certain organisms to glow in the dark. It is seen in jellyfish, some sharks, fish, squid, corals and plankton. I was treated with bioluminescent plankton on the Kohala coast. In the pitch dark, Kanoe, Nathan and I made our way down to the water over the large basaltic lava rocks that line the coast. Simply going down to sit by the water and maybe go for a night swim we were met by quite an incredible suprise. As the waves crashed up against the rocks, thousands of tiny blue flashes occured. Deep in the water it looked as if there was a lightning show in the ocean. I got down in the water and began splashing around, creating a glowing film below my feet. It was one of those moments in which I was completely at awe, unable to completely comprehend what I was seeing. It is always so incredible what nature is capable of!!! It was almost as if my brain was unable to wrap around the idea that the sea was glowing. 


I hate to do this because no video will ever compare to experiencing bioluminescent organisms in person but I wanted y'all to be able to experience it in some way. This bioluminescent plankton is being stirred up by the wake of a boat. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m9MRbG1Nkk


I have also included a TED talk on bioluminescence...Like I said I love TED talks!!! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IThAD5yKrgE


As we continued up the coast to Hawi (pronounced Havi) we stopped in town to experience a local concoction known as Kava. Kava is a root made into a drink by soaking it in water just after it had been pulled out of the ground. As my roommate put it "Kava is basically dirty root water." And that is basically what it tastes like dirty, slightly bitter water. Kava is said to have many health benefits and it supposedly acts as a relaxant although all I really noticed was a slight numbing of my tongue after drinking it. While I don't recommend trying the plain Kava unless you want to say you have experienced it, I do recommend the kava mixed with coconut milk and honey, which was really quite delicious. 



After spending the night in Hawi I made my way back towards Hilo, stoping momentarily at Pololu valley, although it was a very short lived visit due to the high winds and rain headed my way.

While it is a little hard to see because this tree did not
have much bark warn off yet there are usually
greens, yellow, and oranges streaking the
trees making it look as if they have been painted.

 As I drove back I noticed a rainbow eucalyptus which I had to stop to photograph because not only are few and far between but I had never seen one in person and have found them fascinating since seeing photographs of them in a gallery in Kona during spring break. These trees are incredible because as their bark peels off they reveal many different colors of bark underneath. The photo I took did not do the tree much justice but they are really awesome if you can see them in person. I concluded my Sunday with a little home work and some dinner from Island Naturals back on campus and prepared myself for the long day of classes ahead. 




Aloha from the Big Island. 

Dogfish Dissections

Aloha from the Big Island,

Many who hear the words dissection usually cringe. They tend to wonder who would ever want to place themselves in a strongly smelling, poorly ventilated room for hours, hovering, for hours, over a dead, preserved animal of some sort? However the source of some peoples disgust is the driving factor of others fascination. For those who are not into dissections my morning would have been very unpleasant to you. I on the other hand could not have asked for a better way to start my day than with the beginning dissection of a Dogfish Shark. 

*Note while discussing sciency things I will use scientific terms because I think it is important to learn new thing whenever you can and I would be depriving y'all of wonderful knowledge if I put things in layman's terms. So get prepared to learn some anatomy and shark parts terms!!!

Yes that oily stain on the paper is shark juice. If your not getting dirty your not
doing it right. 

My partner and I successfully identified the external anatomy of our shark who we have yet to name (just to let those of you who have never dissected before it is very common to give your specimen a name), and we sort of successfully skinned our shark from the dorsal (back) side to the ventral (stomach) side, just posterior (towards the tail) from the eye to just posterior of the pectoral fin in order to reveal the muscles we needed to identify. Although there were a few jokes about practically butchering the muscle under the skin and making some kind of bad shark sushi with our scapula. Sorry sometimes science humor is a little strange but I'm glad there are some of you who understand it...  

I thought I would share some some cool things I learned about shark anatomy :) you can use the shark sketches to give you an idea of where the part of the shark that I am describing is located. The first cool shark part is the spiracle. The spiracle is an opening posterior (toward the tail) and dorsal (on the back side) from the sharks eye. It is found on both sides of the head and is an incurrent water passageway, which leads into the mouth. It's purpose is in assisting in respiration. The second interesting anatomical feature of the dogfish shark is the Ampullae of Lorenzini. These are patches of pores found around the snout of the shark. They are sensitive to changes in water pressure, changes in temperature, electrical fields and salinity. 

