Time to catch up

Wow, I have so much to write about, it's hard to know where to start! Midway was the trip of a lifetime. It's such an amazing place and I can't wait to share it with you. But, we'll start with the fun Sarah, Michele, and I had during their visit to Oahu last week.

The girls got to Honolulu on Wednesday around noon and we spent that day catching up, seeing Waikiki, eating puka dogs, and cooking dinner and chatting the night away at the bunkhouse. Our first outing was to Hanauma Bay on Thursday.



As you can see, it's unbelievably gorgeous and generally has good snorkeling. Unfortunately, the water conditions were a bit rough, so we couldn't see all that much. I'm not a big snorkeler anyway, I get panicky about the breathing, but it was a great day at the beach. The weather was a bit windy, but beautiful for the most part.



And here are my girls upon seeing the beautiful place we'll be spending the next few hours. Hanauma Bay is one of two places where I've felt like Dorothy walking out of the black and white Kansas farmhouse into a Technicolor Oz - all of a sudden your whole world is colorful. (Buchart Gardens in British Columbia is the other)



Our trip to Hanauma Bay ended with an unusual sighting - the nasty mongoose! These awful creatures were brought in to deal with Hawaii's rat problem in the late 19th century(rats were introduced to Hawaii via shipwrecks). However, there was one problem with that solution: mongooses are active during the day and rats are active at night. So instead of ridding Hawaii of rats, mongooses wreaked havoc on native species and continue to eat the eggs and chicks of endangered birds, so the folks I work with have a special hatred for them.



The picture isn't that great because the buggers are fast, but if you click and can zoom in you can see it a bit better.

More to come: shave ice, Shark's cove, kayaking, and as always, malasadas!

One day between busy times

Pink clouds at Shark's Cove at dusk

Today is my one day between when Sarah and Michele were here visiting and when I leave for Midway Atoll. I'll be on Midway Tuesday through Thursday of this week, so I definitely won't be posting those three days. But, when I get back I'll have lots to post about my adventures with the girls and on Midway. So far there will be tales of kayaking and turtles, shrimp and chicks, snorkeling and yellow jeeps. After Midway there might even be some bird poop to talk about. Yippee.

My exciting news for the day: I just voted!! Well, I just filled out my absentee ballot and still need to find a stamp and mail it. Go vote. And, if you want my advice, go vote for Obama.

Roll Call!

Hi everyone! I've been getting an increased number of hits lately, and I'd love to hear about who's checking out the blog. If you'd like to say hi in the comments please do, and let me know where you're from and a little about yourself!

Mahalo!

Is this really an adventure?

My latest endeavor here in Hawaii is not so much fun for me. I'm a runner now. Well, how many times do you have to go running to be a runner? I figure the new shoes and the mega sports bra and the fact that my trainer wants me to run a 5K in November are sufficient. I'm a runner. And I hate it. I haven't run with any consistency (you know, other than to catch the Metro) since high school p.e. and I have to tell you, I was much better at it back then. Right now I don't have a whole lot of confidence that I'll be running three miles in a row in just six weeks, but apparently I will be.

I know, I know, it's so good for me and will probably be the exercise most helpful in "releasing the fat" (not my words - thank trainer Laura for that phrase). And I know it'll get easier if I keep at it. The one good thing is that I have to go for a run by myself on either Saturdays or Sundays and that's when I get to remember how great it is to be in Honolulu right now. There's one street I really like on the way to Kapiolani Park that is almost a canopy of trees, always shady, and with a bit of mystery. And then my lungs give out and I'm reminded that I have a long ways to go... Oh well, as long as I get it done, right?

I need a moment of zen...


Tunnels Beach on Kaua'i

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

This is the reason Trish and I were sent to Maui in the first place - to see Kealia Pond. I should have put an emphasis on "see." I was not told I would be put to work pulling weeds in the hot sun in the middle of the day. Once you see the pictures of how dry it is, you might understand how dirty we got. There is no photographic evidence of the filth, because I was way too grumpy to take pictures at that point. It was not good. My jeans and tshirt are still dirt-stained, so that should give you some idea. Here's a tip: never make me wake up at 4:00 in the morning to catch a plane and then make me do yard work. That's why I got an education!

Now for the refuge. It's located on the isthmus of Maui, fairly close to the airport in Kahului. It's open for public visits so stop by and say hi sometime! There is one really big pond and several smaller ponds (all home to the four Hawaiian endangered waterbirds) but in the summer the big pond is dry.

In the winter that whole area will be covered in several feet of water. This picture is looking south toward the ocean.

We got to walk around in the main pond - it's rather dry.

But, some of the smaller ponds do have water, which allows the waterbirds to remain on the refuge.

Apparently that patch of water was home to something the stilts found especially tasty.

When the pond is full tilapia also live there and they flop around on the bottom to create the shallow holes you see above. I think these were called "reds" but I'm trying to look it up and can't find an answer, so I'm just going to call them tilapia holes.

Another cool thing they're doing at the refuge is on their land across the road from the main pond. They were able to get funding to build a boardwalk so people could see the refuge and read about the birds and plants they were seeing. Unfortunately it's still not open due to problems with contractors.

It'll be a really great thing for Maui and Kealia Pond once they're able to open it.
This is the view from the boardwalk, looking north toward the main part of the refuge.

And this (above) is looking south toward Molokini (left) and Kaho'olawe (right).

Warning: Rodents Ahead

Grandma Nancy, that warning was for you.

I had a very traumatic experience last night.

I was laying on my bed, watching a movie on my laptop (definitely go watch the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?) when I thought I saw movement on the pile of laundry I had been sorting. I looked up and It. Was. A. RAT! I reacted like any self-respecting, independent woman would: I screamed, jumped up on my bed and started yelling that I needed someone to help me. One of the guys in the house came to my closed door, and said, "Ok, I'm going to come in now." And I'm just screaming about a rat. He helped me jump off the bed into the hallway and I went and sat on the kitchen table so my bare feet weren't anywhere near the floor. When he left the room with a shoe the other idiot girl who was in the house said, "For god's sake, don't kill it!" Don't kill it?? It's a freaking RAT!! I responded with, "This is why we keep the doors shut!!!" These people go live on a deserted island for three months and completely forget how to live in civilization. I won't even go into them letting the doors slam...

John searched and searched and finally asked if I had imagined it because he couldn't find it. So now everybody thinks I'm imagining rats in my room. I waited about twenty minutes and finally had to go back because I couldn't sit there and watch the Simpsons with them. I needed to do my laundry. Another guy in the house walked by and asked me if I was going to sleep there that night. I almost started crying when I said that I had nowhere else to go.

About an hour later Pete got up to go to the bathroom and came right back into the kitchen saying, "I found your rat. It's in the guy's bathroom." He disposed of it and he and John are now my heroes. I don't know how I would have slept if it hadn't been found; I had a hard enough time sleeping last night as it was. Guess I would have had to convince myself I was crazy and didn't actually see it.

I lived in DC for four years and never once had a nasty bug or rodent in my apartment. Hawaii, it takes four months for a rat. It's one thing when there are cockroaches outside or the little geckos that get in the house (those freak me out too, but to a lesser extent), but it's entirely different when it's a rat. I can't wait to go home.

I guess there's one silver lining that my mom pointed out. "All I can say is, at least it wasn't a snake." Amen.