I can't believe that a week in Hawaii has already gone by!
We have done so much in the classroom and lectures and
outside activities as well. This morning I ate breakfast
with Kweyah and Rachel as we usually do everyday. Usually
it is nice and sunny when we eat but today it was very
cloudy and windy in the dining area. What was nice was
that we got to sleep in a little bit later because we didn't
have to meet for the bus until 9:15. We had a whole coach
bus to ourselves. It was huge. The destination that the
bus was taking us to was the Hawaii Institute of Marine
Biology, also known as HIMB. It is located on Coconut
Island. From Coconut Island you could see Chinaman's Hat,
which we have passed numerous times. We were also across
from the point that we went to on the Island Tour that we
took the other day, Nuuana Pali Lookout. Coconut Island is
also where the opening scene of Gilligan's Island was
filmed. I thought that was cool because a lot of movies and
such were filmed in Hawaii so it was interesting to see that
this is where it actually took place. We arrived in the
marina and took a boat ride over to the island. During the
boat ride our instructor Sal fished for plankton. Plankton
includes both plant and animal species. We learned later in
our lecture that plankton are drifters of the sea. We got
the chance to see some plankton under a microscope and we
had to draw what we saw. It was hard to draw some of them
because they kept swimming around and they did not stay
still for very long. They looked wicked cool underneath the
microscope. I really liked our other speaker too Rob
Toonen. His lecture was basically about the different types
and classification of species and how important marine
invertebrates are to everyday things such as medicine. I
did not know that so I thought that was an interesting fact.
But at the same time researchers have so much to explore
and learn about animal diversity that only 10% of species
that are known. There are so many living organisms that a
lot more research has to be done because there is so that
are unknown or undiscovered. After that lecture we had
lunch in this pretty pool area that was filled with sea
cucumbers. Professor Bullard held one up and we got to
touch it. It was sticky. We learned that sea cucumbers can
change their form and go from a solid to a liquid. Which is
exactly what it did. Before we left we got to see sharks!
There was only a few and they we not that big but I got some
really good pictures :)
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Patricia is right! I cannot believe we've been in Hawaii for over a week already! I also had a lot of fun at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. I thought Coconut Island was really cool, especially because they used the island in numerous television shows. My favorite part of the day was when we looked at the plankton under the microscope. I thought it was so cool to actually see that they were alive and moving right under our eyes. After we looked and observed the plankton we had to draw out what we saw, which I wasn't very good at.
My other favorite part of the day was seeing the sharks. I thought it was neat how they had a few little sharks right on the island. LIke Patricia, I also got some great shots of them. I thought the whole day at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology was very interesting and I learned so many new things! I am so glad we had the opportunity to visit the island!
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