I eagerly awoke at 8am to be the first one in the shower and luckily I was successful. After the battle for the shower and grab and go style breakfast, we once again loaded up into the vans as we had so many times before and headed to the Sandcastle Service Project. Once we arrived at the beach with a very complicated name, we were briefed on what the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund was trying to accomplish with our service that day. Sadly we were not permitted to use sunscreen as spray on sunscreen has chemicals that harm the ocean in them, so R.I.P. my nose and arms. The first service we did was a trash cleanup on the beach to reduce the negative human impact of pollution on the beach’s ecosystem. We each grabbed a pair of gloves and a Home Depot bucket and got to work. Most of the trash was found around the picnic areas where the main trash item was plastic and diapers. I was scrounging the beach for trash so I only found some fishing line, a rusty pipe and half of a beer bottle. My friend Zach won the prize for collection since he picked up a dirty diaper to throw away and I totally agree that he earned it. While on the beach we saw a wild Hawaiian Monk seal of which there are only 5 on the big island. This made the second one we had seen during our week in Hawaii. The Monk seal spent most of his time on the beach sunbathing and then once he had gathered a large enough crowd he shimmied back into the water in all his majestic beauty. We then went to Polulo Valley where we hiked down to the black sand beaches and saw a decommissioned and decomposing WW2 era US tank. The black yaks beach was caused by the black volcanic rock in the area being ground up into fine sand. During our one hour exploration we found a small cave on the water and even a couple of rope swings. After the tiring hike back up we stopped by a local pineapple stand and Parker, Owen and I split a bag of the best tasting pineapple I had ever tasted in my life. It was only four dollars! Across the street there was a smoothie stand where Owen and I got the Mango Tango flavor for very cheap once agin and it was the best smoothie I had ever had. The freshness of the fruit was what impressed me as the climate and soil composition encouraged growth unlike in Dallas where everything is shipped in. This hike to The Valley ,are me closer with my Jesuit brothers and for that I am eternally grateful.
