From the Honolulu Airport

Honolulu HI -- 2/11/2006
I've got a couple of hours before my flight leaves for Osaka (arriving at 6:66 p.m.) and then Saipan (arriving at 1:15 a.m on 2/13) so here is an update.

Yesterday (Friday) we met with Mike Molina from the USFWS at his office in downtown Honolulu and heard about some of the more significant issues FWS is dealing with. One of them is a project to salvage spanish gold from a sunken galleon, the Santa Margarhita. The current modifications to the permit that are being reviewed sound like they have significant potential to really damage the reef and a turtle nesting beach.

We then met with Al Eerson from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). They have a person stationed on Saipan that is working with the CNMI Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Coastal program and others so it will be good to get to meet her.

After these meetings we ate lunch at the Waikiki Yacht Club. Our team leader is a yacht club member back home and he got us in through their reciprocity program. I had a cheesburger and fries and it didn't even cost me $25 like it would have just about everywhere else.

From there Dorina and I went out on an expidition to examine some local coastal resource conditions. We took a drive through Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve but it was getting late in the day and it was a bit busy so we decided we'd wait and come back early in the morning.

We drove around the SW side of the island and visited a number of scenic overlooks. One of the coolest was Pali Lookout. The picture above is from the lookout where King Kameamea pushed the Oahu warriors over the cliff to will victory over the last resistance to uniting the islands.