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Hawaiian Islands Log (2008-07-10 --> 2008-07-29)
Leaders: Genna Suggs and Eric Draper
Students: Larkin Bruce, Hunter Campbell, Jessica Cox, Elizabeth Heebe-Russo, Hudson Jones, Katie Moran, Preston Paine, Lindsey Spiva, Alfred Thompson, Josie Tuthill, Jana Young
Trip Update 7-13-08
Happy 16th birthday Jana!!
Aloha from the beautiful island of Kauai! We are so glad you have visited our trip log, so mahalo (thank you) for your interest! We have accomplished so much in these past 4 days, and there is so much more to come. I am pleased and excited to write the first of a few great entries documenting our wonderful journey here.
The trip began when all of our students flew into Lihue. Once they arrived, we headed towards our Haena Beach Park campsite, and by the time we got there, it was pitch black! As we began to set up our tents in the dark, we could hear the ocean waves, but we couldn't really see much. So imagine our surprise the next morning when we woke up to an AMAZING view of the beach right outside our tents! Larkin, Preston, Hudson and Alfred immediately took advantage of the surroundings by jumping in for a morning swim, even before it was breakfast time! What a refreshing way to wake up and spend our first morning in Kauai.
Since we got to our campsite so late on the first night, we decided to have our first "official" Moon-Up our first morning together. We sat on the beach and discussed all the awesome things we have to look forward to. We also played a little "getting to know you" trivia game, where we asked each student their name, hometown, interesting fact and what name they would give their heavy metal band if they were in one.
Some good ones were "Cut Something", "Tazor" and "Snapping Dragons."
As we laughed about our new band names, we looked out into the ocean to see a pod of dolphins swimming near the shoreline and jumping wildly in the air. I really have never seen dolphins play like that before...it was quite a sight as they flipped their bodies all different directions above the ocean!
Our first day of activity included sea kayaking with Kayak Kauai. We started our journey in the Hanalei Bay and cruised to Secret Falls, a beautiful waterfall hidden amongst tall rocks and trees in a dense rainforest. Once we arrived, our kayaking guides provided us with delicious sandwiches, cookies and chips. We also had some of the freshest pineapple I've ever feasted on. After we downed our food, all of us went for a swim in the falls. The water was pretty chilly, but there was something very magical about standing under a 100 foot tall waterfall! We splashed around, took plenty of pictures and then headed back on the trail towards our kayaks. Our guides, Bucky and Pat, showed us all the interesting plant life of the area: ginger (to use as some natural shampoo!), mangos (so delicious and all natural) and papyrus. Katie and Elizabeth remarked that our surroundings reminded them a lot of the TV show "Lost", so that might give you folks a better idea at home of what we're workin' with here! Another interesting fact about the area where we were: there are wild roosters and cats everywhere! It is not uncommon to hear these roosters cockadoodledooing every 5 seconds...we hear they thrive here because
1) there are no predators and 2) they aren't tasty enough for humans to kill and eat. So they just kind of hang out and watch us people!
Pretty interesting...Our leaders of the day for this day were Larkin and Jessica, and they did a great job orchestrating our first nightly Moon-Up as we went around and shared our "theme song for life." I loved hearing everyone's answers!
We spent our second day or activity sea kayaking near Princeville, a beautiful resort on the Hanalei Bay also. Word on the street is that movie star Will Smith is vacationing here at this moment! As we made our way through some strong waves and tough headwinds, we rewarded ourselves with some beach time where we snorkeled, ate lunch and swam in the bright sunshine. We looked at beautiful fish underneath the water, and I really enjoyed hearing the kids report all the neat things they saw. As we made our way from Princeville back to our Kayak Kauai launch site, Hunter and Lindsey encountered a huge wave that actually flipped their kayak over! No worries though...we were in about 4 feet of water, and the girls really thought it was more funny than scary. Once they caught up with the rest of the group, we reached the Queen's Bath pier. We pulled our kayaks ashore and had a field day jumping off the pier! We took a lot of really great pictures of all of our sweet jumps in mid-air. I can't wait to see how these turn out!
