Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge

Before I get home, I am lucky enough to be living and volunteering for a month here in this gorgeous place:

Stuff We Did

Just to dispel any thoughts that we were lazing about on tropical beaches sipping cocktails, I wanted to share some of the work we did during our 3 month stay.

Aloha Pihemanu

Given the fast speed of the internet connection and the sound of cars on the street, it appears that I no longer find myself on Pihemanu. I've been in a bit of denial of this fact as my experience on Midway was something amazing and not really anything I can appropriately describe in words.

The things I will miss most are:

• Clipper House meals
• beautiful North Beach
• being "brined" on
• nightly albatross and petrel serenades outside my window
• weekly ping-pong and basketball games
• observing the life of seabirds up close
• relying on a bicycle for transportation
• the awesome people of FWS and Chugach! I love you guys!

But! My first big splurge off-island was a ridiculous dish of ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. So in certain ways I'm happy to be back in the land of personal indulgences. :)

I'm currently spending the next month at Hanalei Wildlife Refuge on Kaua'i and then it's back home for me. I still plan to keep the blog going for a while for those who want to keep checking back.

Hope to see many of you soon!

Aloha,
MD

Midway Past

At one time, Midway supported as many as 5,000 people. Because many of the structures from that time are still standing and unused, I often feel like I live in a ghost town. Here are some images.

Hole #9

Brown Noddy Courtship

Portraits

Raindrops

They also line up to enjoy the garden sprinklers too.