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Even though there is a lot to say about the CASS and about Oahu, I can't find the time to post updates. I will do a good summary when I can but this weekend was the field trip to Big Island and many asked for updates so here is a quick summary.

We left Oahu early Saturday morning. The inter-island flight is less than an hour, we just climb up, get a scenic view of all the islands and go down in the cloudy Hilo. Big Island is really young, less than a million years old. Erosion has only dug rocky rivers and there are waterfalls everywhere. We were ahead off our schedule so we had time to do hiking in the morning. Around Hilo there is heavy rain forest, as we climb up on the Mauna Kea we cross many different eco systems, from deciduous forest to shrub lands and tundra.

While getting acclimated at the Onizuka Station we went for a hike on cinder cones. The station is above most of the clouds, the view was breath taking. The oxygen lean air gave us a good buzz, a diluted preview of what to expect at the summit. We had the honor to get dinner at Halepauhaku, the small lodge where astronomers and support staff are hosted.

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I'm finally in Honolulu! The flight was long and event less. I had a lot time to meditade on the landscape. My first idea was the Montreal really turned into a sprawl but seeing Los Angeles reassured me a bit.

My first day was relax since jet lag made me too sleepy to do anything. Just a bit of stargazing on the beech. The air is really dry in Honolulu. The beech is in dowtown Waikiki but you can see many stars. I don't see that many when I ride 45 mins away from Montreal.

On the second day we went surfing. Mahdi is a great surf teacher. I took a longboard (as recommended by Mahdi) and after 30 minutes I was able to catch waves and stand-up. When you look at surfers it all seems easy and relaxing but its actually pretty demanding. You need to paddle a lot, and fast, if you want to catch the waves. Friction with the board is kind of bad too. My nipples are still burning, I grabed one of those lycra shirts, lets hope that it will fix that. The beaches are really impressive (yes that me in the water). Temperature is perfect and the water is extremly clear.

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I'm accepted for the Computational Astrobiology Summer School in Honolulu!! The Hawaii Astrobiology institute has an impressive team, I really look forward to work with them. What is astrobiology? Kind of hard to tell before I attended the summer school but it has something to do with the study of environmental samples from extreme conditions like undersea volcanoes and the evaluation if such a resistant lifeform could live on, say, Enceladus. It looks like I'll have to learn to surf. :-D

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