Archive

Finding marine shells is like collecting gold

I'm back in Mexico where I'm getting my sailboat Honu ready for another Sea of Cortez adventure. All I really want to do, though, is collect trap doors.


Discovering new wildlife like beaverlike nutrias

Last week during a visit to my friends' cabin outside of Lufkin, Texas, the abundance of aquatic wildlife there surprised me. Since a great blue heron and two bald eagles perched a little too far away to see clearly, I decided to paddle a kayak around the lake.


Learning about Titanic goes on through book

I thought I knew a lot about the Titanic, but in New York City last week I went to an exhibit about the ship, and there found a book called "882 1/2 Amazing Answers to Your Questions About the Titanic" ($10, Scholastic Inc.). Of those answers I knew two. One, the ship was considered unsinkable, and two, it hit an iceberg and sank.


The bigger the opihi, then more pupus for us

Do not pick an opihi as big as a quarter.


Book details sea crimes with tongue in cheek

Every time I pick up the new book "The Sea Sleuth: Edventures [sic] of a Marine Detective," by state Department of Land and Natural Resources biologist Dave Gulko, I crack up.


Turtle splits from crowd to nest on Oahu beach

Years ago, while sailing off Coast Rica, I saw something so amazing, I sometimes wonder if, having seen pictures of the event, I just dreamed I saw it.


Orchid of the ocean dances to Lanikai shore

Last week while walking Lanikai Beach, I saw a bright orange-and-yellow candy wrapper tumbling in the shore break. Wading in a foot or two, I picked it up.

Oh, if only all marine trash could be this good. I'd found a Spanish dancer.


Mom wanted kids to sit on monk seal for photo

About 10 years ago, when I lived on the North Shore, a neighbor came to my door to report a monk seal lying on a busy nearby beach.


Appetite for baby chicks hurts herons' reputation

Last week as I looked through my literature on Hawaii's shorebirds, a headline in the Hawaii Audubon Society's journal, Elepaio, stopped me. It said, "The Black-Crowned Night Heron: The Bad and the Good."


Returning kolea mark coming of isles' winter

The message that winter is coming is loud and clear in my neighborhood this week, and it sounds like chu-EET! Our kolea are back.