Another NEW HOME

Erika Hamilton

278 Kaikea Street

Kihei, HI 96753

 Mom, I made the bed just for you!

I am staying in an extra bedroom that opened up in one of my co-worker's houses-- and I am so grateful that she is letting me stay for awhile. However, the room is not directly attached to the house, and I don't really fit, becuase as much as I tried to pack lightly and be a minimalist, I somehow failed miserably. Also, with my bladder issues, having to walk to the main house to go to the bathroom has me seriously considering reinventing the bed pan.

Life's a beach

Maalaea Harbor-- the second windiest harbor on Earth!

Octopus!

Yellow Tangs and a Saddle Wrasse-- my fishey friends!

Yellow Tangs are actually one of the species in Hawaii most affected by the aquarium trade. These tangs are naturally seen in schools of 50-100 fish, grazing the reef. However, in Maui, this is now something of the past, and you rarely see more than 5-10 fish at any given time. Loss of these grazers is detrimental to reef health, as algal blooms and overgrowth (which block sunlight and result in coral death) may become more prominent without them. Just one more reason to support the ban of aquarium collection here in Maui!
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/532536.html?nav=10

Yellow Tangs, Hawaiian Sergeants, and Unicornfish . . . Oh my!

Work has begun!

Work has begun! Things are absolutely crazy, and I am home literally just to sleep for 6 hours before I head back to the harbor.

 Public transportation: my new best friend. I have actually met a lot of really interesting, really nice people on my hour long daily commutes.

Most of my time has been spent in the office or the classroom, attending turtle or odontocetes lectures, peeing in a cup, or signing lots of paperwork, but my first day out on the boats, I saw 2 whitetip sharks and one grey reef shark out at Molokini, which definitely was a good reminder of why I came here in the first place.

Molokini

So cool-especially since I haven't seen a shark since I was in the Seychelles almost three years ago!

Ma'alaea Harbor

Then, this afternoon (my first day actually working the boats), we went to Molokini again in the morning and to Lanai'i in the afternoon, where we ran into a pod of 200 Spinner dolphins! They put on a pretty good show for us, jumping in the air and surrounding the boat, and then we got to hop into the water, and I saw about 100 of them swim right underneath me!

A spinner we saw from the boat this afternoon!

Dolphin watching from the boat

Working on the boats is pretty exhausting, but it can also be a lot of fun. Surprisingly, we take a lot of non-swimmers out on the boats, so this morning, I actually spent about an hour holding a 40 year old woman's hand and floating around the reef with her. Its an awesome feeling to be able to introduce someone to the reef for the first time and to help them overcome that fear of water. Then, the afternoon ended with a few Hawaiian Green Turtle sitings off the side of the boat- pretty perfect day overall!

 Snorkelers at Lanai'i today

I have so much to accomplish in the next few weeks: finding a place to live more permanently, getting my bar tending license (meaning I have to read/ memorize a 300 page manual), becoming a lifeguard, and learning everything there is to know about Hawaii and Marine Biology.  I'm just starting to realize what I have really gotten myself into.

Wailuku

New home!

Beach one way

Maui mountains the other!

Tropical Roadkill!

Portland

First order of business: Food for Niki and Paige. Vegtables! Avoiding scurvy is always a good thing.

Niki's Tofurky. Fucking hippie.

Next order of business: Jobs.

 

 First, we have the ever- professional Spaghetti Factory Waitress

And then, there is Ms. Fajita. . . 

Isn't she SO CUTE?

We took a day trip down to Corvallis to visit Mike, Chrissa, Artemis, and Rea. It was great to see everyone, and the girls have gotten so big!

Loki takes a perch on Mike's shoulder.

 

 

 

 The next day, we drove up towards the Columbia River to do some hiking. 

The day began with some good, old fashioned hitch hiking.

The hike was beautiful and meandered through the woods before we made it up to an alpine lake. 

 

We had a quick picnic by the lake before heading higher up the mountain.

 

Twins?

And the day ended with AMAZING sushi (thanks mom!) at Subaro

  . . .  Followed by Niki and Paige commiting Social Suicide at the Boiler Room with a performance of "Your love is my drug"

Before I flew out to Maui the next morning.

Anyone want to be PenPals?

Erika Hamilton
c/o Brooke Porter
864 Makaala Drive
Wailuku, HI 96793
(Maui)

Island Life Begins

As many of you know, I am moving to Maui on June 14th. Maui is about 6,000 miles from South Carolina, and it takes 11 hours to get there if you catch a direct flight from Charlotte. Needless to say, going home is not going to be a frequent activity over the next year and a half.

Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands, about 48 miles across and 8 miles wide at the skinniest point (which is the land bridge between the volcanoes). Right now, I have a place to live in Wailuku, with a couple of the girls who I am going to work with.

                                           Wailuku

 

Wailuku

                                           Wailuku Falls

Wailuku is about 7 miles from Maalaea Harbour, where I will be working for the Pacific Whale Foundation.

                                          Maalaea Harbour

I am going to be a Marine Naturalist on the Ocean Voyager, meaning that my primary duty will entail taking tourists out on the boats and talking about local ecology, aquatic ecosystems, and marine species. Some days I will be on the boat, others I will be in the water with tourists, taking a more hands on approach and pointing out different aspects of the reef systems. The Pacific Whale Foundation focuses on marine mammals, and Hawaii is actually the breeding ground for Alaskan Humpback Whales (first they visit LAWRA, then ME!), so starting in October through late March and early April, I will be doing a lot of work with Humpback Whales.

                                        Humpback Whale breaching

Since I have never seen a Whale before and know little about them, I am really excited and have a lot to learn. I have already substituted my nightly trashy-tv streaming (for the moment, I am not Keeping up with the Kardashians) for Humpback Whale Documentaries and my Miley Cyrus/ Hanson play-lists for Marine Biology pod casts. Luckily, a lot of the fish species in Hawaii overlap with the Seychelles, as Hawaii is on the outskirts of the Indo-Pacific, so I am a little more prepared in that regard. Still, there are still so many fish that I am unfamiliar with and so many endemic species that I have already started making flashcards (and have sufficiently annoyed my parents by running down all the color ink cartridges in the house).

Moorish Idol, found in Hawaii and the Seychelles (Also famous for an appearance as Gill in "Finding Nemo")

All of my necessary belongings have been shipping-- I am completely packed and ready to go. I head to Portland on Thursday to visit Niki on my way to Maui, and then I move in on Monday! Training starts Tuesday, and then two weeks later, I should be a self-sufficient, contributing employee! Lots of pictures to follow--  trying to entice all of you guys to come out and visit soon!