Keeping your body healthy while working on and in the Ocean

As a self-proclaimed health nut, I want to make sure I’m nourishing my body from the inside out, feeding myself the best foods, drinking lots of water and keeping my skin and hair healthy as well. Before training to be a safety diver for One Ocean Diving, I was a PADI Dive Master and AAUS scientific diver- I’ve had my fair share of being on boats and staying healthy. Here’s a few tips I’ve learned along the way to keep yourself healthy:

BODY

When you’re working on a boat and in the water all day, it's easy to feel fatigued. To help combat this I like to make sure that im feeding my body high protein snacks throughout the day. Of course I start my day with caffeine like everyone else,  but after that I make sure to eat a high protein and carb filled breakfast to keep me full. Right now I’ve been loving frozen protein waffles, they’re so good! It's also really important to keep drinking lots of water during the day as well. It is super easy to become dehydrated on a boat and when you are working in the water. I try to drink at least 10-12 cups of water a day. Whenever I have a break, im eat a snack. Some of my favorite high protein snacks are bars, chickpeas and Banza protein pasta. Everyone’s body is different but since I am vegan I like to incorporate as much protein as possible during the day. After a hard days work, ill take time to rest before making dinner and doing chores. I try to get at least 6 hours of sleep when im working, and when I have days off I like to go to bed early too so I can rest and recharge.

HAIR

Keeping your hair healthy when your constantly in the ocean is a HUGE challenge. Im a natural blonde so I have fine hair thats prone to drying out, getting frizzy and getting real tangly. In the morning when im doing my hair before work I like to get it wet and spray it with a leave in conditioner or a detangling spray. Then ill use about 15 hair ties and put my hair in bubble braids, this is the best way I’ve found to keep my hair not tangly! If I am in colder water ill just wear a hood to protect my hair, but if not I like to wear a waterproof headband to keep my babyhairs from frizzing up. I dont touch my hair when im working- I just hope and pray that it is all good and not tangling up. After work while my hair is still wet, ill take out all my hair ties, spray some detangler in and start brushing with a wetbrush. Wetbrushes are softer than regular brushes and they’re better for tangled hair. When I get home ill take a shower and try to do a hair mask every other day if I can to keep my hair healthy. Once a week I do a coconut oil mask which really helps. Before dry my hair I put some oil and leave in conditioner in my hair as well. I try to avoid heat as much as possible because I know its not good for my hair.

SKIN

The most important thing with keeping my skin healthy is using sun protection! Usually when im diving im full covered wearing a wetsuit or some type of surf suit that is UPF certified. If not ill make sure to slather my body in a reef safe sunscreen. I try to apply face sunscreen every 2-3 hours whenever I have a break to keep my face and neck from burning. I also choose to wear a hat to keep the sun off my face as well. When im done diving for the day, if I did get burnt ill use some natural aloe on my burns. Ill make sure to wash and moisturize my face well along with my body.

World Oceans Day: A Beach Clean-Up Giving Back

The ocean covers seventy percent of the world’s surface and is believed to contain 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile. Each piece of plastic can take anywhere from 20-1,000 years to break up into smaller pieces, which is to say that it will not completely break down, as most plastic will not decompose completely. Those pieces that do manage to break down create toxins that are carried throughout the ocean. It is believed that every piece of plastic ever made is still somewhere in the ocean. This plastic accumulation causes serious problems for the ocean and marine life. For those who do not care about the ocean or the creatures that live there, perhaps it will be of interest to know that plastic is causing harm to people as well. Plastic waste is constantly ingested by various creatures that are at the bottom of the food chain, which then releases toxins throughout their bodies that is transferred to the creature that ingests them, and so on, slowly making its way up the food chain until the toxins eventually reach our markets and dinner tables, causing serious health problems to those who consume the contaminated fish and marine animals. Although these numbers are overwhelming, it is important we do not get discouraged and take a stand to help save the ocean, marine life, and our own human population before it is too late. Throughout my life, I have learned the smallest events can result in the biggest impacts. Alone, each drop in the ocean is insignificant, but when they all come and move together it creates monumental force. Beneath the surface lies an even greater power in insuppressible currents; from above it may seem calm and delicate, however, below it exists more life than the very land we thrive on. It is a place that should not be used as a trash can, but rather treated with the utmost respect and appreciation.

June 8th, 2017 was World Oceans Day, a day dedicated to the immensely beautiful and everlasting oceans across the world. This is a day to take a stand and give back to the ocean and its inhabitants and what better way to do that than help remove some of the toxins poisoning it. A beach cleanup at Pounders Beach, on the northeast side of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, was organized with the support of One Ocean Diving, One Ocean Conservation, Keiko Conservation, Water Inspired, 4 Ocean, Devoted to the Ocean, Happy Earth Apparel, Naturez Way, Clark Little, Core Power Yoga, Xcel Wetsuits, Guayaki, Mermaids for Change, Real Life Mermaid Shop, Yoga Kai Hawaii, and many other sponsors.

