Fun time with Needles!

It's OK! I'm wilderness first aid certified! Last week we took the NOLS WFA class, and got to learn how to give each other shots, and IVs...pure craziness. I don't like shots, and I certainly did not want someone putting saline into my veins, but I took one for the team. IVs hurt. I have a bruise inside my elbow from it. My eyes welled up with tears...but it's all over now. We are not going to get sick on Laysan, woot!

Getting the bag ready...


Giving Amarisa an IV:


Success, on the first attempt!


My poor arm...


Gretchen did a good job putting the IV in my arm, gooooo Ladies of Laysan!


Relief!

SPAM JAM!!! To raise money and get food for the Hawaii food bank:


Is this the biggest Aloha shirt you've ever seen??

Kapolei'd!

I am chillin' in Kapolei with friends of a friend...Andrea and Brad, who are super awesomely nice to let me stay with them in their snazzy house =). It is located about 25 miles west of Honolulu, so I am away from all the hustle and bustle of the city, in a nice little neighborhood. But...the traffic is crazy here! It takes at least 45 minutes to get into town in the morning, and I take the bus back. I can be on the bus from 1.25 to 2 hours! I can live without the commute, but it is only for a few weeks til I leave for Laysan. It is super that I don't have to pay out the nose to stay in Honolulu, with all the millions of tourists...which is great!



The view from the neighborhood:




One of the kitties, Rocksie:

Flower Power!

Here are some flowers from around the neighborhood I'm staying in, enjoy!

Hawaii Five-O-Yeah!

Surprise! I'm in Hawaii! I just started my new job with the Monk Seal Recovery Project in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands! I am in Honolulu for the next few weeks training with NOAA/PIFSC/MMRP (way too many acronyms to remember) and getting ready to go out into the deep blue nowhere! The NW Hawaiian Islands are those really tiny islands that usually aren't shown on the maps of Hawaii. They are really small islets and some of them are just atolls (what is left over when a volcanic island sinks and all that is left is the fringing coral reef that used to surround it). I'm stationed at Laysan Island, one of the bigger islands. It is about 1mi x 1.5 mi and is 7mi in circumference, with a very salty lake in the middle. Laysan has the trifecta of animals with Monk Seals, Laysan Albatross, and Laysan Duck - all really awesome sights that I am super excited to see!

So I am in Honolulu packing up lots of 5 gallon buckets with equipment, clothes and food. Laysan and many of the others (Kure, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Lisianski, Midway) are quarantine islands which means you have to wear special clothes that have only been on that island or new. These islands also do not have fresh water, and some do not have buildings, or other people stationed on them. French Frigate Shoals group is lucky because they actually have buildings, wireless internet, fresh water...etc! Fish and Wildlife does have a permanent camp on Laysan, so we won't be totally alone - there are only 3 of us working on the monk seals (me, Gretchen, and Amarisa).

I finally got into the water this weekend and snorkeled! I saw 2 green sea turtles, lots of tropical fish, cool sea urchins, christmas tree worms, coral, trumpet fish, puffer fish... And, I also the chaos of Waikiki! There are sooo many tourists, it's ridiculous!

Today we watched the veterinarian perform a necrospy on a dead female weaner monk seal from 2 years ago on French Frigate Shoals. Have fun with the pictures! And, he couldn't determine the cause of death after the butchering...

Poor Pup - she also has a shark bite on her flipper:


She has no eyes (after Bob cut them out):


Getting brain fluid!


Trachea:


Splayed!


Heart:


Skull removed, can you find it?


Skull:


Golden Plover!