Day 6: Home Sweet Home

After a week of trying to answer all the questions everyone had (as best I could) about Hawai’i, we’ve finally arrived. Everyone seems blown away! I guess I take the sights and sounds, the ocean and mountains, the culture and the people for granted sometimes. But don’t get me wrong, I would never want to live somewhere else.

We’re staying at a working barn. It is much cooler and cozier than it sounds. I think I could definitely live here for three weeks… or more. There are cows, horses, goats, ducks, roosters and who-knows-what-else-I-have-not-seen. It’s a legit farm. I’m Very happy with the accommodations and the owner of the property made all of us dinner! It was sooo good to have some homemade food.

On the flight over I was able to do some of the supplemental readings. I read about GAP, the Gap Analysis Program. Its aim is to “keep common species common” by assessing the land cover of areas, a species location, and the stewardship of the area. Sounds like a interesting program, but I am curious if it protects a species genetic diversity because it assumes that a species does not have a gap in protection if 10% of it’s population is properly protected. This could might be the basis of a possible project but I’m not sure if a Gap analysis of one valley would be practical.

Anyway, its good to be back in Hawai’i. I missed the smell of the fresh salt water air the most.