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Published: March 2nd 2009
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Misty forest
'Ohi'a trees provide the canopy to shelter all life above ground Today we travel over the Big Island to Kona. Kona is the region. Kailu'a is the town to which we will move all our worldly goods that we brought along.
Ann and I have traveled to wherever our son and daughter-in-law have lived in the Far East, U. S., and now Europe, so we have learned to pack light. We have only one carry-on suitcase and one personal bag apiece. We found the laundry early and used it often in each place we stayed.
Unlike many of our group, we came from and return to a warm climate. Florida does not require a heavy coat, gloves, and boots this time of year so we don't have those bulky things to haul along.
Everyone was up and eating the buffet breakfast early because we had to be packed and ready to go by 8:30. Even though the weather had been marvelous during our Hilo stay and nearly rainless in one of the rainiest cities in the world, we were encouraged to keep our rain gear at hand because we were going into a rain forest during our travels.
If I remember correctly from a display at the Lyman
Rob and lovely "friend"
The McGoverns each took half the group on the tour through the rain forest Museum, Hawai'i has 13 of the 16 possible climate zones. The Big Island has most of them because it has the highest peaks. The trade winds that come across the Pacific from the Americas pick up moisture. As those winds move up the east side of the mountains, that humidity precipitates out as clouds, mist, and rain. The winds cross over the tops of the mountains but are much drier so the west side of the island can be arid in places.
The Thurston Lava Tube in Volcanoes National Park is in a rain forest with up to 450 inches of rain a year. Everything was wet there even though no rain fell as we toured. Rob and Sue helped us know about the plant life as well as the geology of this part of the park.
In my previous blog, I mentioned the lava tube into which we could see through a "window" from the helicopter. I wrote that lava flowed to the sea through that tube.
After an eruption has finished and all the lava has flowed out of the caldera, tubes that had formed remain.
As I understand it, fresh lava cut into
Lava Tube entrance
Ferns surrounded us. the rock over which it was running, gouging out a "river bed" for itself as it flowed downward. If the lava flow continued over a long period of time but at a much slower rate than at the time of the eruption, that bed went deeper into the rock below the flow. As it flowed, spatters of the lava collected up on the sides and cooled. That cooled lava made of spatters eventually filled the space above the flow to form the tube. If a lot more lava came down, it could melt through the tube at points, thus opening a "window" such as we saw. The spattering continued enough to block some windows but left some venting space for steam and fumes.
The walk through the Thurston tube was impressive, if not very long. We returned to our rented vans, used during our Hilo stay, to continue on up Kilaueia to Jaggar Museum where the National Park has a geological program. Entering the museum, there is a large mural depicting Tahitian maritime explorers checking out the part of the Big Island where lava poured into the sea.
The boat is amazing technology. But so is the painting.
Carved lava walls
Pahoehoe lava, hard, smooth, and sinewy The artist was able to do the boat in such a way that if you stand to the right of the mural, the boat appears to go to the left. In our photo, you can see that from the left, the boat appears to go to the right.
The museum celebrates the development of the seismograph. The centerpiece is an operating system showing what is going on at several different sites around the volcano.
Outside, the walk from the museum overlooks the craters of Halema'uma'u and Kilaueia. When over a hotspot of geothermal activity, volcanoes open up multiple places to release lava pressure.
We lunched at the Volcano Golf and Country Club. The kitchen was a little slow so I dozed a bit. I was lousy company.
We started down from the 4,000 foot height of the volcano past steam vents in the field and new growth in the coarse lava fields. It was a very brief drive all the way down to the ocean where we found a beach made up of granules of 'a'a lava. From that park, we drove on along the ocean toward Kona.
Ann noticed that there were many lava
Roots in the tube
'Ohi'a tree roots provide site for tiny life forms in the dark tube. stone walls built along the road. Some had been set up so that the face was quite smooth. Some were just a long pile, something folks from the upper midwest glaciated country would recognize. None of these Hawai'i walls had mortar, even the smooth one.
The long trip along the west side of Mauna Loa took us into much drier environments. There were small coffee farms, along the road. Agribusiness has not yet figured out how to apply economies of scale as they have with sugar and pineapples and now macadamia nuts. We also saw a lot of flowers along the road. The land was drier but still verdent.
Our next stop was a rest area and even it had exotic features.
The Kona hotel is striking in its appearance and in its location immediately on the shore. The management decided to put Ann and me on the ocean side . . . on the second floor . . . looking at the high peaked roof over the bar on the first floor. But then, we WERE in Hawai'i. Right? Right.
As we sat at supper that night, waves crashed ashore on the lava rock right
Up and out
The stairs at the end of the tube take us into the forest above. below the veranda where we ate. Ann tried with our camera to catch waves as they sent water high enough into the air to splash us at our tables. Marty Freeman was more successful at catching that exciting water show on her travelblog (T-blog). Go to:
http://www.travelblog.org/fred.php?id=372191
The hotel spotlight was all we could work with and we encountered another one of the curses of the camera: the one to two second lapse of time between pushing on the button and the mechanics of the camera actually working. Hence, we got pictures of the splashes as they washed back into the ocean.
But we were the lucky ones to be there and experience those breakers.
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Marty
non-member comment
As usual
As usual, Jerry, you filled in some knowledge that I had heard but not taken down in my notes. Like how the lava tube is formed and facts about the climate.