Kamehame

Ok, I'm new at this so bear with me as I attempt to keep this blog so you guys can all stay updated! It's going to be difficult because my access to the internet is pretty limited, but I'll do my best. I'm not even sure where to begin, I've done so many amazing things in this first week and a half that I've been on the Big Island. Let's just start with the park...

So housing is in a rain forest in the volcanoes national park.

It's amazing. Lush green plants that are found no where else in the world, smoldering craters, steaming vents...really unbelievable that it's all in the same place. It is chilly here and rains quite a bit (a very very thin misty rain most of the time) which is expected, but it also gets nice and sunny. I've explored the park a bit (lava tubes, caldera, hiking around the crater..) but there is much more to explore and tons of paths to hike. The people here are amazing and have dinners/karaoke at the Lava Lounge on Thursday nights (I've yet to witness that, but I'm sure it's entertaining). So when I arrived in Hilo I went to the grocery store and stocked up on some food (actually a bit of a story there because I got picked up by the wrong person on mistake, but I'll save that for another time) and then went to the park. I explored and rested for a few days and then got to go into my first field camping on Sunday. I was at Kamehame (a private black sand beach) for 6 nights. Basically our schedule is 6 nights in the field and 3 nights off. It kind of messes up the week for doing any weekend travel, but it's nice to have 3 nights off to sleep after you've been getting 2-4 hours of sleep a night for 6 nights. Now for my turtles tales :)
I've now tagged, restrained, wrestled, and rode a sea turtle down the beach..no joke. I've also seen (and smelled...) a sea turtle laying her nest, translocated a nest that was in a bad location, and probed for a possible nest on a beach. It is so incredible I'm not even sure how to describe it. Basically we do beach checks started at 5pm and watch for turtle tracks in the sand leading up to the naupaka (a native plant that they like to nest in). When we see a turtle or tracks, we get out of site and watch her and record data (weather conditions, time of emergence from water, lunar conditions, etc.). She'll usually either start to nest or false nest (dig but then move and dig again before laying any eggs). This can go on for 3 or more hours. We had a turtle false nest 7 times in one night and we were watching her for 5 hours...it's gets very exhausting and when it's 3am and you're watching a turtle false nest in the pitch black with the lull of the ocean waves behind you it can be quite hard to stay awake! Anyways, I'll try not to make this ridiculously long and boring and just hit the highlights :). The turtles are amazing and I'm so lucky to get to experience such prehistoric creatures. Watching a sea turtle start to nest and counting the eggs as they drop is truly incredible.

There are a few things that I'm having to adjust to however. First of all, the bugs here get REALLY big. They have giant cockroaches and centipedes (which luckily I have not encountered yet) that actually bite at night. Also at Kamehame, it is off road about an hour over rugged lava terrain so you are literal confined to your small campsite. And there is a cow pasture on the land so you'll wake up in the middle of the night with a cow over your cot or get up to go to the bathroom and here three or four of them take off in the distance. We actually got attacked by one of them on a hike to another beach....she was a very weak female though and was just startled...still freaky. Also, there is a bird here called the Shearwater (I think) that has a cry that sounds exactly like a baby crying. And when i say sounds like a baby crying...I mean literally EXACTLY like a baby crying. It was so freaky when I first heard it and then saw this looming shadow flying above us! Ok I could go on for days about how amazing and crazy everything is here, but I will save some more for another time. I'll leave you with a couple of photos (check out facebook to see more) and hopefully everyone is doing well! Write to me when you get a chance I'll be at housing until Tuesday and then I go back into backcountry!!