After departing Queen's Bath and making our way back to the Kayak Kauai base, the kids bought themselves Taro smoothies. Taro is a plant that grows here (also in Samoa and other Pacific isles) that is a lot like sweet potato, and harvesters grow the Taro plant much like they grow rice...in big flat fields. The kids really enjoyed the taste of these smoothies, so I think we'll drink a few more before we leave this place! Hunter and Preston were our Leaders of the Day, and they conducted a great beachside Moon-Up after we had some cheese and veggie quesadillas that evening.
We woke up this morning and knew it would be a great day because it is Jana's 16th birthday! We began our day with a day hike of Sleeping Giant, a peak right outside the town of Kapa'a. The gang really did an awesome job with the steep trail that we followed to make it to the "chin" of the Giant. The legend goes that the Sleeping Giant was offered many gifts of food from the locals here, and he ate so much that he fell asleep and hasn't woken up since! So I hope he didn't mind us tromping up and down his neck in our hiking shoes! Once we reached the top, we took a lot of pictures of the view overlooking the Pacific Ocean...it seems as though everywhere we turn, there is a great sight to behold! On the way down, Josie pretty much led the group to the van...I think her stamina is pretty much tops since she is doing all this activity at sea level, and she is originally from Colorado! Must be nice!
The kids have asked to explore the town of Kapa'a where we are now, and I am sure a couple of them will be buying some ukeleles. Did I mention we have some talented musicians on this trip? Preston is the lead singer of a band back home, and it seems every single boy here can play the guitar. We also met a man at our campsite who makes beautiful wooden flutes, so I wouldn't be surprised if one of our troops took that up as well! I mean, these guys are really capable of anything!
Tonight we will celebrate Jana's birthday, and I am looking forward to watching another glorious sunset on the beach with the group. We have had some great ones to behold thus far! Up next is our community service trip to the Koke Museum...then it's on to surfing with Garden Isle Surf School. Larkin and Hudson are especially counting down the days until they can go surfing, so we'll keep you posted on our success! Mahalo again for checking in on us, and much aloha (it also means "love") from the island of Kauai! We'll be in touch!
Trip Update 7.18.08
Aloha again dear friends! Things are still beautiful and sunny here in Hawaii, and we have been spending some fabulous days together since you last heard from us. We have traveled pretty much all around this wonderful island of Kauai from the cool mountain air at Koke'e to the warmth and beauty of the beach here in Poipu! Our tales have consisted of aid and of adventure, so allow me to get right to it!
We headed to the Koke'e Museum above the town of Waimea to participate in 2 days of community service. With our "kokua" ("help"), we helped rid the area of invasive plant species. Alfred, Larkin and Hudson really enjoyed using their polaskis (they look like axes!) to dig up the weeds that were growing in the area. Preston has a slight shoulder injury, but that did not stop him from being our entertainment and moral supporter of the group! And the girls got their hands dirty cutting down these prickly blackberry bushes that were overgrown in the area. We also enjoyed meeting Marsha and Brad, who were our instructors at the museum. They even presented us with some parting gifts and fresh mangos to thank us for our help. Brad's children also became great friends of ours, and Lindsey and Jessica even visited their house up the road from our project to meet their pet pig and swing on their huge rope swing!
We stayed in these great, cozy bunkhouses, and it felt a little like camp as all the kids slept in one big room together on bunk beds. I'm not sure how much rest they got those two nights we stayed there because everyone was up chattering, but it was fun getting to know everyone a bit better in such close quarters! Hunter and Elizabeth conducted a nice Moon-Up while we were there as we all talked about our most favorite place in the world. I loved hearing about everyone's hometowns, beach houses, etc.
Draper cooked an amazing breakfast while we were at the museum since we were allowed to use their big kitchen. And Lindsey and Jana even took the initiative one night to make Jell-o chocolate pudding after dinner for everyone...we will miss using that big kitchen, but I'm sure we'll have plenty more wonderful meals with Draper as our lead cook!
When we left the museum, we headed to Poipu for surfing with Garden Island Surf School. While all the kids showed a great talent for the sport, Katie and the boys were the toughest to pull out of the water!
