Day Eight: Heiau, Pololu Valley Hike, and Night Time Tidepool

Our first stop today was a sacred ancient Hawaiian heiau. This heiau is significant because there is still a family taking care of it as their ancestors did. We learned that this, Mookini, was a sacrificial heiau where Hawaiian warriors hoped to gain mana (power). We also saw the birthplace of Kamehameha I.

Before heading out for another lab, we stopped at one of the King Kamehameha I statues.

In the afternoon, we hiked down Pololu Valley to do a wave lab. This was a lengthy hike but worth it in the end to get down to a black sand beach. 

After our hike, we had another sunset dinner at Hapuna followed by some ice breaker games. We were treated to another beautiful sunset.

Chanting as the sun went down:

Our final portion of the day was at Puako where we did a night time tidepool lab. Here, we investigated the organisms living in the tidepools. We had a chance to interact closely with many marine critters!

As the blog author, I want to take this opportunity to share with everyone that Kumu Monica said that the crab below was the BEST find of the summer...and I found it :) This is an anemone crab. The crab will attach several anemones to its shell for protection. The crab gets a body guard, the anemone gets a free ride. Credit to Nick for the awesome pics.- Ms. Hartman

Day Seven: Ancient Ruins, Dolphins, Leis, and SUNSETS

This morning was another BEAUTIFUL day on the mountain. After such a busy day yesterday, it was definitely nice to sleep in a bit today and wake up to this.

There are so many pretty things to look at here.

This rainbow:

This hibiscus:

This HPA bookstore employee:

Nick and Seth prepared for another SCUBA class. 

Next adventure was a hike to see the petroglyphs. These are ancient Hawaiian rock drawings that have been preserved on the island.

The next stop for us today was at the Hilton Hotel. There were only a FEW things different at the hotel from where we are staying at HPA :)  There is a program at the hotel called Dolphin Quest. We had a question and answer session with a few of the trainers.

Everywhere we go on the island, we just have to look out the window to see an amazing view. Here a few pictures from today's trip.

Our final destination tonight was Hapuna beach. We had almost two hours to relax, which was great after the long day at the volcano yesterday. After dinner on the beach, Kumu Monica taught us how to make leis. The best part of the beach today was the amazing sunset.

Below is a series of pictures from the 15 minute period the sun was setting. Scroll through and you can see exactly what we were treated to this evening.

ALOHA FROM BATESVILLE AND WHITELAND