I'm back in French Polynesia again, this time at UC Berkeley's Gump Station on Moorea. Gump has a much nicer location than CRIOBE (it's right on the water), and it is a lot larger. Right now there's a huge crew of marine biologists from UC Santa Barbara and the University of Florida, as well as a couple entomology-affiliated people from Berkeley who live here. Gump is not as conveniently located for going up in the mountains, but it has more cars--a Ford Focus and two Land Rovers. I don't feel terribly confident driving manual cars yet (yesterday I stalled the Focus on my way up a hill, to the suppressed amusement of three Tahitian teenagers on bikes), so I'm not about to try driving the Land Rovers yet. The Focus is gone right now, so that's why I'm here writing in my blog.

On my way down to French Polynesia I stopped in Honolulu for two days to look at plant specimens in the Bishop Museum. Before that, I was on the East Coast for two weeks to see friends and attend a conference. I'm beginning to understand why people who travel a lot for business hate travel. It's a relief to know that I'm going to sleep in the same place now fo two weeks!

There's supposed to be a 4th of July barbecue tonight at the station. When I was first told about it, I realized I had completely forgotten about the 4th of July--and it does seem a little odd to be having a big celebration here in French Polynesia. But it should be fun. One of the UCSB students here had her birthday on the day I arrived, and there were about 20 people celebrating, which was fun, but I was pretty worn out by travel. The UCSB crew is an energetic and friendly bunch, and they come here every summer, so I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of them in future years.

For those of you who are curious, I'll be back in California on August 7.