perks of a scientist

Time to prepare our group presentation for the evening lecture was first on the agenda for the day.  We created a PowerPoint for the overall project, as well as for each individual project.  The purpose of these presentations were to give the rest of the group an idea of our progress on our project.  We were also open to suggestions and questions; this type of criticism can be very helpful to strengthen research questions and methods.

After lunch we went back to the Allerton Gardens,however this time we explored a new area of the gardens–the beach. I dare claim that this is the best beach on Kauai and possibly the WORLD.  It is an exclusive beach due to isolation.  Allerton is private property but all beaches are public, so in order to get around trespassing you have to either hike around Allerton or swim onto the beach.  Unless, of course, you are a scientist and you are granted special permission.  Perks!  While at the beach two people collected logger and GPS data on a long surf board; I collected water samples by walking a transect on the beach.  Once we finished, Matty and I went on a wild goose chase to find a volcanic spring that was rumored to be on the gardens.  I needed a sample of the spring so that I had a baseline of the chemical signature of water that flows through a volcanic rock.  We discovered that all the springs that feed the fountains in the gardens had dried up, but the well that now feeds them is from a volcanic rock aquifer.  We went to the deep well and had to construct a device that lowered my sample bottle to the well.  I give all credit to Matty to creating this device!  Successful collected a sample and waiting to get back to Long Beach to analyze them all by means of ion chromatography.