Wednesday, January 20

All packed up and ready to head back to wintry Minnesota. First, we had to make sure we could bring our various liquid meds (real meds, not booze) in our carry on bags. The answer is yes. We’d prefer not to cough on all of the other passengers even though I do blame a hacking flight attendant on the flight over.

Since we still had a few hours left, we stopped at Kealia Pond, a national wildlife refuge on the way to the airport. This wetland park was established in 1992 and encompasses about 700 acres. There is a 2,200 foot boardwalk where we were able to observe fishes and several birds, including the auku-u (black crowned night heron), alae kea (Hawaiian coot,) and the endangered ae’o (Hawaiian stilt.) Water coverage in this estuary varies from less than 150 acres in summer to over 400 acres in winter. The endangered hawksbill turtle comes to the beaches in this preserve to lay eggs in the spring.

Fish feeding on algae

Sandpiper

Auku’u

‘Alae kea

Ae’o

It was another wonderful time in paradise, and we have a long flight ahead of us.