Hawaii - Day 3: Volcano & Lava tour

When we got to the big island - number one thing I wanted to do was walk right next to a lava flow. So, when there was a highly recommended tour to do just that, Laura and I signed up. It was an extremely long day. Something to do once, but never again. I guess, that's kinda what this trip was all about. See my latitude history from that day. Unfortunately, it gets a bit sparse, but you get the idea of how much area is traveled.



First stop was the Kona Coffee Museum, where I had a fire and ice white chocolate candy. It has a bit of wasabi in it. The first bit I tried was extremely strong - nearly knocked me out. I felt like a dope, though, when everyone else thought it was pretty mild. My subsequent bites weren't so bad, so I'm chalking it up to an unusually strong sample.

We also stopped at Punalu'u - the southern most bakery in the USA. They make the hawaiian sweet bread, which I'm fond of. We got a loaf that was good snacking food for the rest of the week.

Finally, we got up to the caldera. Recently, the lookout ridge was destroyed by a washing machine size rock that smashed the small area. Now, the only way to look at the crater is from the distant visitor's center. It's a big hole with varying amounts of smoke coming out.



It was nice to spend the afternoon at Volcanoes Park. We stood over steam vents, walked in the rain forest, hiked through a lava tube, learned a little about bird watching, and saw some cool craters. Then we all napped in the car to start the ride down to the surface flows. First, we stopped at a few beaches along the way.



Just before nightfall, we visited the newest black sand beach in the world. Black sand is created by the lava flow hitting the water. Once the lava flow ends, white sand with start to be deposited from corral breakdown, displacing the black sand.





The best time to see the lava flows is at night. So, after dinner at the Kalapana Village Cafe, we went for a walk to the lava flows. I'm not so good at taking pictures, but did my best. It really doesn't capture how amazing the lava flow is. The lava breaks through the surface, forming a pool of fire, which quickly gets a black crust that hides flow underneath. The tour guide said that of the hundred times he's taking groups to the flow, this was one of the top two visits.



See a couple videos of the lava flow. Still doesn't quite capture how cool it was.

Since we spent all day in a van, it was nice that the people along for the tour were all great. Not just the guides, but the folks in the group. And, we made some new friends, Lindsay and Steve, who we met up on another tour and hung out together later that week.