Blogs from Big Island, Hawaii, United States, North America - page 12

Hawaii always seemed like a place to getaway and relax in the sun on a beach; a very crowded beach. When Shane thought of Hawaii, he thought of all the overweight tourists polluting nature, and terrible kids screaming and running all over the place, kicking sand into our faces as we tried to soak up some rays. That’s why Hawaii was never anywhere close to the top of his destinations list. "What am I going to do for a week on Hawaii? I’ve been to Florida and California. I’ve been to the Gulf of Mexico, Jamaica and the Caribbean. What’s so special about Hawaii?" Those were Shane's thoughts when we were planning our Honeymoon. Shane wanted to go to the old world: Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain or France. But Shanna insisted on going to Hawaii and ... read more

Let’s begin this section with a little description of the area and why one would make the treacherous hike to Waimanu in the first place. If you don't know this already, the Big Island is an island of diversity. All in one place you can find: lush, tropical rain forests; a desert; high altitude (and snow) on the slopes of the volcanos, including US's 2nd most prominent peak, Mauna Kea; green pastures with ranches and farms; vast volcano fields; and sands come in all colors from your typical tan, to white, to black, to green. Just about any environment can be found on one single island that can be traversed by car in a single day. Not too shabby. So, when we sat down to figure out what we wanted to do on our honeymoon, we ... read more

We started the day with a drive to Pahoa Town, and then to Lava Trees State Park. The mile from Pahoa to the park is amazing, with giant trees making a canopy over the road. The rain turned into a downpour as we arrived in the parking lot and didn't let up, so we changed our plans and drove a few minutes to the coast (rain stopped a mile down the road), where we took a gravel, one lane road through the jungle (there were homes down driveways from time to time) to the shore and then into a housing development, and back to Pahoa. Since the sun was out, we headed back to Lava Trees, only to end up in the same downpour we'd been in an hour earlier. We were only in a few ... read more

You probably remember all the National Geographic articles on volcanos and especially the eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii, with photos of roads and homes being covered in oozing lava..... Well, I was there today....! And since I can never see enough lava, I loved every minute....only regret is that there is no flow right now that you can get close to....so that experience will have to wait... But here's lots of footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rk3oW4aahQ We started off with a view of the eruption in the crater, called Halema'uma'u, from the Jaggar Museum (where they have a comparison between Mt St Helens lava and that of Kilauea!). The plume of volcanic gas is a "constant and dramatic reminder of the molten rock churning in a lava lake beneath the crater floor". The crater became active again in March ... read more

Saturday: Started the day in the usual way: coffee and toast followed by a run...but decided to run a bit further than before (the what's around the corner syndrome). I ended up at the site of the battle between the old religion here and Christianity. The Queen has noticed that Christians broke kapu (forbidden things like men and women eating together) all the time and nothing happened, so she decided to break it also...and nothing happened....thus the war..and Christianity won...the dead are buried in terraces above the battle field...hard to believe you could fight on a lava covered plain...today a golf course edges up to the battlefield/graveyard... Later we drove south to the Pu'uhanua O Honaunau National Park, where royalty lived and where there is a "Place of Refuge", where you could be safe after breaking ... read more