Bio lesson 101

Well one of the best parts about being a biology major in such a beautiful place is the opportunity to explore nature while learning tons about it. Maybe sometimes a little too much about it. This semester I am taking Pacific Natural History and on Saturday we took our first field trip. This is only about a 1/4 of what we learned in 9 hours. We went down to Makapuk'u Pt. on the south side of the island. There we learned a lot about plants and about lots of the geography that created the islands.



This is a picture of Ma'o or Hawaiian cotton. It has become very valuable because is is resistant to the diseases that kill normal cotton, so they are trying to do gene replacement therapy. It is endemic to Hawaii and only found in this location on Oahu.

Heading up

So this isn't the best picture, but I was surrounded by bio majors not art majors!

These pictures are at about 1/2 way up our destination. We started past the second major cove that goes the farthest inland, you can see it better in the last picture. You can also see Koko crater in the upper left corner of the picture.

This is a closer look at koko crater. You can kind of make out the two calderas the big one is towards the top and the smaller one is at the bottom. These are examples of phearatomagnatic eruptions (big boom). You can tell which way the wind was blowing during the eruptions because the ash is built up higher on one side.

This is the view from our destination. It is one of the best views on Oahu! The steep cliffs were created when a huge part of the island fell off into the ocean. They can see parts of the huge landslide almost 100 miles off coast! Imagine that tsunami! The islands are sinking back into the ocean and are already made of very porous and unstable rock, so these huge landslides have occurred on all the islands. They are also responsible for the Napali Coast. Also if you look in the picture at the black lava flow, in the ocean, right on the right side of the beach is the last volcanic flow on Oahu, it happened about 25,000 years ago.


This is the remnant of the Oahu Ko'olau shield volcano. The top of the mountain used to stand about 14,000 ft when the island was still active. That is about the height of Big Island right now, currently the highest point on Oahu is over on the west side and only about 4,000 ft. So Oahu has sunken about 10,000 ft over lots and lots of years and eventually so will Big Island. The Ko'olau is one of the 2 main volcanoes that built Oahu. The caldera now sits about 100 yards from Queens Medical Center where Hailey was born. You can compare the gentle slope on one side to the cliffs on the other side of the volcano, this is where the island slide away.

These were all views from the top!

The trail back down was just as exciting. Our tail is on the left side of picture on the edge of the cliff, between the trees.

After the main hike we had lunch from a lunch cart at sandy beach. After the break we headed up the coast a little ways. At the turnout right after the blow hole we got out and went down to the shore to look at some more geography.


These are layers of ash called tuff. Each layer represents a separate eruption and the big block of white is petrified coral that was covered over.These are called pisolites. They are essentially petrified rain. Apparently it was raining during an eruption and as the water fell it formed mud and the mud hardened.

So there will be a quiz over all vocabulary terms and also over plant identification. I learned a lot that day, I think a little bit more than I wanted, but over all it was a really really fun trip and I'm getting excited for the other trips we have planned (including a 4 day trip to Maui)!

Also I got some pictures to go along with my Labor Day post thanks to Katie!

The Real Fun in the Sun!

For everyone wondering what life is like when you live in Hawaii...take a good long look. In fact maybe stare at this book for 6hrs straight, just to go to campus to get a job, come back and study more. Then study for Pacific Natural History, then go back to campus to take a quiz, then finally home by 10 pm, read ecology for an hour, and in bed by 11:30. Just to start the next day at 6:45am!
Just a glance of my schedule for next week! This doesn't include my new job and my other usual homework assignments. The beach has sadly fallen down on the list of things to do. But not all school work is bad. On Sat. I have an all day hike for my Pacific Natural History class which should be fun. There will be a test that goes along with the hike, but at least I won't be able to look at genetics for a while!

From Water to Rock and Everything In Between

Well this past labor day weekend reminded me of the reasons why I love going to school in Hawaii! The entire adventure started off early Monday morning...very early. At 6:30am I got up and ready to go snorkeling (we were supposed to leave by 7). Well I sat out side for a while waiting for my ride and finally about 8 they picked me up and we finally left for the day around 9am. Now that is standard Hawaiian Mormon College Student time, but the sunrise was beautiful, and I don't usually see a lot of those, so it was nice.


Our destination for the day was Electric Beach on the west side of the island. I have heard many a rumor that this was a good snorkeling spot so I was really excited to go. I was not disappointed! It is called electric beach because right off shore there is a working power plant. One byproduct from the plant is hot water. They pump this water out into the ocean in 2 15ft wide tubes. So we set off to find out for ourselves if electric beach could hold up to its reputation. After snorkeling in the wrong direction for about 15 min. we finally realized that the tubes were exactly in the opposite direction, so we turned around and swam for a while in the other direction. All this trouble was definitely worth it!

We reached the tubes and were pleasantly surprise with a rush of warm water. The tubes were covered in tons of coral and schools and schools of fish were riding the currents around the tubes. One of the best features was swimming right above the tubes where the hot water came out. The warm water would swirl around and form all these mini whirlpools and as you were floating these whirlpools would come and engulf you and turn you around. All the while in the most perfect water temperature that I have ever felt. The only downside was once the swirl moved on you were suddenly thrust back into the regular ocean water which was about 15 degrees cooler. It felt like jumping in a pool after being in a hot tub, it was a bit of a shock because this happened over and over and over all in a matter of minutes! All in all it was one of the best snorkeling spots I've been to. We saw tons of fish and 4 turtles!



After all the excitement snorkeling we decided to hit up the hotspot of Oahu...Wal-Mart. After a few basic college necessities (candy and conditioner) we decided that our labor day was not complete yet. In order to really celebrate our last day off from school until Thanksgiving we needed to go rock climbing! We met up with another group up at Ka'ena Point which is the northern most tip of Oahu. Once we got there we climbed up a mountain and at the almost top of the mountain is a big band of rock in the form of a cliff. This is what we climbed. The view from this spot was one of the most beautiful and truly breathtaking views I have ever seen, on Oahu or the Mainland! You could see for miles down the coast all the way to Waimea Bay and at least 20 miles out to sea in every direction. I was told that it is one of the best places to see the whales in the winter so I'll have to go back!

After trying to take the whole scene in we started to climb...well some of us anyway. Due to traumatic experiences as a child (car + cliff + dad with no depth perception) I might have a slight fear of heights. While climbing is safe, I will definitely try it the next time, for this trip I left the mountain to the experts. I did climb about 5 ft up the mountain without ropes and this for some reason seemed like a less dangerous activity than climbing 20 ft actually connected to something. Anyway I had the best time! We had 2 ropes and the place that we went is very well known for climbing, so the routes and the clips were already set up, so all you had to do is pull your rope through. It was really nice and really really fun!

When daylight started to fade we decided to pack up and head out

After some major fun activities were decided that real life was calling us and we had better head home...of course not without stopping and eating the most delicious food that has ever been cooked on this planet! We had dinner at Haleiwa Eats of course. The green curry makes my knees buckle every single time. I could eat thai food for the rest of my life and die the happiest girl in the world!


Anyway we got home around 9 o'clock and boy was I tired! after a 15 hour adventure I was ready for bed! I had some really fun times and it was a great way to start the year off!