hawaii part 4

day 8 we went scuba diving with south kona scuba. our dives were off the shore near puuhonua o honaunau (aka city of refuge). this was our 3d and 4th dives, and so we are still getting used to the whole elvin-magic breathing under water trick. i must say, though, it is an amazing experience. worth trying at some point in your life. i saw an eel poke its head out of a coral reef. and, we saw a sea turtle down deeper. and coral. and fish.

we mostly chilled the rest of the day. and visited a beach near sunset. from the beach, we saw what looked like a whale tail - it flipped up 10+ times in a row. so we tried to book a whale watching tour for day 9. the only time we could get, however, was early morning the day we were leaving.

day 9 we visited puuhonua o honaunau national historical park (aka city of refuge).

the guidebook says these are modern carved effigies of gods

i found some interesting details that the brady bunch failed to highlight



the guidebook says this spot held the royal palace and a puuhonau sanctuary. my understanding is that certain things were kapu - forbidden - by hawaiian law/custom. for which, the punishment was death. if you made it to a sanctuary, you would be absolved. however, you had to get past the armed warriors (of the royal palace) and/or make it by sea (the guidebook mentions shark infested waters).

we saw more basking sea turtles. and a nice place to chill with the ocean.

and look for fish


we then went to mauna kea - a dormant volcano with a peak of 13,796 feet above sea level (plus 19,678 feet below sea level, since it starts on the ocean floor).

with a 4wd, you can drive to the top, where they have a bunch of observatories.


we learned that the big island is perfect for the observatories because: (1) hawaii is isolated from other land masses, so the wind is more calm; (2) light pollution is minimized due to distance to cities, special street lamps the cities use, and the fact that clouds often box in the city light; (3) hawaii is close to the equator, which is better for seeing more of the sky; and (4) the atmosphere is thinner at the top.

and you can see a bunch of cone shaped peaks (some laced with snow) for the volcano.



it is cold, and you cannot go into the observatories there, but it is nice to see.

down the road a bit, the ellison onizuka visitor center has telescopes set up for star gazing and a volunteer points out some interesting bits in the sky. check the weather - we visited our first night and it was cloudy. on this night, it was cloudy until we got to the visitor center and we had a sparkly clear sky to see. it was beautiful. and, we learned that the visitor center is a better place for people to star gaze because the lower atmosphere up top makes people dizzy.

day 10 we left our house early (6am) to go whale watching. humpback whales retreat to hawaii in the winter and kona is a good place for whale watching.


we saw a few whales breach.

as did this person in the small boat

we saw a bunch of whales not breaching


and learned that you can identify hunchbacks by their tails


we also saw some dolphins

(view the whole whale watching slideshow)

then, after lunch on the beach, we caught an early afternoon flight back to sf.

hawaii part 3

day 6 was more time in volcano national park.

we drove up to the mauna loa lookout. it was pretty clear but i thought the view of kilauea crater was better from below. we also visited kipuka puaulu, which is a forest that is surrounded by, but was left clear of, a prior lava flow.


then we went down chain of craters road to see the kilauea lava flow. the volcano has been actively spewing lava every day since 1983. the lava currently flows primarily from side vents, and not from the caldera which we hiked the day before. on the way down, you see the steam clouds where the lava meets the ocean.

looks somewhat like smoke from a fire. the usgs summary notes: "when lava meets the sea, large steam plumes (dubbed "laze" for lava haze) are created as the more than 1100°C (2012 °F) lava boils and vaporizes seawater. a portion of this steam recondenses and rains out of the plume as acidic precipitation that has been enriched with seawater salt, and contains tiny glass fragments generated by the intense physical interaction of hot lava and cool seawater."

the other direction looked eerie as well (not sure why)


at the bottom, the lava has gone over the road


so you park a ways off and hike out over dried pahoehoe lava


past some warning signs


to a lookout. which gives you better views, but not that close.


we hiked around to the far side of the lookout. we were right above this beautiful black sand beach

and could also see steam vents above the lava


when the sun was down, we starting seeing the lava through the steam.




it was mesmerizing. check my slideshow (tip: reset time to 1 second).

for the most part, the lava flows to the ocean under the dried lava in lava tubes. however, there are vents here and there where the lava is not covered by the lava tube. we had hiked in 3.5 miles in light, and had to hike back out 3.5 miles in the dark. but, we heard from some canadians (Megan and Walid) that you could see lava up close by hiking inland (in the dark). so we did. after a while, we started seeing glowing lava in the distance. along the way, i remembered the warnings that we could fall into an active or no-longer active lava tube with a weak roof. and, we ended up going through aa lava as well, which is spiky, sharp, and difficult to walk across.

with about 2.5 - 3 miles of hiking, we ultimately made it to a pretty big lava vent.


it was basically like a big fire place sized furnace with spots of slow-flowing lava. we were close enough to touch it. the rocks under our feet were hot. i had my tripod but was a bit anxious when trying to take photos.


and, then, after Mark pointed to the lava flowing beneath my feet in a crack between two rocks

it was time for me to find cool rocks to stand on so that i could stop worrying about falling in.

Walid, fearless, borrowed my tripod and spent 20 minutes close in taking pictures - which showed the slow moving lava expanding (hopefully will get a flickr link).

we then had another 3 miles to hike back to the car. all the stars were out. the lava vent we had visited seemed to be growing bigger as we hiked away. the whole trip took 8 hours; with 9 miles of hiking. it was exhausting, and magical.

day 7 we moved houses again. i was jonesing to take some life-sized shots in volcano with my polaroid, so we hiked down to the kilauea caldera in the morning. in the rainforest on the way down, i took these:




then, i took a series on the caldera floor


i think the life-sized really gives you a sense with the small plants that are colonizing the caldera floor



our next house was in south kona. on the way, we stopped at a beach with sea turtles.




water flowers

and birds



check back for days 8-10.

hawaii part 2

day 4 we moved houses to volcano.

on the way, we visited laupahoehoe.

this beautiful spot on the ocean was hit by a tsunami in 1946 (which destroyed a local schoolhouse, killing 24 teachers and children)

check this warning sign:


we also went to the hawaii tropical botanical garden


it was rainy. my best camera stopped working. not everything is native. but it was magical and worth the $15 admission fee.


we visited rainbow falls


and lava tree state monument

rough guide says the lava trees were formed when fast moving lava hit the trees and cooled, and then an earthquake drained the remaining lava flow. it also had some great trees.


our house in volcano was located in a rainforest.

day 5 we went to volcano natl park

we hiked down to the kilaueu iki crater floor, which last erupted in 1959, sending lava 1900 feet up. the hike down to the crater floor took us through a pretty lush rainforest with beautiful fern shoots.


the caldera floor was mostly dry and barren, with a number of steaming vents.


beautiful rocks

some plant life

after crossing the crater, we went back up through another lush rainforest


we spent the rest of the day on the road around the caldera. along the way, we saw these birds:

we stopped at halemaumau crater, which mark twain described in 1866 as a "heaving sea of molton fire"

it looked more volatile than the rest of the caldera

the lookout had color coordinated tourist

and the nene


who we were warned not to feed


check back for days 6-10