Monday, November 7, 2011

Day 7: Kona

Hello from Kona, 'the big island!' We woke up early and decided to get an early start driving to the other side of the island to Volcano National Park. Hey, let's go hike a volcano today! Woohoo!!

The ride was over 2.5 hours, winding through some cute little towns that we may go back to if we have time. We decided to take a detour to visit a black sand beach, and it was well worth the trip! I snagged a mini shell for a friend of mine who collects them (yes, past the sign that says it's unlawful to remove black sand from the beach. well, it's not black sand, thus justified!!) We also saw several green turtles swimming in the waves and the little wading pools. It was really striking to see the black beach next to the gorgeous blue ocean. The sand was very course and felt almost like little beads.

We hit the road and went to Volcanoes National park. We stopped at the visitor's center to get our bearings and recommendations, and to see if we could shake off the rain cloud that seemed to be following us (no such luck!) We stopped at the Jaggar Museum and it was really interesting! We learned about the different kinds of lava (the smooth and rough stuff), and the difference between some of the lava from the Mt. St. Helens explosion and this Hawaii site. We also read about a town on the big island that was absorbed by the lava.

We stopped at a gorgeous lookout site and took some pictures. As soon as we got there it started pouring and the skies unloaded, so we raced back to the car. I was glad I got a windbreaker at the visitor's center! We then stopped at the Kilauea Iki Crater overlook, which erupted for five weeks in 1954. It was amazing to see and steam was floating from the top of the crater. We hiked through the woods to the Thurston Lava tube (Nahuku). It took about five minutes to walk end-to-end, but was really impressive with how long and wide is is. Simply amazing that the lava left this!

It was pouring when we got out so we made our way back to the car and continued the drive. Unfortunately a good bit of the park is closed due to sulfur levels, but there was a path with several things to see. Our next stop was to see the Pu-uloa Petroglyph trail. Slipping past the 'people with lung issues, please do not continue due to the sulfur levels' (I have asthma), and feeling the comfort of my inhaler in my pocket, I decided to venture on. We walked over lava field for around a half a mile to the petroglyphs. We somehow beat the rain cloud and it was sunny and gorgeous!

There was a wooden pathway over the petroglyphs spread out in a fairly large area. There were a lot of circles, and concentric circles, but also something that looked like a bird and the moab man. It was really cool, especially given my obsession with petroglyphs! We walked back and a minute before we got to the car, our cloud caught up with us. As we opened the door the rain went from mist to deluge. Woohoo!!

We continued our drive to the end at the ocean, where the road was blocked and closed by a lava flow. We saw the Holei Sea arch, a large arch carved in the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Again, walking on the lava flows to get there, it's a really impressive way to consider the power and beauty of the lava fields. The lava is such a deep black and absorbs the sun, but where it shows flows and ripples it's often a bit shiny. It's really beautiful.

We drove back through the rain (our cloud again caught up with us!) and left the park. I forgot to mention that we also stopped by some steam vents, just an opening in the ground with warm steam seeping out. Cool stuff!

On the way back we decided to stop by the green sand beach, and the southern-most point in the Us. First the green sand beach-- we drove for 20 minutes on a rather bumpy road, past a car farm (there were several areas where dilapidated cars in various levels of decay were left in fields of high grasses-- so I speculated that the owners may be trying to grow a new car. ?? Why not?) Anyways, we passed a really cool windmill 'farm' and came to a fork in the road. I decided to hit the green sand beach first, so off we went! We got to an area that was very pitted and sandy so we stopped and walked down to the beach. It had a good bit of green sand, but we learned that THE green sand beach was a way down a rutted dirt road, and two miles away! Given that nightfall was approaching, we gave up and enjoyed the green sand that blew onto the beach we were at.

We then went to the southern-most point of the us. There were these interesting wood pillars near the cliffs by the water, that people jumped off from. There was no sign, and really nothing to let you know it was anything special if you didn't drive down specifically to see it! A guy was fishing along the water with a milk gallon jug-- interesting!

We drove back and stopped by Lava Java for dinner, which was recommended. It was great! We both got a macadamia nut crusted butterfish which was really good! We stopped for drinks at our hotel bar-- the mai tai sampler, and called it a night. Long day but lots of fun!!!

Night all! s

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