Snorkling in Keauhou bay by Sarah Rolph

       You can expect a lot from a bay, but I have never expected to find a bay as cool as Keauhou Bay. Keauhou Bay has a sometimes awesome surf break and calm snorkeling waters. It can entertain the interesting people for a life time(on the good days ). In the snorkeling area, I have seen many fishes, corals, and sea urchins.

        In Keauhou Bay, I have seen the Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apuaʻa, the Yellow Tang, Morish Idol, Orange Pined Tang, Nunu, Lau Hau, Thread Fin Butterfly Ulua, Saddle Wrasse, Lemon Butterfly, Pyramid Butterfly, Ornate Butterfly, Uhu Blue Bollethead. My favorites are the Nunu, Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apua'a, Uhu, Lau Hau, Threadfin Butterfly and Teardrop Butterfly Fishes. I like them because of their names and how they look. As I have been observing, I noticed, that the fish pecked at the coral to eat the calcium off of them.  

          While swimming around you can see the fishes habitats -coral. In Keauhou Bay, I have seen the Fuzzy Table Coral, Blue Rice Coral, Sandpaper Rice Coral, Rose Atoll Coral, King Man Reef, Lobe Coral, Lace Coral and Rice Coral. Since coral is boring, I'm going to move on to the interesting stuff like perhaps sea urchins.🌴

          Like the fish the sea urchins have been eating away at the coral to make a nice cozy  alcove the that people can step in and get stabbed! During our stay in Hawaii, I have seen 7 different types of urchins. I have seen the Slate Pencel Urchin, Pale Rock-boring Urchin, Black Boring Urchin, Needle Spined Urchin, Blue Black Urchin, Long Spined Urchin and the Baned Urchin. My favorite urchin is the Needle Spined Urchin because they have the sharpest and the longest spinds so its more likely that you will get stabbed and that it will hurt a ton!!!💉

         In the bay, I have seen many wonders and it has made me interested in marine life. After my first trip, I am asking myself simple questions like, what is it like to live as a fish now that we have polluted the ocean so much?  But finally, for the last word come to Hawaii to see the fishes or just google them cause it would be much easier and less tiring!!!🌺

The Basic Geology of Hawaii by Kayley Rolph

Hawaii is known for it's overall awesomeness, but there is much more to Hawaii than good surf and beautiful beaches. The Hawaiian islands are volcanic islands ,as you well know, but they are no where near the edge of a tectonic plate, where most volcanic activity is situated. This was puzzling for the early geologists who studied Hawaii, but they have figured out how the Hawaiian islands formed and explained the basic geology of Hawaii.

The Hawaiian islands are far away from the edge of the Pacific Plate, where most of the volcanic activity is. Tectonic plates are irregular and unpredictable, they have thin spots in the crust and thick spots, they can spontaneously change direction when it collides withe a nearby plate. A hotspot is a weak spot in their earths crust where magma can push to the surface. Since the Pacific Plate is always moving, so is the hotspot. 

 

The Hawaiian islands are all shield volcanoes. The rock that they are made of low viscosity magma or fluid lava. This makes the Hawaiian islands supper wide and not very steep, like a shield. The older Hawaiian islands have been eroded so much that some don't even break the surface of the ocean any more. Since Hawaii is the newest island, it is also the biggest because it hasn't had time to erode as much as the others.
 

If you were to look at a map of the chain of islands created by the Hawaiian hotspot, it looks as though it just started popping up islands in a different directions. The hotspot that created Hawaii also created the Aleutian islands that streach southwest of Alaska and the Emperor Seamounts, which connect the Hawaiian and the Aleutian islands. The pacific plate was moving Southwest at that time but it has changed direction two times to get to its current course of southeast movement. More shield volcanoes are developing southeast of Hawaii and some will break the surface soon.

The Hawaiian island's geology is facinating and unique. I find it amazing that one weak spot in the earths crust could open up an opertunity for three island chains, whole cultures, ecosystems and much, much more. Bye, for now.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

P.S. I have some diagrams to help illustrate and explain the geology of Hawaii.

Hawaii beaches by Sarah🏄

During our stay here in Kona, Hawaii, we are going to the beach twice a day. Last week we went to 3 beaches: Pine Tree, Keauhou Bay, and White Sand Beach.

