Bob-Kats on the Road 02-23-12

Hawaii Vol 3 - Volcanoes National Park

Since the park is 70 miles from our house in Waimea over a somewhat challenging road, we decided to find a place to stay in Volcano Village.  This is the wet side of the island, so you can expect clouds, rain and dense, verdant jungle.  Below are pics of our little house, very much in the jungle.

We had planned to be there for a few days.  A few days is about a day too long as it turned out.  Only half the park is open, the rest being closed due to … volcanoes.  Surprise.  They are not exactly erupting at the moment.  The one vent that was sending lava into the sea became inactive a week before we arrived.  I expect it to become active any moment now that we are gone.  No volcano luck, I guess.

Of the 333,000 acres of the park, roughly half is closed, but what remains is just packed with beauty and wondrous things.  There is a lake of lava beneath the largest caldera and while it is not liquid at the moment, it is hot and is producing the sulfurous steam that is coming from the Halemaumau vent.

Quite a spectacle to see and with the  spectacle, 9 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide per day.  It is also what is producing the smaller steam vents seen below when rain falls down into the cracks in the earth’s surface and hits the lava lake.

The area immediately above the lava lake is too warm for trees to grow, but the unusual plants are happy in their open-air hot-house environment.

Crater Rim Drive is closed at about the halfway mark, so a little backtracking, and you are at Thurston lava tubes.  Discovered in 1913 by Lorin Thurston (clearly a relative of mine) they are the plumbing, so to speak, through which lava flowed.  That is hardly a complete explanation, but will give you something to visualize.  We were advised by a volunteer at the visitor center to hike to the tubes rather than drive and deal with hordes of tour buses.  Yes, indeed.  When going to Volcanoes National Park, it’s a good idea to check when the big cruise ships come into port.  Just assume they hold around 4,000 people and that a majority of them are going to want to see the volcanoes.  Yikes.

So, we  hiked the 2.5 miles through the rainforest.  It was like stepping back into  prehistoric times with the happu tree ferns in the understory and the native ohia lehua trees 80 feet above.

We were soon joined by a family of Kalij pheasants.  I was momentarily amazed at our luck in finding them until I realized that they had in fact found us and were hoping to trade a photo op for a treat -- either that or the male just loved having his picture taken – he was happy to pose left, right, on the ground, in a tree …

After a pleasant – if somewhat long – walk, we arrived at the lava tubes.   They were amazing.

Time for lunch.  A picnic on Hilina Pali Road, a breathtaking place.

Lava Love
I became fascinated by lava.  Not sure why, but I loved it in all its varieties of texture, shape and color.   A trip along Chain of Craters Road and we had to stop and look many times.

Pahoehoe Lava – Thin and smooth

A’a lava – Thick and chunky like a plowed field

Ropey pahoehoe Lava

Hornito lava sculptures

And then we were at the ocean.  Thick lava cliffs – spectacular!

We continued down the road to the final drop to sea level and then curve to the left at the ocean.   The road was overrun by lava at about 19.3 mile mark in early 2004.

A good place to stop!

One more must-do:  Whales

The humpbacks are in Hawaii for the winter to have their calves and mate again.  They do not eat until they return to the cold waters of the north.  We are not group-activity people usually, but a whale-watching trip seemed like something we must do.  As you can see from the pictures, we probably needn’t have gone to the expense as they were perfectly visible from shore.  But it was neat to be close enough to hear them blow.

Our Whale Watch Boat

Spinner Dolfins

Great Scenery

Great time on Whale Watch Boat

Night Manta Ray Dive

And last, pictures from my exciting night manta ray dive!

Time to suit-up and . . .

Ship out!














What?  You don’t see any mantas?  Well, neither did I!!  Not being circus animals that put in  mandatory appearances, they apparently were sulking somewhere else.  So, in the cold dark water in a pretty good chop hanging on to a surf board for 45 minutes and nada!

The boat returns 5 hours later . . .

Bob had decided that getting into the ocean at night to wait for something big to show up was not his deal and wisely spent the time at a sports bar.