Postcard from Hawaii!!

            

I particularly dedicate this postcard to all the people I met who asked me if I wasn't afraid of getting bored with staying 17 days in Hawaii. Well, if you really want to visit the archipelago, you'll actually need a lot more than that. 

Of course, if your goal is only to sleep on the beach, I guess your time there depends on how long it takes you to disconnect from the real world and on how many days straight you can lay on the beach doing nothing without loosing your mind. 

Red Sand Beach, Maui.

This Monk Seal I guess is my illustration for people sunbathing on Hawaiian beaches :)

We decided to widely visit the two islands of Maui and Big Island (Hawai'i), leaving Ni'lhau, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Lana'i and Moloka'i for an other trip. 17 days was just enough to explore them at a good pace, getting up with the sun (sometime around 7am) and stopping any visiting activity by sunset (shortly after 6pm) - as we were camping most of the time, this actually means stoping all activity at pitch black 8pm.

I don't think a post on the blog can describe how great this trip was, and I'm sure the picture (even the best ones) don't represent 1/10th of the awesomeness of that place. To summarize, spending time on Hawaii is the dream life: it has ocean, mountain, every kind of climate, gorgeous flora and delicious food... what else!? The scariest dangers being sharks, black widow spiders, (americans?) and erupting volcanos (non of the above I've actually encountered).

Pele, the Goddess of Fire, Lightning, Wind and Volcanoes.

Since we came back to Toronto (and oh we're lucky it was only Toronto, we couldn't even imagine how a shock it would be to transitione in only a few hours from quiet peaceful Maui to Paris..) we keep talking about all the amazing things we've seen and experienced and about living there. 

Just to be able to live there I think it's worth fighting for the Green card... unless Hawaii regain its independence soon... 

Swimming with Sea Turtles.

Anyway, I highly recommend a cure of Hawaii! I'm pretty sure it would treat anything: it has sun, fun, happy people, beaches, hot surfers, vitaminful fruits, iodeful fishes, ocean fresh air, a complete set of climates to satisfy every mood, a few over 10,000ft mountains to concentrate your blood with haemoglobin, a language mouthful of vowels, fun and colorful animals, wild orchids growing on the side of the roads! 

Strawberry papaya, which seeds have been removed and replaced with lilikoi (passion fruit) seeds and lime juice!

Rambutan. 

Starfruits.

But also friendly hippies who come with zen and aloha power: i.e. yoga, naturopathy healing, and fresh healthy organic food stores... 

And it is really a place where they call "Women" as "Wahine"!! (as a kid I love that word but I was sure it was either made up or just a baking powder brand, now it all makes sense!).

They also have great coffee (Kona Coffee), grown on the West side of Mauna Lea Volcano on a very fertile soil and constantly humid. FYI: this is a freshly harvested coffee cherry.

Colorful orchids. 

Star Stinkhorn Fungus and Great Smell Plumeria.

After a few nights sleeping in the tent on windy Maui, surrounded by hippies (that last point was not that unpleasant but just got perfect for the rime), we definitively packed up the tent and arranged the trunk to sleep in the car. Way better against the wind and a quick escape mode in case of a Tsunami alert. We noticed that every single campground (as usually on a Beach Park) was in a Tsunami Evacuation Area... which I wasn't really comfortable sleeping around.

 Ok, there's one thing about Hawaii that apparently my body doesn't quite appreciate: it's the mosquitos. I know they usually like my blood and they don't go easy on me, but this time... I thought Canadian mosquitos were the worse but I was wrong. Hawaiian mosquitos are vicious, they act solo and they are so discrete I didn't know I got bitten until a few minutes later when my body was not itchy but would literally hurt! I wore mosquito repellant (natural or chemical usually doesn't make a big difference in my case so for my own sake I use natural ones since I need to heavily cover myself with repellant) and I indeed was the only one bitten. (Greg didn't put not even a drop for the whole vacation and didn't get a single bite!?!?). But as much as the first bite of the day crually hurts, I felt that over their numbers (sometimes 6 in less than 10 minutes...) I would loose sensation in these areas. It's like alcohol, after 3 mosquito bites I loose all sense of humor or creatism (that's how this amazing bamboo forest is completely missing in my portefolio).

 One of the only - blurry - capture from the Bamboo forest in Kipahulu.

Moreover, I used this eco-friendly anti-itchy remedy which consists in teasing yourself with a mini-teaser Mousti-click... not pleasant and pretty ineffective on Hawaiian mosquito bites. After 5 mosquito bites I loose total control and over 10 I do not feel anything anymore; I'm all swollen, my body is totally high from its own load of anti-histaminics. I wonder how I could survive in such a country with malaria.

Greg in Haleakala crater (and yes, we were wearing winter clothes!).

Inside the main crater on Maui (Haleakala crater) there is almost no life, just a few exotic and almost extinct species. I feels like being on an other planet (at least as I could imagine it would be...).
After 7 days on Maui, a 10-seats plane shuttled us from Kahului to Kona (Big Island of Hawaii). That was relatively unstable but definitively and experience. No check-point, no security, just pilot, co-pilot and locals!

Sunset from Mauna Kea, Big Island of Hawaii.

