Dean &
Ginny's excellent adventures... Main
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Hawaii--01/09:
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<< Our first view of The Big Island was the
snow-covered peaks turning pink with the rising sun and the
setting full moon. We didn't expect to see snow in Hawaii, but the
tallest peaks are almost 14,000 feet. This one is Mauna
Kea.
Coming into the port of Hilo, we could see several of these
little island-parks connected by pedestrian bridges. We didn't
have time to do any walking around town, but maybe some other
trip...
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This was  Tuesday.
We rented a car in Hilo and drove up to the
Volcanoes National Park. As usual we were the first off
the ship because this would be a long day. First we stopped at the visitors'
center to orient ourselves. One of the volunteers informed us that
the vent where the lava enters the sea had moved eastward outside
of the park after the big lava flow in 1983. So after our
tour around the park, we then drove around on local roads so we could get a closer view of the
flowing lava.
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There are steam vents in many areas around the crater and
in the surrounding forests. >>
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The main, active volcano in the park is Kilauea with its
huge caldera. There is a crater rim drive, but part of if has been
closed due to new volcanic activity. There are hiking trails all over the
park including along the bottom of the crater, but we didn't spend our
limited time doing much hiking.
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<< Another
view of the main vent.
Signs interpreted the various sections of the
crater.
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We walked through a lava tube, but found the
trip down into the ravine with its tree ferns
as interesting as the tube itself.
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We took a single-lane side road down to the Hilina
Pali Overlook. Not much traffic, fortunately. Lots of
lava up here along with interesting pioneer plants and the famed
Hawaiian goose, the Nene.
'Ohi'alehua looks like a compact bottle brush shrub.
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We reached the overlook and enjoyed the views of
the ocean, meadows, and lava. A pair of nene were here in
the shade of a tree.
Various trails started here and several people
were getting ready for some serious hiking. We weren't sure
whether they were going to ignore the warnings or if they were
going in another direction.
After this side trip, we headed out of the park
and down to the place where lava flows into
the sea.
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We came to the end of the "official"
road where we drove over 8-foot tall lava mounds that had flowed
over the road in 1983. People have rebuilt or built their
houses out here on the lava, but it seems pretty desolate.
Eventually we reached the end of the unofficial road which was
indicated by big and little signs.
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We followed the yellow markers out toward the coast. We
could see the steam from here.
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<< At the
end of the trail someone has built a hut and has a sign that says,
"No Guest Rooms or Public Bathrooms."
The flowing lava was hidden by a ledge, but the
volume of steam arising from there was amazing. You can see
steam for many yards out into the ocean as well. We did not
see any glowing lava as the sign (above) had indicated.
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After the lava flows we drove past Hilo
and up to the famed Rainbow
Falls State Park. The falls were pretty and the
top of the falls area is called the boiling pots because
of the round holes worn away into the rock.
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We were greeted by a towel bunny in our
cabin when we returned to the ship. We then grabbed
a cup of coffee and headed to the 13th deck to enjoy the
sunset behind the mountain. A schooner tied to the
jetty added interest.
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 Why
the coffee late in the afternoon? Because we wanted
to be awake to see the lava flows that night as our ship
cruised by the area we'd been close to that
afternoon. The captain turned in close to the coast
and slowed down so we could all see. We're sure that
he had to adjust the ballast as nearly everyone had moved
to the
starboard side of the ship to watch.
The photos don't look like much, but it
was exciting to see. We were glad we'd been close-by
during the day, so we knew what we were seeing in the
dark. We could see lava not only flowing into the
sea, but there were visible vents glowing all over the
hillside.
This has been a continuous lava flow since 1983 and has
added more than 500 acres of land to the island.
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On to the other side of the Big Island >>
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