The Big Island Day 1

Mom and Dad woke up around 645 this morning and Drew got up at 700.  We ate a breakfast of banana, mac nut-raisin-cinnamon bread, pineapple, papaya (no one is a fan) and eggs.  After that Ryan went to ask Garrett for more information about where to snorkel.  He enjoyed staring at the curly grey hairs that covered his velour jogging suit (same one as last night) while chatting.  I’m not sure how many times “brah” was used this morning because I wasn’t present.  We then headed back down toward Hilo for what was described as Barrier Reef quality snorkeling by our host.  The Kapoho Tide Pools took about 45 minutes to get to and when we arrived a little rain was starting to fall and it was overcast enough that we didn’t need to bother with sunscreen.  We stripped down to our suits and began the treacherous walk across the lava to the pools.  It was low tide (extremely low) so we had to walk quite far.  The kids and I all had on sandals (flip flops in Drew’s case) that weren’t quite appropriate for the terrain and it was cold and windy and started to really rain, as we got further out.  I was freezing to death.  We did see some cool little crabs including one that had lots of gold on it but there was absolutely no way we were getting in that water.  We high-tailed it back in and a nice couple who are building a house let us come on their upper porch out of the rain and gave the kids some candy.  The wife explained that the pools are much cooler during high tide (at 4:30 when we won’t be there).  She did recommend a pool (Ahalanui) that is heated by Kilauea to a balmy 90 degrees.  We drove down the road to Ahalanui which was an awesome pool lined with lava rock (had originally been some fat cat’s private pool but then he gave it to the public).  We had some issues with the rough bottom surface and Trevor’s feet but once you got out pretty far the bottom was sandy.  We snorkeled here for a bit.  There were a few colorful fish but mostly little grey guys.

Snorkeling at Ahalanui

We stayed until the kids started to complain and then we got back in the car and drove to the end of Highway 130 where an eruption by Kilauea in 1990 wiped out the town of Kalapana and closed a big section of the highway.  We got out of the car and were able to see where a massive lava flow completed obliterated a black sand beach. 

Lava has completely obliterated this black sand beach.

What I had wanted to see but we ran out of time and patience was some subdivisions where houses had been buried right next to houses that still have people living in them.  In Hawaii you can claim insurance if your house is buried in lava but not if the access to your house is buried in lava.  So there are some brave (or crazy souls) that live in houses completely surrounded by lava with no electricity and no water.  This lava is from the Pu’u O’o vent that started erupting in 1983.  Here are some interesting volcano facts:

4,600,000,000 cubic yards of lava have come out since 1983 and this would fill 300 million dump trucks. It has created 475 new acres of land, covered 8.5 miles of highway, and destroyed 213 structures.

We then headed back up the side of Kilauea to Volcano Village to eat lunch and change clothes.  After that we headed to Volcano National Park.  We went to Thurston Lava Tube first, and then took a 1-mile hike (there and back) to the Kilauea Iki crater overlook.  It overlooks a huge now-cooled lava lake that was the result of an eruption in 1959.  

Getting ready to go inside the Thurston Lava Tube

Overlooking Kilauea Iki - a giant lava lake that has since cooled but still steams.  Behind her you can see the new eruption.

After that we headed to the Visitor’s Center and caught a ranger-led tour through the rain forest.  The ranger was a high school girl and for being as young as she was she did a great job.  She was really young though.  We learned about the native and invasive plants that we saw along the way.  It was a 1.5-mile hike and, surprisingly to me, Drew did fine.  

Waiting for the tour to start

We were able to see lots of steam vents, earth cracks, and we went by the Sulphur Banks where sulphur deposits have colored the ground yellow and it reeks of eggs.  

A fiddlehead fern

Steam vent

Sulphur Banks

After the park we went to dinner at Kiawe Kitchen and the kids had some pasta and Ryan and I had pizza.  Amazing how exhausted you can feel at 530 in the evening – hope the jet lag clears soon.  Leaving early in the morning to head to Kona for kayaking and snorkeling.  Interested to see how the kids handle a 45-minute paddle to our open ocean snorkeling site!

A good local beer