 It was a day that proved even the smallest effort can result in significant change. The clean-up began around 11:00am and over 20 people showed up, including many keiki (children) supporters. Seeing so many kids interested and excited to help make a difference was truly inspiring. Saving the ocean and world from the negative impact we have created through our use and improper waste management of plastic is going to take time and patience, and in the end it is going to be up to future generations to correct our mistakes. 

Throughout the cleanup it started to rain a lot and all of our volunteers pushed through the rain and kept collecting debris scattered along the beach - their dedication was amazing. Around 12:30pm a storm came through with strong wind and rain that was too hard to ignore and we had to end the clean-up early. Although the time was short, the impact was great. Over the span of a hour and a half we managed to fill up the bed of a truck with the garbage collected. Without the generosity of our sponsors and dedication of the volunteers this event would not have happened. We came one step closer to healing our beloved ocean, mahalo to all the sponsors and volunteers that made this event possible.

“Humanity is made up of people like the ocean is made up of drops. As the ocean pounds on the shore line, humanity pounds on fragile ecosystems. Like the ocean at the mercy of the wind we seem swept away by the demands of our times, cars, devices, disposable goods. We may be drops, but together we have the power of an ocean.” - Unknown

Sharks and their 'olelo hawai'i (Hawaiian language)

Lots of nearshore species of sharks in Hawaiʻi actually have different names in ʻōlelo hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language); and Hawaiians understood the difference between the species of sharks they would regularly see while fishing, swimming, etc. In this blog post we will highlight some of the sharks that had Hawaiian names, their cultural significance and a little bit about their biology.

THRESHER SHARK

The first shark on our list is the thresher shark. There are three species of thresher sharks found around the Hawaiian islands: the pelagic thresher (Alopias pelagicus) up to 11ft, the bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus) up to 15ft, and the common thresher shark (Alopias vulpinus) up to 18ft. The Hawaiian name for thresher shark is manōʻula or laukāhuʻu. These are the only two surviving names associated with thresher sharks in Hawaiian culture, but that does not mean that Hawaiians did not have individual names for individual species. Hawaiian culture was passed on orally, so keep in mind that words and names could have been lost or forgotten. Manōʻula in Hawaiian language means red shark, but clearly the thresher shark is not red. ʻUla was a color reserved for aliʻi (kings) and represented royalty and strength. Another meaning for ʻula was the shortened name for the Hawaiian sea bird koaʻeʻula, also known as red-tailed tropic bird (Phaethon rubricauda). Manōʻula (thresher shark) and koaʻeʻula (red-tailed tropic bird) both share a similar slender tail. Perhaps manōʻula was named after koaʻeʻula, or vice versa because they both bare distinctive long tails. Thresher sharks use their long tails to strike and stun their prey while hunting.

WHALE SHARK

Our second shark is the Whale shark / Lelewaʻa (Rhincodon typhus). 📸: @juansharks . Aloha mai kākou! The second shark on the list is the whale shark (Rhincodon typhus), which can grow up to 60 feet in length, and can be found in tropical oceans around the world. Whale sharks are harmless, and are one of the few sharks that feed solely on plankton. The word for whale shark in ʻōlelo hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) is lelewaʻa, which literally means canoe jump. The whale shark was described by Hawaiian historian Samuel Kamakau, as lelewaʻa, and one of the basic sharks found in Hawaiian waters. Lelewaʻa is described in the Hawaiian dictionary as literally jumping from canoe to canoe as sport for surfing to the shoreline. Kamakau inferred that Hawaiians could have possibly encountered a whale shark near shore while partaking in the sport of “lelewaʻa”, jumping on the back of a whale shark instead of their canoe, and riding the whale shark back to shore. Hawaiians named the whale shark after a popular sport that took place back in the day, lelewa'a.

GRAY REEF SHARK

Our third and last shark on our list today is the of Gray Reef Shark / Manō (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos), which can grow up to 6 feet, and is widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific region. The gray reef shark is one of the most abundant sharks found around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but seems to be more restricted to certain areas in the main Hawaiian Islands; more frequently sighted off Niʻihau or Molokini crater in Maui (Wetherbee et. al, 1997). Large social aggregations of pregnant female gray reef sharks have been well documented in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands around Kauō (Laysan Island) and Kalama atoll (Johnston Atoll). Aggregation behaviors of the gray reef shark is poorly understood, but possible functions have been proposed: 1) reproduction, 2) mate selection, 3) energy conservation, 4) protection from large predators (Economakis, 1997). Perhaps pre-western contact, before boats, coastal runoff and noise pollution, gray reef sharks used to have natural aggregation sites around the shallow bays of the main Hawaiian Islands. Moʻolelo (legends) tells of kahu manō (shark guardians or shark keepers), whose sole job was to care for sharks. Tasks would included feeding, cleaning, and keeping company with family ʻaumakua, literally treating them as family members. Perhaps the manō in these legends could be about Hawaiian gray reef sharks, as they have been scientifically documented to aggregate in huge numbers near shore; where Hawaiians could have easily come in contact with them. This could also explain the reason why Hawaiians built heiau (temples, places of worship) in the ocean or near shore, devoted to the shark gods and ʻaumakua. The name for gray reef shark in ʻōlelo (Hawaiian language) has been lost, and they are usually just referred to as manō.