Can't believe my time volunteering has come to an end. I volunteered 680 hours, hiked 400 miles, and left with some pretty amazing friends. This last week couldn't have had better timing either! Thanks to tropical storm Guillermo, everyone had to evacuate from the field, and all 11 of us got to be at the house for three days. I can't remember the last time all of us were home at the same time, since our schedules are always staggered and people come in and out of the field so often. Our first night we had a huge "end of the world" party, and had some of our friends from the bird project over, there was lots of dancing and it was definitely one of my favorite nights here this summer.
Me and Mackenzie!!
The day after that we stayed in and probably watched at least 7 movies. And our last day we had a huge roofball tournament. Roofball is a game Jeddy and I created, it's kinda like volleyball, but anyways we had 5 teams and we had music going, and it sorta ended up being a dance party at the end. Here's the video:
Jeddy and me, roofball co-founders
Then that night we hiked to the lava tube in the park, and hung out in the cave for a while, it was super cool when we turned off our headlamps and just listened to how quiet it was! On our way back we were cutting through a parking lot, and the stars were just incredible!! So we laid down in the road and just watched the stars for an hour or so…We all had a 6:30am office time the next day, but all our adventures we've done are so worth being tired the next day.
My last trip in the field was in backcountry with Jessie and Jeddy. The hike in is just over 8 miles and a 3000 ft elevation drop, but it was beautiful! We had a turtle come up and run into some guys tent, so that was exciting, and we also met some locals who were camping there, and they were doing a lot of fishing, and one night they came over and said they caught way too many and if we'd help eat with them, so OF COURSE we said yes. In the field we live off of ramen and cliff bars, so eating fresh fish was incredible.
It poured on our hike in!
Halape is so beautiful!
Jeddy, me, Jessie
One of our day hikes to check a nearby beach
We met up with another group from the field and had a beach day!
Our favorite tree to take pictures
The hike out was the hardest hike I've done all season. I've improved so much with hiking, but hardest hike was for sure this last one. 8 miles, going up 3000 feet in elevation on 4 hours of sleep, but the views on the way back were unreal. And the best part was seeing my family at the end of the trailhead and seeing them for the first time in 3 months.
Mom was a little excited…haha
So far, this season has been extremely successful for turtles! We've tagged 10 new mama turtles, and our nests that have hatched have been pretty successful. The Hawaii Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project started in 1989, and turtles take about 20 years to reach sexual maturity and start nesting. So these are some of the first years where we can really evaluate how the project is doing, and based on our data it's definitely making a difference. It's estimated that only 1 out of 5,000 hatchlings make it to adulthood, so anything we can do to help will increase those odds. I've been so fortunate to have this opportunity to help save such an incredible species. I've been able to tag turtles, evaluate abnormalities, do nest translocations and excavations, and assist hatchlings to the ocean. I couldn't have asked for a better summer job.
680 hours done!
I'm gonna miss all the other turtlers so much, saying goodbye to everyone yesterday was awful. Being in the field was incredible and the beaches are amazing, but I've had some of the best times of my life at 203. Whether were eating ice-cream and watching movies or playing rootball and having a dance party, something fun was always happening at that house.
Best. Summer. Ever. Can't wait to see what's next!
Been so busy here lately and haven't had much time to make a new post!
Anyways a few weeks ago at Pohue I saw my first hatchlings!! Seeing a main emergence is pretty rare, and I was lucky enough to see not one, but four! For the first one, we were sitting in our chairs during the first few minutes of night monitoring and I looked over and thought I saw a bunch of crabs, but then it clicked and I said "OH MY GOSH HATCHLINGS" and we ran over and started counting them and trying to track where the original nest was. Then Jessie ran back to camp to get some supplies, and I was wondering why she was taking so long. Then I turned around and she yelled, "WE HAVE ANOTHER NEST". So we had two main emergences happening at the same time. Each nest probably had over 100 baby turtles, it was such a neat experience.
After that trip to Pohue, our awesome boss Cathy took some of us on an adventure to a waterfall on the North side of the island. We stopped for smoothies on the way and then parked at a bridge near the falls. It was in the middle of a really thick rain forest, and we hiked about 30 minutes to reach the big waterfall. I got eaten alive by mosquitos but once we saw the waterfall for the first time it was so worth it. Here's a video from that trip:
On another one of our days off, everyone that was out of the field went to the night market in Kalapana. It's basically like a huge farmer's market in a huge lava field, and the atmosphere was sooo cool! There was live music and lots of dancing and everyone was just so happy and I got to spend it with awesome people. it was definitely a highlight of my summer here. We danced all night and Cathy joined us which made it even better!
