On a sunny Cinco de Mayo morning we departed with another full boat of volunteers out of Lahaina Harbor!

Sailing to raise money for the UH Marine Option Program--a program which supports college students looking to pursue a hands-on, marine-oriented education--we made the short trip to Mala Wharf to jump in the water and clean the reef.

After navigating our way around some mooring issues (in that the moorings at Mala were broken), we finally got the boat secure and all of our volunteers in the water. It didn't take long for the debris to start ending up on board, as this was the haul on the nets after only about ten minutes of being in the water.

Once back on board, all of the volunteers were treated to a Cinco de Mayo lunch courtesy of our generous food sponsor Polli's Mexican Restaurant in Makawao. Heaping plates of carnitas, vegetarian black beans, rice, tortillas, chips, and salsa were all donated to the cleanup effort as a way of thanking all of the volunteers. 

With stomachs full, we deployed the manta trawl to test for microplastics, and here's a photo of Fitz showing the results of the 30-minute trawl to a group of interested onlookers.

The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary volunteers then talked us through the results of their ongoing water quality assessment tests they perform on each of our outings, and Donna Brown of the Marine Option Program thanked everyone for coming out and supporting the worthwhile cause.Trilogy wants to send a big mahalo to all of our sponsors and volunteers, and anyone interested in the Trilogy Blue'aina program is encouraged to check out the Blue'aina blog page for more information on how to sign up for the event, how to become a sponsor, or how to become one of our environmental recipients. See everyone on May 19!