          Why is Pine tree beach called Pine Tree if there isn't a single pine tree in sight? Pine Tree is the  best surf spot ever. We go there almost every day. The only problem with the beach are the rocks. While riding the waves, you have to be able to get out of the waves at the right time or you would crash into the rocks. That happened to Kayley on Wednesday, she did not get off of the wave on time so she got run into the rocks and got out with a scraped knee. 

           Down the hill from our house there is Keauhou Bay where you can snorkel. At the bay there are coral reefs and a bunch of very pretty fish. My favorite one is a medium sized bright rainbow fish called the uhu fish. The fish I saw most was a skinny yellow and black fish with a long thin fin that trailed behind it called the moorish idol.

 It was interesting to  watch the tourists go into the water with a bunch of flotation devices cause shouldn't you be able to swim if you're  going snorkeling?  At the bay, there is also a surfboard rental place that all the tourists go to  to go surfing in the bay with an instructor. It is very common to see tourists wearing bright rashgards on rented  soft top long boards riding a tiny wave.  

            Up the street from Keauhou Bay there is the White Sand Beach, that is made of mostly white sand and is a major tourist beach. Based on my experience yesterday, there are a lot of  boys trying and sometimes failing to boogie board big strong beach breakers. Those who were failing got flipped   or pummeled by the waves ( go waves). Also yesterday their was an Asian couple that went into the water with snorkeling gear, a little kid boogie board and a GoPro. Within seconds, they had lost their GoPro and groped the sand in the water for it.  Later when someone found it they ended up without their boogie board or snorkel gear. At least that's what Kayley told me because I was too busy playing in the water.

            My week was awesome because I got to play on the warm pretty water a ton! Next week I hope to find a good surf spot that doesn't bash you into the rocks!!!😈

 

A Rolph Activities Update by Kayley

The Rolphs are at it again!  Daddy bought a house in Kona to fix up as a summer project and an excuse to spend the summer in Hawaii.  The house appears to not have been maintained since its original construction in 1957. So the walls are a little bendy and missing parts as a result of termite damage and rot, the appliances don't really work, and the roof is very leaky. My parents, Mia, Sarah and I have been here for about a week,  and in that week we have made much progress on the house. We trimmed the trees, demolished a bathroom, started redoing the roof and deck,maybe gotten rid of the termites, torn out the carpet.

Because of the jungle that has sprung up around the house, the first three days were alotted to the removal or triming of said jungle. The result of the enthusiastic sawing of tree limbs is an awesome view of the ocean and a power line. The two men who were responsible for the clearing of the view, climbed the trees to get to the branches and resolutely sawed them of with chainsaws. If you are wondering about the sanity of these to tree trimmers you are not alone in that thought. What they were doing was not entirely safe or sane but it worked, it looked fun, and that was the whole point.

The house was crawling with critters ranging from geckoes to termites when we first got it. The geckoes are not a problem because they eat mosquitos! But the termites, on the other hand, are eating everything that is wood, which unfortunately is what the house is made of. So we had the house tented in April but the termites had been there a few decades before we arrived so the damage is extensive. We can see day light through the walls in some places and in one bathroom, the bottom part of the wall isn't even there. We aren't sure if the termites are still here, but, we haven't seen them so thats a good sign. Right?

The bathrooms in this house are pretty moldy and rotted, so we removed one of them! The other two are in use, so we haven't gotten to those yet. Wednesday and Thursday were spent ripping out tile, kicking down showers and sawsalling cabnets to scrap. Destroying the bathroom was gag worthy and surprisingly fun. Nothing like hammering tiles to bits to blow of some steam. The bathroom is still pretty gross but every thing is out in the open at least.

When we ripped out the moldy, splotchy and orange carpet, it was a disgusting experience. We were masked, gloved, and armed with a knife. We had no way of escape, so we just had to get it done. By cutting the carpet into strips and then rolling it up and hauling it out, we were able to free the house of the carpet and the weird smells that accompanied it. Underneath the carpet was concrete and in the living room it was painted green. I think we are planning on putting in tile for the flooring because wood would be eaten and carpet or linoleum would get moldy. 

 Thankfully we don't have to do the roofing, daddy hired Bob and Hans to do that. First they had to stripe the deck of railings and some of the plywood to get to the beams to which they attached the new beams and eventually the roof. They have yet to reroof the whole place. My dad has plans to turn the rotting plywood deck into a lanai with an awesome view of the ocean, which is an awesome idea. If you don't know what a lanai is, it's practically a covered deck.

