Urchin diversity cages look great!

Just 5 days before Christmas, I returned home from my last 2011 trip to Maui. This trip, I inspected and confirmed that all experiments were still in place, cleaned & repaired equipment, and collected additional data. If you need a refresher, you can read about our projects here (last 3).

Mindi was the quintessential dive buddy and 'lab' assistant

My dive buddy this trip was Mindi Summers, also a student at Scripps. She was a huge help, a lot of fun, and great in the water. We swam all over the island, collecting water samples, scrubbing CAU cages, deploying SeaFETs, harassing urchins, and gawking at sea turtles, humpback whales, mantas, nudibranchs, and a fictional beast: the tigermokacuda. We had beautiful calm & clear seas, though suffered in the wintery cold 76 ºF water. All went smoothly, we collected a ton of data, and I was ready to head back to San Diego for the holidays, where there are ‘seasons.’

Levi assuming "the position."

The goal is to remain landlocked through January, but return to the isle mid-February to check on things, collect more data, and reconnect with the Maui family. A hui hou Maui!