Coconut Island or Moku O Lo'e, is located in Kaneohe Bay. It's a Marine research facility of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Hawai'i. Nobody is to live on the island, it is private and only used for research and experiments. You are to ride a boat to get there and not touch anything because everything is being experimented and tested, must ask for permission.
Our first activity was to separate a bucket of Poriferans, Annelids, Cnidarians, etc. We were to go into four groups and organize them into small little bowls.
On our way to Moku o Lo'e, we slowed the boat down to test out one of their tools to get Plankton. Plankton is a very small organism that is eaten by whales ad Fishes. It was shown by our guide and we got to use the Microscopes to see the actual Plankton that was caught from their useful tool. There were a lot.
Poriferans, "Pore Bearers", are sessile filter feeders or deter predators. Annelids were the Marine Worms, they're long tubes like bodies and very bubbly. There are also Cnidarians which are 'hollow stingers ', Microscopic stinging capsules called nematocysts .
After they were all being observed, they were to be put back into the water.
We were split into two groups and were to see different tanks that has different kinds of things inside. There are two tanks with different types of sharks. It was really entertaining and an actual first time view for most of us because we don't see sharks. There were also Black and White tip sharks that were in some type of Lagoon. A black tip is constantly moving but the White tip stays still and underwater.
There were alot of Native, Non-Native plants .
It was a Joy and a great experience to spend a day at Coconut Island with such Intelligent scientists and great Knowledge . It taught us a lot and such useful information. Would be looking forward to going back to Moku o Lo'e .
It was also a special and a blessing day for one of our Interns Ms.Kaui. It was her 22nd birthday and she was gladly to spend it with the Wai'anae Malama Aina Field School. God bless you and thanks for the cupcakes and your cooperation. Happy Birthday !
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