The house still needs a ton of work, much to Zander's dismay (he was hoping that all the work would be done when he got here from water polo camp at USC). I can't wait to see the end result. next week we hope to finish the roof and the lanai. We may even get to the new bathroom! Sarah and I will continue to fill you in on the magnificent Rolph activities, achievements, and observations with weekly blog posts. Bye.

the magnificent house!!!

By Kayley Sienna Rolph.

Sara doing some demo

view from the deck

remnants of the bathroom

Mia hammering the tile to bits

Kayak trip in an Archipelago

So we're back! Posting in a blog in the middle of the Canadian wilderness is a bit weird, but for some reason we felt the need to make use of the cell signal. Tonight is the end of a very long third day of a five day kayak camping trip in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park, off Vancouver island. Today we paddled eighteen miles into a very annoying headwind due to a serious navigational error. That is, after having to lug our three loaded boats over the mucky bottom of a cove at low tide. I have exceedingly sore shoulders and I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.
This park is nice, but after spending several similar trips in Alaska and Maine, the scenery sort of redundant but still beautiful. I could go on about our adventures here but I will leave you in suspense (ha) because my dad wants his phone back.

NYC!!! by Kayley

I thought I'd never write another blog on this site but here goes.

Bippy and Gramps took Sarah and me to New York City!!! It was everything I thought it would be and more. It was fun to shop there. The streets were just the right amount of busy and the museums weren't to boring.

Everyone says that NYC is a walking city and its true. We probably walked 5 miles every day to and from museums, land marks, and best of all, up and down 5th Avenue, the shopping paradise of NYC. Judging from the other pedestrians, they walked everywhere too. Walking the streets of NYC you wouldn't see the usual American obesity, everyone looked pretty fit, even if they ate fast food every meal of the day. They walked of  most of the calories.

What makes NYC so different from all the other big cities I've seen if that on the bottom floors of all the buildings are shops, eateries and other businesses, and everyone walks everywhere. You could literally go shopping right next door or even on the first floor of your apartment building! New York has the widest side walks I've seen and they are put to good use. The sidewalks were probable 5 times the width of a regular sidewalk, so it feels really spacious when you're walking down the streets.

Going to museums in NYC wasn't that different than in other big cities, and surprisingly Bippy only made us go to two, MoMA and the Museum of Agriculture and Space. MoMA or the Museum of Modern Art was pretty wacky. You know how Modern art is nowadays, random and so complicated that sometimes even the artist doesn't even understand it. My favorite piece of modern art was a painting of an eye with a picture of the sky as the iris. The other 5 pieces I liked were late Impressionist.  Three of them were by Vincent Van Gogh the others were by an artist I did not recognize.

I loved visiting  and getting to know NYC. I have a feeling you would to, if you like walking, shopping or giant museums. Thank You!!! Bippy and Gramps for taking me because I've always wanted to see NYC.

by Kayley Sienna Rolph

The White House By Sarah

                My Uncle Duncan, Cousin Everett, and I went to the White House in Washington D.C. I was very excited about going to the White House because I had never been inside before and of course it’s where the President lives.

                When we were waiting in front of the White House, 2 police cars blocked the road and the Vice President came down the road with lots of police cars. When the person that we were suppose to meet came (he was very nice), he lead us to the security. The security was no stronger than the airport. I think that’s fine. They do not allow a single bag, not even a purse in the White House.

                The first story that we saw was full of pictures of Presidents that lived in the White House. The pictures on the walls were of fun or important times of the Presidents’ lives and under every picture it has an explanation about what is happening in the picture. On the ground floor, there was also a library, the China Room, and the Vermeil Room and of course some security.  The first floor also had a couple of sculptures of gun fights and Indians killing buffalos.

                We went up the stairs to the second floor to see the Green Room, the Blue Room, the Red room, the State Dining Room, the East Room, the Cross Hall and the Entrance Hall. The White House has lots of rooms but I only got to see 2 stories. My favorite rooms on that story were the Red Room, the Blue Room, and the Green Room. Those rooms were the only rooms on that floor that had lots of color and was not white. My favorite parts of the White House were all the chandlers because they were big and made out of little pieces of glass. The biggest room in the White House was called the East Room. It had 4 fire places and 2 giant chandeliers made out of 6000 mini pieces of glass. 

me in front of the white house!

                It was very cool to see the White House in person. The White house is very beautiful but a bit too white but that’s kind of obvious. Anyways, I think that if you get the chance you should go to the White House!!!

By Sarah