Ship Time

On Ship Time was 1800 today.  That meant everyone had to be on the ship by that time, or they would be penalized at the next port with their departure time. One of the previous librarians said that watching the students run for the ship at the last minute was great entertainment. The deans had made a big point of "ship time", and suggested that we be back a couple of hours early so that we wouldn't get caught in a long checkin line. One of my entertainment plans for the day was totally wrecked, because everyone student was on the ship on time.  What a great group of kids.

Day 2 in Hilo was spent with everyone going in different directions.  You can tell by pink faces that the beach was popular (no sunburns that I can see).  I know that one FDP ended up whale watching and getting to listen to whale sounds.  Another group went snorkeling.

Our trip was the "Ecosystem Services in Hawai'i" and was led Mark White.  We left at 7am, and everyone was there for the two vans in spite of the early hour.  Our van driver, Al, is a native Hawai'ian, and kept us entertained and impressed us with his vast knowledge of everything from spam to volcanoes. I asked Al about the lack of presence of police in Hilo, and he explained that most of them drove their private cars--like Cadillac Escalades.  Hmmmmm. He drove us to the Ka'u Preserve, a native forest managed by the Nature Conservancy where we were led through the deep rain forest by several of their guides. The vegetation was quite lush, and we were peppered with plant names and whether they were indigenous or introduced. They are doing good work to let the original species take over.

This requires trapping pests like the wild pigs who do more damage than I expected. It seems to be really working, and the watershed will be much improved as a result of the work.

 Tahlor spotted one growth on a tree that looked like a face, so I have to include it.

Next we went to the Punalu'u beach made of black sand for a box lunch and a chance to see  sea turtles basking.  This guy had a shell that was about 30 in long.  Two women who are part of the "Hawksbilll Turtle Recovery Project" gave us a nice presentation of the Hawksbill turtles.  These turtles lay eggs on the black beaches, and the volunteers chart the egg laying and hatching of the babies.  This requires that they camp on the beaches for 6 days and monitor the nests where the eggs are buried.  They tag the females and report that more mothers laid eggs this year than any year since they started keeping records.  This is truly a labor of love.  As an aside, while we were there, we saw a bird that looked like a yellow canary, and that was exactly what it was.  They live in the wild.  The other plentiful bird is the beautiful Mynah Bird.

Back on the vans for a trip to the Jagger Museum to learn about volcanoes.  Unfortunately,the museum was closed because of high levels of sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere from one of the volcanoes.  We did get to go to the visitor center and see  the Kilauea Iki Crater that was spewing steam. This crater can hold a football field.  Back on the buses for our return to the ship with a quick stop by the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory.  I'm already addicted to the dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  We didn't get the tour, but Al the driver says it reminds him of the "I Love Lucy" episode in the candy factory.

And back to the ship on time and an 8pm departure from the port to Honolulu.  I have to say that we saw lots of stuff today, but equally as valuable was the great conversations that we had with the guides, drivers and among ourselves. I could have easily stayed a week on the Big Island.