Hawaii Snorkeling 101

Snorkeling! Super fun, educational, great exercise, and a wonderful experience. However, if you're new to snorkeling and you don't know how your equipment works, what the weather is like, or basic skills, the experience can be a little scary and down right miserable.

No worries beef curries! This little guide offers some advice on how to prepare for and enjoy your snorkel experience. 

If you're about to snorkel for the first time and you're not well acquainted with the water and don't have any snorkeling skills you may find yourself in a bit of trouble.

Likeness; Animals to Trash

Photo by: Ralph Turre of FIN, Brian J. Skerry of Nat Geo, Dario Ayala of the Gazette
Photo edited by: BlueMenpachi

Squid eggs - Squid hatching - Cigarette butts

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Galveston Bay Oil Spill

A barge carrying 900,000+ gallons of crude oil collided with a ship in the Houston Ship Channel on Saturday March 22, 2014.

Screen cap of Google maps

One of the tanks on the barge was punctured and approximately 155,000+ gallons of oil were spilled into the Galveston Bay.

Photo: Bill Bishop/KHOU

So this is another oil spill the US can add to its rap sheet.

The Lost Files: Volunteering at the Ahihi Kina'u Natural Area Reserve; Exciting Events in the First Two Weeks

For the past two weeks I've been volunteering at the Ahihi Kina'u Natural Area Reserve and it has been EXCITING.

On my second day I helped rescue a lady who had an "anxiety induced asthma attack" while she was snorkeling with her husband.

Picture taken by Sarah Bott

Caught a man feeding the fish (CLICK HERE to read the web log post)

Retrieved a big bunch of net from the shoreline in front of the Sugarman estate.

Picture taken by Sarah Bott

Helped assist with a helicopter lift that took away suspected tsunami debris

Saw some poachers get busted from fishing in the reserve 

And I meet a lot of cool people! Literally! Majority of the people I meet at the reserve are from Canada!

This is only my second week volunteering at the Reserve, but it really is a LOT of fun.

Plastic Numbers; What Do They Mean?

Here's a little chart I created to help explain what the numbers on certain plastics stand for. (Click to enlarge)

Pictures found through google images

I hope you find this helpful!

"10 Tips for Divers to Protect the Ocean Planet" From Project Aware

Project AWARE (Aquatic World Awareness Responsibility and Education) is a non-profit, international organization that brings divers together and educates the public about ocean issues and how they can protect the marine environment.

About Project AWARE

If you are a scuba diver, I encourage you to learn Project AWARE's "10 Tips for Divers to Protect the Ocean Planet" and take the Pledge to be an eco diver and take initiative to protect the ocean and marine life.

10 Tips for Divers to Protect the Ocean Planet pdf

Chemical Free Ways To Clean Your Kitchen

Lately, Clorox wipes have been really popular for cleaning and disinfecting one's kitchen, but because of the tough fibers that the wipes are comprised of it is difficult for it to decompose.

Fibers of the wipes make this product difficult to decompose and biodegrade.

So, here are a few ways you can clean and disinfect your kitchen without harsh chemicals and tough "disposable" cloth.

Do you have a nasty grease and leftover sauces that's exploded onto the walls of your microwave?

Put a bowl of water into the microwave and heat it for 5-10 minutes.

The water will turn to steam and loosen the grease and unknown food stains. Take a rag and wipe clean.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Just a sweet video of a beluga whale listening to a human playing a bagpipe. A lovely interactions between to species.

Beluga Meets Bagpipe

How To Kill Fleas Naturally!

Is your house flea ridden because your loving, furry friend brought them in? Worried about using a bug bomb or other harsh, poisonous chemicals in your home?

Well, here's how you can get rid of those nasty, blood sucking bugs without using toxic materials.

What's he lookin' at?

Please keep in mind, this is NOT a quick fix. This process needs at least 3-4 days and took me a whole week to complete. BUT, I never had a flea problem ever again after I did this.

Now, here's a general break down of what you will need:

• Lots and lots of salt (doesn't matter what kind. Regular table salt is cheaper than sea salt)
• Baking soda
• Mr. Teal's Lavender scented Epsom salt
• A nightlight, Plates and Liquid dish washing soap
• Cedar wood blocks (the kind that you hang in your closet to ward off moths)
• Rosemary Mint scented warming oil, Tea candles and a Warming oil stand
• A mosquito candle and Eucalyptus scented candle boost beads
• A flea comb
• A vacuum 

The Hanohano Controversy and Speaking Hawaiian

This post way off topic from Ocean Awareness but I’ve came across a few articles about Representative Faye Hanohano that have piqued my interest and I wanted to share my opinions.

