Our first appointment was scheduled for 12:00 p.m. in Honokaa, but I was skeptical whether the woman would be there or not, as she didn't really seem that interested when we talked, but she scheduled a time anyways. We got there, and her mom, who doesn't really understand english was there, and stated that the daughter had gone to Hilo. We didn't bother leaving a reminder car/call to reschedule, as we figured she just wasn't interested. It seems rude when people do this, especially when I tell them how far away we are driving to come up here. It's much better if they just say no up front, rather than say yes, but then decide not to be there when they scheduled their time for.
We drove around Honokaa to try and recruit another person. The first person we talked with was friendly, but she was busy heading out, so we tried across the way. I spoke to an older man who didn't speak or understand english that well. He went and got his daughter, who I repeated my schpeal with, and she said she was heading out to work, but her husband is a landscaper in Waimea, and he might be interested, so we should come back around 4. We took that as an optimistic yes, and decided to head to Kalopa park for lunch, and to book camping permits.
Kalopa park is a gorgeous forested park that seems to be underused, which is fine by us! We ate our lunches and then called a potential participant in Waimea who said to check in on Monday as he'd have his physical therapy schedule by then. We scheduled him for 3:00 p.m. and then went to the ranger station where we spent at least a half hour while the ranger tried to book our camping permit. The camping permit system is somewhat out dated. There is one woman in Hilo who is in charge of permitting for the island, and all of the parks have to call with her to check that she hasn't reserved the site through her office. The park ranger, Beau, kept trying to get through, but wasn't very successful. When he finally did get through, the person told him the woman he needed to talk to was on lunch... soo, he took down my cell number and took payment (done on trust on both our parts, which he's not supposed to do), and then we headed off to Waimea for our next participant.
The drive between Waimea and Honokaa is always somewhat eerie, as most of the time you are driving through a cloud, or at least partially through a cloud.
We arrived at our second participant, an elderly gentleman whose daughter-in-law was there with him. We chatted about the frog, which he knew nothing about, and then as he filled out the demographic sheet I have everyone complete, I learned that he was a lifetime U.S. diplomat. Wow, I'm sure he has stories to tell. In fact, the granddaughter is working on typing up his autobiography. I was shown into the living room where I got to see pictures of him with Bush Sr., Reagan, Ford, Carter, Kofi Annan, and his seat at the UN table. It's so amazing to me all of the interesting people you meet by just randomly selecting them as we've done. I'm sure we could have had some very interesting discussions, but we only talked briefly about Air Force One and where each of the photos were taken, before I needed to head out and start taking measurements with Seth. We finished up his property (in light rain) and then drove back to Honokaa with our fingers crossed that the woman's husband would agree to participate.
We arrived in Honokaa around 5:15 or so, and the participant was really friendly. He apparently does landscaping around a hotel in Waikaloa, where there are lots of coqui. He talked about how tourists thought the coqui were birds when the first heard them, and that many cannot sleep and complain a lot. He was really friendly and let Seth sample lychee fruit from his tree in back. I've had it fresh before and thought it had a similar texture and taste to the inside of a grape.
We drove back to Waimea and stopped by a grocery store to check out what we could get for dinner since we forgot a packed lunch bag in the fridge at the apartment. We learned that the leftover hot deli and bakery items get put out around 7:10 p.m. (Seth clocked it) so we hung out for a bit and then snagged an apple pie, which we had some of for dessert while sitting at the Waimea park.
We packed up our sound recorders in Waimea and Honokaa and drove back to Hawaiian Beaches. Such a pretty, but long, drive- especially at night with some rain.
Our first participant was scheduled for 10 a.m. in Waimea, so we had to leave 2 hours prior to that for the long drive. We got stuck behind a wide load, but made it just on time. The woman was super friendly, and she and I had tea and talked coqui. She's a teacher working with at-risk students who came from CA originally, while her parents spent some time in WI, but didn't like the winters. She was fun to talk to, and had a gorgeous view from her house.
Our next participant wasn't until 3 p.m., so we drove to the Waimea Nature park where we sat and ate lunch and walked around. The park is a gorgeous 10-acre facility that is run completely by donations and volunteers. They have planted native plants and have an amphitheater area, greenhouse, small education center, and loads of nicely placed benches and picnic tables. It was a great place to have lunch, walk around, and spend some time working on reading more coqui articles for a manuscript we're getting ready to submit.
Our second participant we were expecting to be a character, which he was. He sat smoking and drinking his beer while we chatted about the coqui frog, which he claimed was his ancestors (since his grandparents came over from Puerto Rico). The interview was not as long as I had expected, since I felt he could probably talk for hours if we let him. We took our measurements and headed back to the Waimea park where we ate our dinner and read.
