First full day

June 18, 2012

Today was our first full day on Kauai. I woke up to our weather port glowing orange from the early sun and the roosters cockle-doodle-doodling at 6 am. It was very nice walking out of our tent and smelling the fresh air on Kauai. After eating breakfast our whole group met to start the day.

We took multiple vans to the National Tropical Botanical Garden where our study sites are located. Our first stop was the main building at the NTBG. David Burney showed us his 10 million dollar collection of botany art and classic botany book collections. Only three people are allowed in this room. He also took us on a tour of the library where thousands of plant species samples are located.

Next we drove down the valley to an area where all native plant species are located. David explained what his and the NTBG’s mission is for restoring native plant species. I got some good information and more direction of what I’d like to focus on for my project.

After lunch we went to the coast to watch the Professors test run the kite and fixed wing remote controlled airplane. The first test fun of the kite failed, the wind was too gusty and they decided not to use this method today. The fixed wing had a colored HD gopro camera in it. We will be able to make orthrophotos with the imagery generated from the fixed airplane.