You can view the articles here:

'I Don't Want to Translate': Rep. Hanohano's Use of Hawaiian Leads to Tension on House Floor

and

Chad Blair: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Hanohano?

After reading both articles I've been seeing comments like the following, which is what prompted me to write this entry.

“If the official languages of the State of Hawai'i are Hawaiian and English...then wouldn't it make sense for those who are in Hawaii's legislative offices learn to speak Hawaiian too? How silly to have a translator if the elected body of the legislation can't understand the language's they uphold!”

“when speaking your native language in your native homeland is considered an offense, the native Hawaiian oppression continues, and our nation remains occupied. any haoles complaining about "racism" or telling us our oppression is in the past need to wake the hell up.”

Yes, it would make sense for Hawaii officials to learn to speak Hawaiian since it is one of the official languages. But there are a few things I'd like to address.

Walking at Lake Acworth

While exploring parts of Georgia I found myself at Lake Acworth. Here are a few pictures I was able to snap.

DISCOVERY! New Species of Coral Off the Big Island

Hey everyone! I have some exciting news. A new species of coral has been discovered!
Instead of summarizing the message I received from one of my mentors I'll post the entire message for you to read along with the links that came with it.

"Subject: News release from DLNR - UNUSUAL CORALS DISCOVERED OFF OF THE BIG ISLAND

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

NEIL ABERCROMBIE
GOVERNOR

WILLIAM J. AILA, JR.
CHAIRPERSON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 29, 2014

UNUSUAL CORALS DISCOVERED OFF OF THE BIG ISLAND

Revisiting the Georgia Aquarium

Just me revisiting the Georgia Aquarium because I got an annual pass for Christmas.  :)

A video * click here *

And a few pictures of my visit:

Global Winter Wonderland! Extreme Recycling!

Had an arctic BLAST at Global Winter Wonderland here in Atlanta, Georgia!

It was my friends birthday and a few of us decided to get some tickets to this once a year carnival/amusement park to celebrate and hang out with each other.

They had a ton of different light statues set up and it was SO beautiful!

Some of you may be wondering "what does this have to do with ocean or environment awareness?"

In front of the Phoenix!

Shark Week 2013; Is Discovery Channel Giving the Right Message? Shark Awareness Links at the End

Hey everyone.

I wanted to rant a bit on 2013s Shark Week airing on the Discovery Channel...

I must say, it is already half way through and I am very disappointed.

Shark Week! The Filter Feeders!

I've been watching Shark Week 2013 on the Discovery Channel this week and I'll be writing a web log post every day this week with shark related posts.

Today I'll be featuring the filter feeders of the shark world!

Shark Week! BlueMenpachi Coming Out Of Hiatus! Shark Finning!

Greetings readers! Sorry for my long absence from writing. I've recently moved to Georgia, still looking for a job and am settling in.

This week on the Discovery Channel it's SHARK WEEK! My favorite week of the year!

Fish Feeding; No Matter The Reason, Don't Feed Them.

Two days ago while I was volunteering at the Ahihi Kinau Natural Area Reserve, there was a little incident with a man who was seen feeding the fish.
I was walking to the cove when another one of our volunteers who was stationed there said that there was a man in the water who was feeding the fish. She said she warned him multiple times not to feed the fish, but it seemed like he wasn't listening.

After a little talking around, it seems like both parties were a bit at fault.

Stuck on the Olowalu Town Project; Whispers, Rumors... Truth?

I'm stuck everyone. Just stuck.

It's been 50 days since the last time I spoke with Mr. Bill Frampton of the Olowalu Town Project and gave him a list of questions he said he would be able to answer. I told him all I wanted was the truth and I gave him the benefit of the doubt since a lot of people thought he was the "big bad developer" who basically wanted to screw over Olowalu for a large town that cannot be put there.

But it's been 50 days everyone. 50 days since our meeting.

The Lost Files: Memoirs of The Kaupo Get Away

There have been so many events and issues that have popped up since my last post. But everything that was on my camera and on my computer was somehow corrupted and I wasn't able to view, upload or edit any of my files… UNTIL NOW.

Thanks to some snazzy computer magic, I was able to recover most of my files!

So from this post on, any entry or upload that has the title “The Lost Files” in front of it, is a file that I was able to recover from the pits of computer hell.

To start off the Lost Files Series, last year I was able to take an amazing trip out to a part of Maui called Kaupo with some friends and family.

Kaupo is along the Southeastern shore of Maui, is a slightly isolated and rugged place and the people of