Intern Account: Jiny:
"Today we conducted a survey out on the little islet, Kaohikaipu. We accessed this islet via plastic kayaks, which I have never used before. The only difficult thing was that they are pretty heavy and awkward to move around. I think that was pretty much the hardest part of our trip today. The weather was beautiful and the winds were dead, making the water so glassy and awesome. When we got to the islet, access was fairly easy (I guess on a choppy day, I probably would have been a little more nervous about the large kayaks). This islet was amazing in all the native fauna. There were also invasive species creeping up, which Heather and I talked about eradicating the next chance that we had. So we set out with insect collections. There were lots of little flies and spiky backed caterpillars. I did see some aphids on the plants, but not as many as I have seen before on any of the other islets. After arthropod collections, Heather and I set out with collecting the traps. Jaap and Heather had gone out the day before, taking advantage of the fantastic weather conditions. Surprisingly, it didn’t rain today and instead it turned out pretty sunny. I think I might have actually got a little sunburned (I really thought it was going to rain on us and didn’t bring any protection; Heather though the same). We spent a good amount of time out on Kaohikaipu. This islet was also visited by some fishermen and divers via boat and kayaks while we were surveying. After the completion of our survey, we headed back to the Makai pier, where we unloaded our gear and called it a day. I think that was another one of my favorite survey sites because majority of the plant population was native species. I am definitely looking forward to going back to help clear the invasive plants and contribute the the restoration of this one of many islets."