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Lalamilo Farm, Kamuela, Hawaii. Two volunteers , Laura Anderson and Francesca Goldberg, and I did a brief survey of the wiliwili trees mauka of Lalamino Farms. Our objective is to collect seeds, located the trees using Iphone Google Maps, and note their conditions. We use a simple designation to note their health: H1, H2, H3 and H4 where H4 is the healthiest. H1 tree is still alive but have little or no leaves, 0<1%, yellow or diseased, with no seeds. H2 is healthier than H1 with more leaves, 1%-30%, yellowing and diseased, with some healthy and damaged seeds. H3 is healthier than h2 with more leaves, 30%-70%, green leaves some yellowing and diseased with more healthy and diseased seeds. H4 is the healthiest and full of leaves some minor yellowing and diseased, 70%<100%, deep green leaves with abundance of bright orange red seeds though some are diseased. Our designation is simple but I feel that this is a good starting point for monitoring their health.

We locate trees in group even if there is only one plant. Group 1 and Group 2 have the healthiest trees of four. One tree each in both of these groups gets our H4 designation for being healthiest. Most seeds were collected from the H4 tree of Group 2.

Bruchid beetles (Specularis impressithorax) emerged from wiliwili seeds collected in September 2008. These seeds were stored in a glass jar for six months. the beetles lay dormant inside the seed and eat their way out through little hatches. One seed was infested with six beetles. Finding them emerged after a six months hibernation was a surprise. I  selected only seeds that were free from any penetrations, some were just pin pricks, but apparently these parasites were already inside. This bit of news is disturbing for all the seeds that were collected in the effort to save the wiliwili trees unless precautions were made to kill the beetles prior to storing them in one location.  After two hours in the freezer, these beetles came back to life as soon as they were exposed to room temperature.     According to the link http://www.hear.org/species/erythrina_sandwicensis/pdfs/wiliwiliseedform.pdf using water to test whether a seed float to determine that it is infected, is not fool proof. I discovered a seed that has tell tale signs of infection, a circular bump similar to a pimple on its skin where a beetle will exit. This seed sank to the bottom like other supposedly clean seeds, but when cut open, I found a dead beetle below the bump. Freezing the seed and everything else with it may kill the beetle but not its eggs. I supposed I will have to find out by experiment.

I was chatty and played the guitar much better, the notes came out in all the right places, after a long session of tumbling around in the waves. I took a couple of big drops on this first big day of surfs at Kawaihae. Sets after sets arrived, dumped their frothy loads in a hurry then lined up to do it over and over again, occasionally on surfers’ head. Wall after wall of eight to ten foot high tumbling avalanches of white water rolled over those who braved this first big day at the Kawaihae Break Wall, the Queen of the Coast when it breaks someone told me once. I arrived at 7:30 am and sat on the break wall to drink in the spectacle. Green walls pitched up higher and higher and further out, too big. They were closing out. My friend Paul Nelson was already there waiting for me. He had to wait until the beach closure due to yesterday’s tiger shark sittings was lifted. On a big day like today, we have to have a plan of attack, where to paddle, where to sit and when to commit to paddling out. Both he and I have experienced days of big waves where an hour of paddling barely got us to within yards of the main break only to get pounded back to where we started. I paddled out while Paul opted for more favorable conditions. I crawled to the lineup, really mine-up because I was the only one far right of everyone else. I stayed at that spot long as other surfers came then dissipated. The waves were closing out and a straight drop was the only way to get in a decent ride.

Late morning, a lip of a large wave hit me square in the back of my head when I hesitated. That karate chop was the bell for me to throw in the towel and head to shore, three and a half hours and four waves later.

Surfing makes me very happy, its simplicity, the sun, the water and the gift of waves that traveled two thousand miles across the Pacific for me to enjoy. I get this high that lasts for the rest of the day. My music just sounds better.