The next morning began one of the best days ever…(then again, everyday here is the best day ever). I had a rental car and Brandon, Alex, Cameron, and I started on an adventure. We started south and stopped at the bakery for some malasadas first, and then we were on our way to South Point. The drive there was so beautiful and the guys were all super excited to do the jump. I was pretty sure I wasn't gonna do it, since it's like a 50 foot drop into the ocean…But this video sums it up pretty well.
Jumping in was the scariest, coolest, most amazing thing ever. After I did it I had so much adrenaline and telling other people there that you did the jump was an awesome feeling.
After that we made our way over to Kona, with a quick stop at Two Step for snorkeling and lunch at the Kona Brewing Company. Then we walked around downtown and got back home in volcano later that night. The day after that I still had one more day with the rental car so I went along the north coast and stopped at some cool overlooks.
So after my day of adventuring I was waiting for the bus back to Volcano after I returned the rental car, but then I realized Cathy and Mackenzie were in town too, so I met up with them and we went out for sushi and Cathy drove us back to the house. As if my last few days couldn't get any better, somehow something random and spontaneous always happens and it gets even more awesome.
The next day was also not planned and I ended up road tripping to Kona again with Cathy, and we decided to do a snorkel with the manta rays. Here's a video from that:
So right now we're all hanging out at the house for a few days, there's a hurricane/tropical storm coming so we were evacuated from the field yesterday. We haven't all been home together at the same time in so long, and everyone's been having a great time and it's so great being all together, especially before some of us leave the project to head home.
My family also flies in from Michigan today, so I'll get to see them for in a week or so and I'm so stoked!! I haven't seen them in almost three months and I can't wait til they get here.
Can't believe I've been here two months! It's been the best time of my life but it's going by so fast…My last day is August 12 and I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to everyone.
Everything working in the field is going well, we've had lots of nesting activity and lots of new turtles coming up which is a great sign! This project started in 1989, and this is when we're finally starting to see if the project has been successful or not. Based on the amount of new turtles we've had it's looking good! I've gotten used to the 4 hours of sleep and the hiking, this past trip we did 48 miles in 4 days! I've learned what it feels like to give it your all day in and day out even when you're physically and mentally exhausted. On tough hikes or when you're on day 6 of a trip in the field and your hot and dirty and haven't showered and sleep deprived, I just look around me at these insane beaches I get to work at and the people I've been able to meet and it makes it all worth it. I feel like our fun adventures on our off days with the turtle crew are well deserved and we're all so grateful for the opportunity to work in such an amazing place protecting such a cool species.
The coral-lined walkway at Apua Point
Sunset at Apua with Mauna Loa in the distance
Hiking around the caldera on a day off with Brandon and Cameron!
This past week I had 4 days off, so my coworker Mackenzie and I ventured over to the Kona side of the island for a few days. We didn't have plans to do anything specific, and I don't think it could have turned out any better. We went to Hilo and picked up a rental car and some coffee for the road, and drove through the middle of the island on Saddle Road to Kona. The drive took about 2 hours and it was beautiful! It took us in-between the mountains and then along the west coast of the island along the ocean. By the time we got to the coast the sun was just beginning to set, we couldn't believe how beautiful it was.
We stayed in a little hostel 10 miles south of Kona in Captain Cook.
We checked in and dropped off our stuff, and then ventured out to Kona to find a spot for dinner. We ended up at the Kona Brewing Company, and we had some amazing pizza and tacos. Definitely recommend this spot if you're ever in Kona!
Stole Mackenzie's beer for this picture...
Then we headed back to the hostel and came up with a rough game plan for the next day.
That morning we went snorkling at a place called Two Step. It's called Two Step because there's two giant steps made from lava rock that you step on to get into the water. The snorkeling there was unreal!! So much color and crystal clear blue water.
After swimming for a couple hours we stopped at the hostel for a quick shower and then headed to the main downtown area in Kona. But before shopping we stopped at the Kona Brewing Company for lunch (yes, again, it's that good). We did some shopping downtown and checked out the local farmer's market.
A sweet old man making lei's gave us some flowers!
Had to get smoothies of course!
Got a henna tattoo…maybe a real one will be next ;)
Then, we drove around and found a good little beach! We probably shouldn't have taken out little rental car down this lava rock road….but we made it and it was well worth it!
Then we found this cool little harbor and watched the sunset.
For dinner, we ventured back into Kona and found this awesome beach front place with live music. The tables were literally in the sand and there were tiki torches everywhere, and we kicked off our flip flops and watched the waves.
We loved Two Step so much that we went back the next morning and we were in the water by 6:30am. There were so may fish and we even saw some turtles!! After that we started our trip back home to Volcano. We decided to go along the North coast, and we stopped at Waipio Valley and Akaka Falls on the way. It couldn't have been a better trip!!
Waipio Valley overlook
Akaka Falls
Random field next to a gas station with beautiful horses!
