After around nine long hours of sitting on a cramped plane, I was excited to finally get started on my Hawaiian adventures with the boys. We started off the day with a hot breakfast of french toast and a wide variety of delicious berries. Once everyone finally woke up and adjusted to the time change, both groups set off in two fans to NEHLA. NEHLA is home to a OTEC station. OTEC means Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. OTEC is very meaningful to NEHLA as well as Hawaii. OTEC is important because Hawaii was one of the worst of all fifty states in fossil fuel consumption. Even though Hawaii wants to limit consumption of fossil fuels they seem to use more fuel through plane and boat shipments just to keep the consumption rate the same. However with OTEC the rate could finally be decreased through using sea water to produce energy. After the NEHLA presentation was over and we visited an actually OTEC station, the two groups proceeded to a Monk Seal rehabilitation center. Here we learned about how many monk seals are left in the wild, how endangered the species is, how the rehabilitation process takes place, feeding, and the layout of rehabilitation center. One cool thing I learned was that Monk Seals actually eat better then us. Fish at the monk Seal rehabilitation center are closer looked at for any dents or negatives that could harm the seal and then are disposed of. Also fish that are in the freezer for more then twenty four hours are not allowed to be fed to the seals. However, fish in common human grocery stores can sit for up to seven days gaining bacteria. After learning about how the seals are tube fed, then fed fish in the pool, to finally eating live fish, the groups moved to the surgery table were luckily no seals had to be operated on (knock on wood). Here we learned of tap worms and stomach worms being extracted from the seals and how the center has to constantly work with seal poop. Then to not disturb the monk seal, we watched him sleep on live camera feeds. Apparently that is all the seal wants to do. At first though we couldn’t find the seal. However after switching from multiple camera angles we found the sixty pound seal and watched him sleep while the lady described his body features. An example includes the white of his under stomach due to the shedding of his fur. We all then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. With both groups splitting off to do separate activities. My group when to hike the Pololu Valley. This was a tiresome trek down into the valley. Once down we went exploring, found two wild cows, took some artsy pictures, and swung high in the air on the a rope swing. Finally the time to head back fell upon us and we beat the average time to hike back up the mountain by seventeen minutes. However that left us very fatigued seeing this the teachers decided to take us and buy some fresh pineapple and fruit smoothies to help us gain some energy back. Both very delicious choices. With our smoothies and pineapples we got back on the rode again stopping at a tunnel carved out by over two hundred year old lava. Besides hiking through some shaky and loose lava rock filled tunnels we learned of how the lava drys and eventually is eroded through rain which then allows plants to bloom. With this we also learned about the types of lava rocks which are aa and pahoehoe. The aa kind of burn while the pahoehoe look like a bunch of rings. Within the rocks we saw a reddish color which shows the iron oxide within the rock. After exploring for a while we headed back to our parked van and drove back to our houses. Once home we enjoyed a delicious chicken dinner and even went for a swim. I can’t wait for my next day in the luscious land of Hawaii.
