HIMB, Coconut Island, Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii

9.21.05 From August 13th to the 26th, I participated in the Coral Molecular Techniques Workshop at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. The course was about 40% lecture, 60% lab work, 20% eating, 15% snorkeling and 100% fun. Its been almost a month since I returned from Hawaii and I still feel like I carry the experience around with me. The things I learned about coral, the stimulating conversations I had, the spawning coral and the beautiful scenery all touched me in different ways and its affected many of the things I do in my daily life. Browse the galleries, read some of the bios, you never know, one of these coral researchers could be coming to a reef near you!

The beautiful Moku O Lo’e with a dense growth of coral visible as a halo around the island.

The People

I'll never be able to say enough about the people who took part in this program. The students, professors and assistants all came from very different places but everyone was really top notch in their field. Even though we all had different backgrounds, our research and interests all converged on the study of coral. It was a truly rewarding experience and I now have an extended family of friends. I have begun a small bio section for the students of this year's HIMB coral workshop and I hope to expand this page to include the professors and other people who were part of my experience.

The Corals

The coral cover around Coconut island is insane. If you look at the aerial photograph of Coconut island, you can easily make out the halo of the dense fringing reef surrounding it. The most prominent corals in Kane'Ohe Bay are Porites compressa and Montipora capitata with a fair amount of Pocillopora damicornis as well. Other corals which may be locally abundant are Fungia scutaria, Pavona, Cyphastrea, Pocillopora meandrina and a couple other encrusting Montipora species. I will be working to put together pages about the Fungia, Porites, Pocillopora and the Montipora since these are the most recognizable corals around Coconut and in Kane'Ohe in general. (These were also the corals for which I got the best pictures)

The Scenery

I believe that the scenery of Hawaii is truly a photographer's dream. The variety of photo opportunities ranged from exotic terrestrial scenes, dreamy beach and palm tree scenes to the beautiful lagoon and reefscapes. The weather and lighting was perfect almost the entire time I was there and I had the chance to take many great pics. One of the main landscape features that was impossible to escape was the impossibly steep mountains. I used to live in Denver and I thought I'd seen my fill of mountains but the mountainous backdrop reminded me of where I was ever time I saw it.

Miscellaneous

There's a few decent shots that dont quite need their own section of explanation.