We collected the nighttime equipment, made the long drive home, and were glad that the next night we'd be camping, so we wouldn't have to drive so far. I stayed up late working on revisions to the manuscript, and getting other work done that necessitates a computer.
Today we only had to pick up sticky bug traps in Waimea, so we did some exploring. We walked around downtown Hilo across some of the bridges overlooking a small set of falls. Then we went to the Tsunami museum in downtown Hilo and learned all about tsunamis. Apparently they test the warning system here every month (just like tornadoes), but we haven't heard, so it could be we've been out and about at the times it's normally tested, or in areas where the tsunami won't reach, but we aren't sure.
We of course HAD to stop by and say "hi" to Baker Tom and partake in more malsadas. We also decided to try his turnovers this time as well.
From here, we drove along the 4-mile scenic road we'd been on once before and had some nice views of the ocean. We stopped by supposedly one of the best smoothie places on the island, since they start with bananas instead of ice. We had the flavor of the day, raspberry flow, with raspberry, strawberry, banana, and pineapple. We both liked it, but agreed that in addition to being one of the best smoothies we'd had, it was also one of the most expensive.
Next stop was Akaka Falls. It looked the same as it did when I was there in February. The drop is an impressive 420 feet, but half of the trail system is still being repaired, which is too bad. Lots of coqui in the area. They were calling late afternoon to greet us long our short hike to the falls.
Next, we stopped by Kolekole beach park, which was listed as having the best picnic table ever (you decide from the pictures below). We enjoyed our dinner of fatty, sugary goodness, from said picnic table, and hoped that the bridge above wouldn't collapse. Apparently, this road is only about 48 years old, as it was constructed in 1960 after the railway system that used to run in this area was wiped out by the 1946 tsunami. The rail system was one of the most expensive per distance because of all of these bridges that needed to be built. The view was great, but this was the first place that brought back memories of Oahu as there were a number of individuals who seemed to have set up a permanent camp here, giving the park a dirtier, less appealing feel.
We stopped by Laupahoehoe Point overlook, which had a view of the town that saw tragedy on April fools' day, 1946 when the tsunami destroyed a school and killed a number of school kids and some teachers. We decided to drive down to the actual point at another time, since it was getting late.
We decided it would be smart to set up tent before heading to Waimea, since the clouds were looking questionable. We bought a Walmart tent and sleeping bags like the last time we were in Hawaii, but this time, Seth opted for the gigantic of all gigantic tents. No more tiny kid size tent for him. This thing was like a mansion of tents. We had a good laugh as we set it up; we scared/confused the one other group in the camping area, then drove off to Waimea to get our bug traps.
We arrived back at the camping area and decided to do part two of our clown act and blow up the aerobed mattress we found in the beach house apartment. This requires electricity, which just so happens to exist in the bathrooms. So, Seth worked on filling it up, while starting small talk with the bemused group also camping. Turns out they didn't have a camp permit, but were in the area and thought they'd set up camp. They had been working on an organic farm in the Kona area, and then had stayed at a hostel in Hilo (one I almost had us stay at, but the price was too high for 3 people). It sounded like they were pretty novice campers, so they didn't find our tent and air mattress as amusing as we did (they had a Walmart tent too), but I'm easily amused. They went to sleep as it started to get darker, like most people on the island seem to do, while we stayed up and read. I took a shower, which was ice cold and not the most fun given Kalopa park is about 2100 ft and it's a bit cooler there in the evening. Our sleeping bags were warm, though, so I actually overheated a bit during the night, which is rare for me when camping.
We awoke to the non-permitted campers being "scolded" by the park ranger. We emerged from the tent after they had left and then talked with the park ranger. It sounds like he normally gives them the first night free, but tells them not to do it again. At $5 a night for up to 4 people, and no park entrance fees, it seems like people like that should just pay up, but who knows. We talked coqui for a bit, mostly the usual, but he also said that they sprayed a ton with citric acid earlier in the year, but it had no noticeable affect. We noticed the frogs were quite loud.
Our first participant was scheduled for 9 a.m. and she was all ready for us. She was a sweet retired woman who had recently sold her house to her son after her husband passed away, and was in the process of moving to her new place. No frogs on her property, but apparently some turtles (though we didn't see them). She seemed like she enjoyed the company and wanted to make small talk. We chatted for a bit, collected our data, and then decided what to do for the rest of the day, since our next appointment wasn't until 4:00 p.m. We decided to drive up the north tip of the island.
