Shark's Cove
Stephanie- Have you seen my snorkel?
Russell and a sea turtle that really liked his bubbles!
Our tour guide for the morning.....
Hey look- it's Gill from Finding Nemo!
Yep- that's me!
Going through one of the swim throughs- so cool!
Happy Saturday July 26th!
I've had a good week- got to try some new things and got to do some old things that I love!
The Coral Reef Ecosystem Division at NOAA has a marine debris program who conducted aerial surveys of the island of Oahu and then planned to remove all of the large debris (mostly large nets which get lost or discarded from fishing vessels around the Pacific that then somehow find each other and form huge masses of very heavy nets) that had been sighted and marked by GPS on the beaches. The team asked for volunteers and I went out with the team on Wednesday to Kahuku on the North Shore. There were seven of us and after picking up a few small nets, we found one really big one! Fortunately, we all had super sharp knives to cut it into smaller pieces, but unfortunately, we then had to drag the pieces up (literally, up) the beach about 300 m (1500 ft) to where our truck was parked. Talk about exhausting, but very gratifying work! It took all of us about 5 or 6 drags (most of the time two men per drag) to get it all up the beach and then it ended up filling the entire back of a flatbed truck! That's a lot of net! We then took it all to the Marine Corp Base where it will be picked up and burned for energy. I had a great time, but it sure did make me enjoy sitting in the AC the next day looking through algae samples!
Today, I went diving at Shark's Cove on the North Shore with Kerry (I work with her) and Russell. It was a great dive (although diving in Hawaii is cold!) with fairly good visibility and some really cool stuff to look at: we saw a sea turtle, a small spotted moray eel, lots of cool fish, tons of coral and algae (which I'm starting to be able to identify now!), some cool sea urchins and we got to swim around and through some small caves and overhangs. It's a great spot for an easy shore dive (it's only about 30 ft. deep) and the scenery is fantastic! Kerry took some underwater photos, so I'll try and get some and post themt! Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with pulled pork sandwiches at Molly's Smokehouse in Wahiawa. Not the best pulled pork (I miss Red's in Boca and The BBQ Shack in Statesboro) in the world, but after 7 months without any, it sure did hit the spot!
It's official- I finally got my dive clearance! I'm a NOAA diver now!
Saw the new Batman movie- The Dark Knight.....it was awesome! I really like the direction the new series is taking (and I don't like sequels!). We went out for mochi ice cream again at Bubbies- this time I had chocolate expresso, chocolate vanilla, and chocolate mint (the outside is chocolate mochi and the inside is the flavored ice cream). So yummy!
Went boogie boarding on Sunday- the waves were epic! The sun was really strong too (have a bit of a burn to prove it!) It's amazing how different the sun is here than even in Florida- changes in latitude!
Interesting Hawaiian fact: More birds have become extinct in Hawaii than in any other part of the world. A total of 26 species have died out and 27 more are endangered by changes in their natural habitats, forest destruction, mongooses and man. How sad!
Congratualtions Olivia and Will on the arrival of your son, Wyatt Lee!
Wyatt was born Wednesday, July 16th- both mom and baby are doing great!
Aloha!
I'm still elbow deep in algae samples and we discovered today that we have an entire extra year's worth of samples! Hooray! Things are going well though and I'm definitely keeping busy! We tried an Italian restaurant on Saturday night- Pasta Basta. The fettuccine was very fresh and the mushrooms were excellent, but the chicken tasted boiled (yuck!). Afterwards, we went to the dollar theatre and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall- it was a bit strange watching a movie set in Hawaii! I have a feeling that some of it would have been funnier if I didn't live here- they made it seem so stereotypical Hawaii! Then we went for wings and garlic edemame at Gordon Biersh at the Aloha Towers (right near the docks for the huge cruise and cargo ships).
Sunday, I had Annette, Susan and Jeff over for dinner- I made pork tenderloin, fresh veggies and almond rice. Annette and Jeff brought wine and poke and Susan brought a great salad with goat cheese (and I even tried the beets!). For dessert, I found a recipe in my chocolate cookbook and made fudge brownies with a cream cheese filling-they were fabulous (I'll send the recipe for a small finder's fee)!
I'm trying to get back on track with running- I gave up for a little while! I completely started over with week one of Couch to 5K yesterday and had a fairly easy time. It sure is getting warm though!
I finally got some photos from the aviation safety training and water ditching class that I took! Wanted to share to show that it wasn't as scary as I know it could have been- it actually just looks like we got to have fun in the pool!
Here's where we tried out the life vests and formed a chain to conserve energy and stick together!
Here's the dunking chair (nothing really except PVC, duct tape and a seatbelt). I looked much better in the helmet than Tony did!
Next, they threw you in upside down (does everyone remember the survival steps?)
Once out of the "aircraft", signal that you are OK and then shoot the water out of your nose!
I've had a great holiday weekend so far!
Declan- Born in the USA!
Me practicing my baby feeding skills! He was a trooper!