We left rainy Maui this morning, and arrived on the Big Island, full of sun and humidity, early in the afternoon.  The Big Island looked great from the air, and the deeply-cut river canyons were evident.  We stopped in a great place, The Planet, for lunch.  Everything fresh and delicious.

 

 

images of the big island from the air
 

Amy ordering at a local cafe,  The Planet, in downtown Hilo.  Yum!
 
Then we were off in two teams to just North of Hilo.  The sampling was of streams, wet walls and water falls.  We sampled until nearly dark.  Many of the sites were difficult to get into, but the algae were abundant. 
 
 

Some of our sampling sites today on the Big Island
 
 We just stopped looking at the samples, at nearly 11PM our time.
 

We are starting to see repeating patterns, and we can even predict what we might collect in certain habitats.  No small feat, since the organisms we are predicting are microscopic!  It is nice to see consistent patterns.
 
 Tomorrow we are off to Volcanoes National Park, for a little sight-seeing and to look at lava tubes.  The whole team will go together, the first “joint venture” of this expedition.
 
Maholo.