The drive was extremely scenic. We caught glimpses of Maui and Haleakala, as well as great views of Mauna Kea. We stopped by Kapa'au where we saw the "real" King Kamehameha statue (there is also one in Hilo, and Honolulu, which we've also seen). The king had been leid since it was his birthday the day prior. We read about the massive undertaking to fix up the painting on the sculpture, and the original voyage of the sculpture from France to Hawaii, where the ship capsized and the king was thrown over. The statue was recovered by a fisherman and later found by the original captain of the ship that capsized. The captain purchased the statue and returned it to Kohala and was later brought to Kapa'au.
Our next stop was the Pololu Valley lookout. We decided to venture down the trail to the black sand beach with amazing views of the ocean and valley. The trail was a bit steep and had a number of roots and rocks that made it more difficult than it actually was. We ate our lunch on a log, facing the amazing waves in the ocean. Seth's hands were all sticky from lunch, so he washed them off, before needing to rinse off his sandals. What a gorgeous place to be, and we practically had the beach to ourselves. The hike up was surprisingly quick and relatively easy, other than being warm and involving lots of perspiration.
We stopped by the Keokea Beach park, but bypassed the lighthouse on our way back to Hawi.
From here we drove back to Hawi, where we stopped and had some homemade ice cream. I tried a half scoop of mango sorbet, and a half scoop of pineapple sorbet, and Seth had the Kona coffee ice cream with fudge on top. We agreed all was good, but nothing really that special about Seth's ice cream, it was expensive, and the serving sizes were tiny.
We arrived at our 4 p.m. participant, only to find that she had emailed us that she needed to cancel. Apparently she wasn't feeling well. I apologized for not having email access, as we had camped the night prior and this hadn't happened before. I was a bit flustered, but we drove to a parking lot to regroup. I ended up calling a potential participant who had given me his name and number and said to use him as an alternate, since he didn't know the schedule for the week because his daughter was visiting from the mainland. He was home and available. This worked out great. Again, no coqui frogs in the area, but he did say they had toads. They owned a couple of CRVs, so Seth got talking about ours, and it turns out he's selling the older one, but loved it. We talked cars for a while before we needed to head out to set up the sound recorder at our first property.
We made the mistake of stopping by the grocery store to check out the reduced bakery goods, with the good intention of getting more bagels. Of course, we came out with more than just bagels, including a butter mochi, since it sounded interesting. I guess it is a typical Hawaiian dessert that has either Japanese or Philippine roots, and is pretty unhealthy for you (aren't all desserts?).
We enjoyed our dinners at the park, and sat and read until we needed to pick up the sound recorders and drive back to the apartment.
Today was our second day this week where we only needed to pick up sticky traps, which meant we'd camp again, since we didn't need to drive insects all the way back to the apartment. We got some work done around the house in the morning, packed, and then headed to do a bit of errands while the weather was still gloomy. We were going to head up to the Mauna Kea observatory today, but it was looking like we didn't have enough time to make the drive before the visitor centers would close, so, we decided to stop by Boiling pots and Rainbow falls again to see of there was more water in them, and to eat lunch. The falls looked the same, so we ventured north along the old railway route yet again.
We stopped at Laupahoehoe point and saw the memorial to those that lost their lives. We also saw an interesting set of concrete pieces that appear to function to break up large waves as they come into shore.
We drove into Waimea to pick up sticky traps from the previous day participants, and ended up chatting with both of them for quite some time. The first chatted all about her life and her kids and her grandkid and her husband, and the work she needs to do before moving. the second talked all about CRVs and other cars, to the point it was a little repetitive. We decided it wise to try and find internet so I could check and be sure the participants scheduled for the next day hadn't emailed while we'd been camping. It took us a while to find a hotspot, but we managed to in the end.
I had talked with my advisor earlier in the day, and she had another student take his orals, and one of the questions was how far you could hear the coqui call (he worked with GIS and attempting predictive models of coqui habitat using presence/absence along main roads in HI and Puerto Rico). I told my advisor I knew of 2 places where we could log the distance from a chorus of frogs, and from an individual frog. The latter was found in Honokaa on our way back to the state park. We determined you could hear a single frog for over 300 feet away, including a number of other factors, such as wind, being way downhill/uphill, etc. In all likelihood, on a flat ground, with perfect wind conditions, you could hear a single frog much further away than that.
Our chorus distance was recorded from the edge of Kalopa park, and was estimated to be over 1300 feet (437.5 m), which is quite a ways!
There was one other tent in the camping area, but no car. We sat in our mansion tent and read until it was time for sleep.