One more cool things about dissections and then I will tell you about the rest of the days experiences. After a fellow group of classmates cut open the stomach of their dogfish they recovered an entire dogfish pup (baby), which was not likely her own, as well as two mostly digested fish heads, which were about the size of my hand. While this does not seem like a ton of food for a shark you have to understand that their shark is about 14 inches long. Therefore the amount and size of the contents of their sharks stomach amazed me! I apologize for the lack of dissection photos but will be sure to post some next Thursday :)

All I have to say is YUM!!!

On other things my roommate, Jen and I ventured to Island Naturals (the Hawaiian equivalent of whole foods, although on a much smaller scale) for a wonderful hawaiian lunch. I went for the hawaiian sweet  potato salad, which is the purple stuff, curried tofu, Japanese noodles, and fajita style chicken. It was all delicious but I could have had just a huge bowl of Japanese noodles and been extremely satisfied. They were amazing!!! Nothing however compared to my new favorite drink...Alo. It is this incredibly sweet, refreshing oddly green drink that I can't seem to get enough of. The strange part is that it has many alo pieces in it that float around but they are actually the best part and make a delicious pop of sweet fluid in your mouth when you squish them. To those of you who have never heard of it, all I have to say is you have to try it. I looked it up online and apparently you can get it at Whole Foods and Safeway... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! :) 

On the island adventuring side of things Kanoe and I met another friend from our coral reef class out at Rainbow falls (it seems to becoming our new after school goto) for a swim and a few dives off of the cliffs. Today we also walked out to the edge of the waterfall. Viewing the massive plunge to the water below was a bit scary but the waterfall from such an angle was really cool. It was also a day that should go down in history because Kanoe taught me how to skip rocks and not only did I attempt it but I actually succeeded in skipping not one, but two rocks across the pristine waters. Now don't get me wrong the fist two rocks I attempted to skip quickly plunged to the depths of the water after making a dramatic splash. However after a few tweaks in my technique by Kanoe, the expert in rock skipping, who not only skipped his rocks marvelously every time but actually succeeded in hitting a rock wall about 40 feet away, I was able to get two skips in by two rocks!!

That seems to conclude my adventures for the day. 

Aloha mainlanders :) Till tomorrow

Secrets of the Big Island

Secrets of the Big Island 

Picture this...driving down a narrow, winding road with the ocean off to your right, violently crashing against the steep cliffs and the rainforest extending tall and thick to your left. Two magnificent forces of nature, both very humbling, guiding you along a small path to your destination. While to some this might seem frightening or unnerving, for me it was magnificent. As I drove along Hawai'i 137 in search of Kanoe (pronounced Ka-no-ee) and Nathan (friends from school) who were waiting to lead me to an incredible beach, I was privileged enough to travel along such a road. The trip to one of the only swimmable and sandy beaches on the windward side of the island was incredible but it was nothing compared to what I was soon to experience. After walking down, ok hiking/climbing, down a rocky path (without shoes of course) a extensive black beach with deep blue waters unfolded before me  and to my surprise many bare booties as well.

 Once I went through the initial shock of being on a nude beach, mostly because I had no idea that it was a nude beach prior to arriving, I began to take in the grandeur of the area. Cliffs reaching up all around us as huge swells washed up one after the other onto the black beach. As the boys tried their hand at body surfing, which they were excellent at of course, I absorbed as much of the ocean as I could. Floating upon the swells as they passed through, preparing to break upon the shore. When the sun began to set lower in the sky Kanoe and I went to explore a near by tide pool. We did not find much but had great time trying to click the camera a just the right time so we could get a cool picture of the waves crashing against the rocks. Let me tell you it was not easy!!! :)

 Once the sun made it clear that it was no longer going to warm us in our oasis we decided to chase it, moving north up the coast to what are known as the warm ponds.

The warm ponds were a welcomed treat after sitting wet from the ocean in the shade. Heated by the volcanic activity of the island, the warm ponds are a mostly natural area in which warm, freshwater bubbles up from the ground and cool salt water flows in from the ocean creating a brackish concoction. Here we spent the last hour before the sun went down warming up and avoiding being attacked by tiny fish, which seemed to really enjoy attempting to eat our ankles for dinner.

Ahalanui Park
Home of the warming ponds

I apologize for the short posting but I am exhausted from the sun, water and waves :) hard life I know. Hopefully the pictures make up for the length and tomorrow you will get to hear all about my fist day of Dogfish dissections. :)