They always wanted more waves, and it has been such a blast to watch them surf! Larkin, Alfred and Hudson are extremely talented surfers, and though Josie is our Colorado "mountain girl", she has really stepped up (and stood up!) when it comes to surfing. Katie and I did some "freestyle" surfing, and our surfing instructor Chris taught us several fun ways to ride the waves like the "Buddha" and the "Coffin." We still have another day to go, and I am looking forward to seeing how far we all have come with our skills tomorrow!
Soon we will head to the Big Island and get some backpacking under our belts in Waimanu Canyon. All this activity on Kauai is preparing us well for our days on the trail on the big island, so please stay tuned as we let the good times roll in Hawaii! Mahalo!
Trip Update 7-25-2008
Greetings from the BIG Island!
We completed our second community service project with the world renounced Nature Conservancy. We were surveying tide pools looking for the various species of fish and crustaceans. This information is compared against figures from the last several years to check for the oceanic activity off the Puako Bay and how it is faring with the increased human activity.
Specifically we were looking for sea cucumbers, sea urchins, turtles, sea stars and various types of fish. Jessica got a little too up close and personal with a sea urchin and accidentally stepped on one. She did get a few spines in her heel, but not to worry it was treated with white vinegar and all is well.
We then went for a snorkel and counted fish by the dozens. Tangs, trigger fish, eels and turtles were our objective. We had a hard time counting green sea turtles because they kept swimming into our masks as Hunter and Katie quickly found out. We saw no less than 25 of them! They were everywhere! To think of seeing so many of an endangered species! Crazy!
We have just finished backpacking and are decompressing before our big ocean voyage! We hiked Muliwai Trail in Waipio and Waimanu Valleys! I am not sure how to say this, but whoa!!!!! Was it a tough hike!
We began with fantastic views of cliffs and the sea. We descended a 45 degree slope to the valley floor and hiked along the beach for a mile or so, until we reached a vertical wall. We hiked a 2000 foot cliff face of switchback trails to the top and the rainforest.
The next 6 ½ miles of up and down trial through dense forest was amazing. There were small waterfalls every so often giving us fresh water. It was hot, sticky, beautiful, fun and hard!
Alfred showed his skills by always being at the front of the pack and setting the pace. Preston kept us all in good spirits with his comic relief and his Borat impersonations. Larkin related his hiking experience from last year with Moondance in Colorado to this year's, and equivocally said that this was much more difficult.
Towards the end of the long hike Lindsay slipped on some loose gravel and lightly injured her knee. It was on the final descent to our amazing campsite of Waimanu Valley. She was a real trooper and slowly walked the last little bit into camp, with a smile on her face.
We set up camp and prepared for dinner. A huge pile of mac and cheese was had by all. Hudson stuffed his belly with four massive servings! Tuckered out, we all turned in and fell dead asleep on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
We slept in and enjoyed some sun and the beach. The waves were huge and we all were tossed by the power of the waves. Hudson and Larkin body surfed like crazy. Jessica and Josie went for a morning stroll down the beach while Jana, Lindsey, Katie, Hunter and Elizabeth caught some rays.
Lindsey's knee was worrying her a bit, so Genna, Lindsey, Jana, and Preston set off on their return trip to break it up a bit. They hiked in rain back to a shelter on the trail a few miles back.
Meanwhile everyone one else hiked to a nearby water fall and were wowed by the massive drop! We all took a quick swim in the pool at the base.
The next morning we set out to return to our van. But so much rain had swollen the pond and we were forced to swim across and put or backpacks on a boogie board to keep them dry. What an experience.
The hike back was much easier then the trip in! We raced back to catch up with the group headed by Genna. We all reached the end at about the same time.
We are so proud of ourselves for completing this tuff hike, especially Lindsay who did so well, even on her bum knee! Go Lindsay!!
We celebrated with some ice cream and soda, and we headed to our next campsite in preparation for our Kamanu Charter boat ride tomorrow...we are psyched! After the boat ride, we will see some awesome volcanic activity at Volcanoes National Park. Can't wait to tell you all about it, so stay tuned...
Blue Skies!