Petroglyphs on Puu Oo.                              Torch Ginger.

Among the other things that we've seen: a macadamia orchard with 250,000 trees... all hand picked and a thermal pool of ocean water. We talked to a few locals that were partying on the campground, we've witnessed people trading a haircut over a pound of fruits :)) we have snorkeled in crystal clear water and we hiked endlessly on lava field to reach brand new flowing lava... 7 miles one way and we were still not able to poke the lava with a stick despite the advices of the rangers.

And for Christmas we've booked ourselves a tiny cabin (no commodity included) in Volcano National Park and we ended up spending the night in a huge house just for the two of us with heat and hot shower! They made a mistake during the check-in/check-out of two other people and they ended up overbooking our cabin. Lucky us/them one of their employee just moved out of his house but still had the keys. This guy was so fun, he wanted to make sure that we were gonna be comfortable in his house... but you know, after 2 weeks of camping..

Huge butterflies.

Enormous spider, very thoughtful, it draws a thicker line in the middle of its web for you not to get taken in :)

Gecko.

Whales.

And yes, we are in the U.S. Imagine this sign on the road: "Speed limit enforced by laser"... like they're gonna cut my car with laser if I go over the limit? And there is of course Hand sanitizer at the waterless washrooms of the most secluded campground of the island.

A big 'Aloha' to you all, see you in no time for new adventures!

And if you don't have enough with these pictures, take a trip to my Flickr set! Mahalo!

P.S: for those of you who follow my blog for the craft, here is an incredible work from an Hawaiian woman with polymer clay. She makes perfect fake orchids out of polymer clay. It's just stunning!

World Turtle Day on May 23rd.

The Torontoist was looking for writers for their daily column, after a lot of hesitation I decided to apply. They asked for a description of who I was and a writing on what could be one of their Urban Post.
I somehow ran into the Ontario Science Center schedule that advertised for their exhibition on World Turtle Day, on May 23rd. I figured that could be part of my write-scientific-articles-for-everyone project (that I haven't yet substantiate by the way). Until today I didn't know there was a World Turtle ay, and I don't have any special love for turtles; one of my friend have turtle phobia, while an other is a big fan of tortoise. Sure, they're cute, and of course it's crucial to care about our environment, but I would have made a similar post if I had known that there was a World Raccoon Day (just googled it and a few people seem to be talking about it... sigh!).

So here is my Urban Planner writing on World Turtle Day:

Urban Planner: May 23, 2012.

Happy World Turtle Day everyone!

I'm still amazed there's a noticeable Day for everything, from International Woman Day (every March 8th) to US National Garlic Day (on April 19th). Anyway, May 23 is THE day to talk about turtles, and for once, not eat them. It is a great occasion to come discover what these strange hard shell animals have in common with their close friends lizards and crocodiles. The Ontario Science Center is featuring an expo on these reptiles for that special occasion!

Turtles have long been hunted for their eggs and flesh (which remain delicacies in Asia). But, while we instinctively think of turtle as endangered species, a lot others are more invasive than endangered. Most sea turtles are critically endangered, because of over fishing and also because they are trapped in fishing nets or because they are destroyed by heavy engines cleaning our coasts, the land turtles are less endangered, especially that cute little Red-eared slider that you neighbor cherishes as a pet, that doesn't want to die and that he can't trow in the pond behind your house or this thing will grow crazy and jeopardize every single other aquatic species in the neighborhood. 

There are a dozen of endemic turtoise species in Canada: most of them are mud and pond turtles but a few of them are also sea turtles. It appears that the largest of all living sea turtle – Leatherback sea turtle – also wet on our shores, in Quebec, New-Foundland and Labrador some time of the year. They cross the Atlantic ocean in a few days to get food. Their face is a love or hate scenario but you should be thankful because their almost sole source of food are jellyfish. They clean the ocean so you can safely swim in during the summer! Problem is, they can mispicture a plastic bag for a jellyfish and die from plastic bag ingestion.

Eventhough it can grow up to 3 meters  for 800 kg, and live for a few decades, this is a Critically Endangered species. They can't breathe under water, but they can dive for about an hour. They have that reputation of being very slow on land, but in water they can swim at a cruise speed of 3 meters per second (which is the pace of an average runner). 

This big sea turtle nests a hundred eggs in the sand at night, and then leave right away. They orientate toward their nesting place with the moonlight and artificial light can compromise their clutch as they will nest on land and not on the beach. The eggs hatch a few 16 to 17 days later, giving a 3 inches big turtle barely able to make it down the beach to the ocean. The temperature in which the egg has developed determines whether the egg becomes a male or female turtle. Until they are a few months they remain an easy prey and only 15% of the clutch makes it to adult.

On May 23, at the Ontario Science Center, you will learn all about Ontario's turtles and where to see the endemic species. You will participate in saving endangered turtles lives through being taught everything about their disappearing habitats around the world and discover how you can help protect them. Awareness is the first step for a sustainable world.

And while you're at the Ontario Science Center check this out: you've always wanted to be part of a scientific project? make science discovery happen? get research go faster? Take this opportunity while you're at the Ontario Science Center in participating in the Research Live project!

Which post I would probably have accompanied with a picture like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westbound/3888089606/