First stop: the wet tanks lab of ARCS Scholar Leon Tran

A power outage didn't phase the group, whihe visited Leon's octopi tanks by cell-phone flashlight.

ARCS Scholar Leon Tran with one of his research subjects

Moving on...

Checking out sea creatures at the touch tank

Learning about different kinds of corals and reefs, plus anemones, sea stars, sea cuumbers and more.

Claire Lager explains the work of the Smithsonian coral cryopreservation project.

ARCS Scholar alum Van Wishengrad has returned to the Hawaii‘i Institue of Marine Biology for his second postdoctoral position

Honolulu member Jessica Radovich checks out an aquarium in Van's lab.

A group photo after lunch in the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology picnic area.

Back on O‘ahu, the group braves gusty winds for a visit to the He‘eia National Estuarine Reserch Reserve led by ARCS Scholar alumna Yoshimi Rii, who is the state representative for the project. She explained the Hawaiian land division system that extended from mountain top through valleys and wetlands out into the ocean, creating an interconnected, self-sustaining agricultural system.

Fred Rappun is part of the community non-profit Ka ko‘o O‘iwi, which is restoringing traditional Hawaiian loi (gardens) within the reserve.

Kalo (taro) is a Hawaiian staple—the corm pounded for poi, the leaves stewed in luau or wrapped aorund pork and fish and steamed to make laulau. Ancient chants tell how the plant arose from the burial of the first-born still-born child of Wakea (sky father) and Papa (earth mother), making it the elder brother to the second born Haloa, the ancestor of the Hawaiian people.

The loi is also home to indigenous birds.

Water from the loi flows into the He‘eia fish pond, which is being restored

On to the picnic area for lunch