Trip Update 7-29-08
After all of our good times sea kayaking, snorkeling, sailing, surfing, scouting the banks of Waipio and Waimanu Valleys, seeing the majesty of Volcanoes National Park and currently suckin' down some Starbucks, we are rewarding ourselves this last day for a job WELL DONE! We are making our way to the Kona airport as we speak after spending the past few days exploring the west and south ends of the Big Islands. Allow me to further explain our final adventures!
After the backpacking section that we completely dominated (as I'm sure you read about), we spent a bit of time in the little Hawaiian town of Honoka'a. But before we did that, we had a huge feast of M&M, banana and cinnamon pancakes that first morning out of the backcountry. As we made our way into town, the kids treated themselves to a good meal after enduring the mileage and rain of the backpacking section, and Larkin told us he had some of the best Italian food ever at a little cafe there in Honoka'a!
The next day, we set sail with Kamanu Charters. We met our captain John and his wife Beth in the morning at the Honokau Harbor, and they had prepared a platter of doughnuts, apples, bananas and juice for us.
So right off the bat, we were impressed! The boat was about 32 feet long, and Lindsey, Jana, Elizabeth, Josie, Jessica, Katie and Hunter made their way up to the front to get optimal sunshine on their already tanned skin! (Seriously, these girls are glowing!) We left the harbor, and maybe 10 minutes into our boat ride, we saw a pod of spinner dolphins. These dolphins swam right up to our boat, leapt out of the water and twisted themselves in the air. It was a very cool sight and a great introduction to our day!
We traveled on the boat for about an hour, and then we reached our destination of Magic Sands Beach. Hunter, Katie, Preston, Larkin, Hudson, Alfred, and Draper enjoyed some snorkeling in the bay. They said that they saw a family of puffer fish swim right by their goggles! Draper also took some neat pictures of the boys jumping off the boat...in fact, we've taken multiple shots of these boys doing some funny poses in the air. I can't wait for everyone to see them...and hopefully we'll land one in the catalog! Katie and Hunter enjoyed some time floating in the inner tubes that Kamanu had provided for us while the rest of the girls continued to work on their tans up at the front of the boat. John and Beth treated us to some delicious sandwiches and cookies for lunch, and we made our way back to the harbor. John and Beth also introduced a new game to us where we were not allowed to call each other by our real name. Hudson won the game, and as a reward, he was given a free Kamanu t-shirt! A few of us were pretty jealous (myself included), so we bought our own to show our support and appreciation to John and Beth.
After enjoying the relaxation on the boat, we made our way to Volcanoes National Park at the southern tip of the Big Island. Our first day there, we saw so many interesting natural wonders! We began by viewing the Kiluea Crater which is active as we speak. We could see smoke pouring out of a hole in the crater...a sign of the activity below the surface. We got a great view of it from the Volcano House, and we took a lot of great pictures. Make sure you ask your kids to share them because it was quite a sight! We also saw multiple steam vents, and we visited the Thurston Lava Tube. This tube was created thousands of years ago by lava flowing under the surface, and now there is a rainforest actually growing above the tube. We walked through the tube and saw how the sides had been scraped out by the massive amounts of lava moving through over the years. Perhaps one of the more random moments of our trip occurred as we made our way out of the tube and ran into an actor from the television show ER...I can't recall his name in real life, but his character on the show is "Luca"
for all our ER fanatics!!! Lindsey was the only one brave enough to say hello, but he returned her greeting and commented on how wonderful the sights were around us. Very cool guy!
That night, we made our way down near Pahoa on Highway 130 to see the lava flowing into the ocean at night. This was perhaps one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my entire life! We walked with our headlamps in the dark down a long, long path...there many visitors around us with flashlights and headlamps, so it kind of looked like we were all making this great pilgrimage to see this natural phenomenon!
When we reached the end of the trail, we could see the lava pouring into the ocean creating these AMAZING natural fireworks in the air. At times, the lava was shooting up to 150 feet in the air, and you could hear the hiss and the roar of the lava as it met the water.
Unbelievable!
So here we are, making our way home, and we thank you all for checking in with us along the way. Without your support and love, we wouldn't be here doing the things we love and learning from each other, so we send you lots of "aloha" and a giant "mahalo" from the islands one last time. Until next time!!!!!
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