Our first participant was scheduled for 9 a.m. We arrived and were greeted by the nasty dog they keep chained up. No one was home. We decided to leave a note for them, and as we were doing this, the mother pulled up in her car checking to see why the dog was barking. She said she'd give the card to her daughter (the homeowner), but wasn't sure when they'd be back. Bummer. We decided it might be a bit early to try recruiting, so we sat at a nearby school parking lot and read for a bit.
I randomly selected a new street and recruited another participant almost immediately. Still no frogs in the area, but the woman knew a fair amount about the frogs, which was good. We needed one more participant for this community and were able to secure one immediately following the first. This second participant was really interested in the research, and was the first person to really tell me that she's careful about checking over all the plants she buys from the nursery, and knows that frogs like to hang out in them. She was fun to talk to. We collected data on her property, then decided it was time for lunch.
We headed back to the Waimea Nature Park (Ulu La'au), which we liked so much the other day. It was still just as nice, even with some small raindrops. From here, we decided to head along the western edge to the northern coast, since we hadn't taken this road before. We joined up on the wrong road, and took a slight detour near Waikaloa, but enjoyed the desert views this side afforded. I think we may miss the lush fauna we've enjoyed while on the eastern side of the island, but I guess there's always golf courses along the way, since this IS the resort side...
We stopped at the Hamakua Macadamia Nut factory, where we had a tour of the processing facilities. Apparently they are working 7 days a week starting in July (prime nut season). We got to taste a "raw" nut, which, in our opinion, and the tour guide's, was much more flavorful than the dry roasted we are used to (and what they sell). You can't ship the unroasted kind, which is why the mac nut companies all roast the nuts. All the macnut trees (600 acres) are on the stretch between Hilo and Honokaa that we've been driving. In fact, we were on a number of properties that had mac nuts, and now I want to go back and ask if we can partake!
From here we drove up to the Lapakahi State Historical Park, but got there just about 5 minutes before they stopped letting cars in, as it gates at 4:00 and we were there at 3:35 p.m. (last car in half hour before closes). We opted to continue driving and were looking for a temple structure near the ocean that points in directions of nearby islands, but we couldn't find it near Mahukona.
We drove to the Mo'okini Heiau where human sacrifices were made by both Kamehameha and the ruler prior to him. Seth walked around it while I watched the car, since there was visible shattered car window glass nearby. I also wasn't sure if I wanted the experience of an area that feels "soul-less", so I was fine staying behind, since you could see it from the road. Seth claimed it smelled of dying animals, and was unusually quiet and a bit eerie.
Down the road is the supposed King's birthplace. From here, you could see the temple in the distance. Birth and death as one.
We headed back towards Waimea to set up the sound recorders, and enjoyed views of one of the other islands (we couldn't tell which one, but not Maui), and great views of Mauna Kea, and a rainbow (one of only a handful we've seen on this trip, compared to when I was here in Feb.).
We tried out a Mexican place for dinner that was recommended to us, but both agreed the place in Pahoa was far superior. We stopped by the reduced bakery and rounded out our meal with some pineapple upside-down cake- yum! We drove back to our apartment after picking up the sound recorders and worked on transferring data.
Today we worked on making a backup of computer data, before heading off to our next communities to recruit for the remainder of our time on this side of the island.
We drove to Black Sands beach near Kalapana and drove down the randomly selected roads I had picked to recruit participants on. We quickly realized that it would be almost impossible to get the 7 people I needed for the community. The nicest looking house in the area had a van parked out front with Puna Boys written on it and marijuana plants and a meth lab flask drawn on as well. Most of the rest of the places were basically shacks... tents, boards, boards with tents... you name it, we probably saw it. The community was certainly a far cry from anything we had seen thus far. Still, we had at least one person wave to us (after giving us stink eye), so it couldn't be all that bad.
We drove to the next community, not knowing what to expect. This area was totally different. Almost like night and day, except for the occasional tents/shacks that dotted the area. Recruiting participants took a little while since many of the houses we went to had no one home. This community had more of an eccentric flair to it. One of the participants was starting a new job and didn't know how his hours would be, but he was willing to have us on his property while he wasn't around. So, I interviewed him on the spot while Seth paced out the property. We ended up talking for quite some time about surfing, community dynamics, and Hawaii in general. We were a little rushed to finish recruiting the rest of the participants we needed, but all went fine.
After recruiting our 7, we made the trek up to Waimea to pick up the sticky traps from our last participants there. The drive was long, but we lucked out and it really didn't rain like we thought it would.