Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Coconut Island

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      A COCONUT  ISLAND ADVENTURE
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On Monday April 9, 2012 a group of nearly forty Adventurers' Club members, family and friends met at the He'eia Pier at Kaneohe for an excursion to mysterious Coconut Island

This home of world class Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology is also know as the view used for the opening sequence of the old television program, “Gilligan’s Island.”   
View of Coconut Island on the TV show "Gilligan's Island"
According to Wikipedia, Coconut Island, or Moku o Loʻe, is the 28-acre island home of the marine research facility of the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) of the University of Hawai`i.  In 1934-1936, Christian Holmes II, an heir to the Fleischmann yeast fortune, doubled the original 12-acre island with coral rubble, sand, and earthen landfill. He established a residence with aquarium, kennels, and aviaries for his many pets. The island was converted to a rest and relaxation station for United States Navy flyers during World War II. A group of five Los Angeles businessmen, including oilman Edwin W. Pauley, bought the island in 1947 to convert to an exclusive resort club and hotel. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the Pauley family used the island for summer get-aways (and many famous people were his guests).  From the mid-80s to mid-90s Japanese real estate investor Katsuhiro Kawaguchi owned half the island, while the University owned the other half. In 1995, the Edwin Pauley Foundation granted a gift of $9.6 million to the University of Hawaii Foundation to purchase the private half of the island and build new laboratories on it.   The island is now completely owned by the state and is the facility for the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology.

    The boat ride to the island was during one of the year's lowest tides and we were able to see the usually submerged "Patch Reefs" that dotted this side of Kaneohe Bay.
A usually submerged "patch reef" we passed on the boat ride to Coconut Island
We broke up into three groups, each led by a knowledgeable volunteer guide, and walked around the island seeing the sights such as the original paddock of Holmes’ elephant and other exotic animals. 

  A WWII spotlight remains from when Holmes could light up his sea water swimming pools for the enjoyment of his many guests.   The institute has several boats.


   The Marine Biology Institute is home to a great deal of research on coral reef ecosystems, fish endocrinology and shrimp biology.  We saw the super sucker boat that has had great luck eradicating the Gorilla Ogo invasive algae that has spread around Oahu killing coral.

   A story about the super sucker barge and purpose  in National Geographic magazine at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070730-super-sucker.html    After the ogo is sucked up and sold as mulch, locally raised Collector Sea Urchins are place on the clean coral to eat any ogo that return
  
Clean coral in top picture after super sucker.
  Ogo covered coral in bottom picture
 ogo
   We saw black tipped sharks and various tropical fish and sea slugs in the research ponds. 


  New research buildings and classrooms have been constructed and it was a pleasant walk seeing all the new and historic sights.  There was a large "touch table" to touch many of the sea creatures, but warned NOT to touch one algae that was poisonous!  

 We ended the three-hour excursion with a picnic lunch overlooking the pools and beautiful ocean view.


   The island has a rich history, which has been chronicled by P. Christiaan Klieger in a fantastic book, Moku O Lo'e: A History of Coconut Island, published by the Bishop Museum Press in 2007.  .   If you would like to gather a group to tour coconut Island check out the UH page at:  http://www.hawaii.edu/himb/docs/Planning_Your_Visit_to_Coconut_Island.pdf




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