Charting and Stargazing!

Madeleine Yao, Boston University

Today I got to start another morning with a gorgeous view and awesome breakfast with our group. After getting ready for the day and doing a little reading outside, I headed to our morning classes. Super excited for day five in Hawaii!

At nine, we had a fantastic class taught by guest speaker Hannah Barkley: a federal research assistant for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She told us about her academic path, current job, and the work that NOAA does in the U.S. Pacific Islands. Learning about climate, benthic, and fish monitoring techniques was extremely cool. Afterwards, a lot of us grabbed coffee and iced tea from the Teapresso Bar before Nautical Science class. We got to learn outside today, where Captain Rebecca taught us about chart reading, navigation, and anchoring. She also spoke about Polynesian wayfinding.

Morning chart reading with Captain Rebecca

After a yummy lunch, we loaded up into the vans and onto our daily adventure. Today we went to Shark’s Cove on the north shore to practice our snorkeling, equipment carrying, and fish and invertebrate IDs. Some of the gorgeous fish in the water today included trumpet fish, parrot fish, angelfish, chubs, and even a flounder! We also spotted two turtles and an eel. 

Then we drove to Halaweia, where we explored the town and walked to the spot for dinner. There was a gorgeous view of the mountains as the sun was setting, and we ate burritos outside. Next, we went to a nearby beach and stargazed. Captain Rebecca taught us about constellations and how to orient and read them from charts which was really exciting. It was an awesome way to end the night before heading back in the vans.

Love to NYC!

Madeleine Yao, Boston University

Snorkeling at Shark’s Cove!