“Serendipity” was the watch work for today, as there were a few times when the luck was with us at just the right place and time…
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| Southern shoreline |
When we left Waikoloa we were headed for a roughly 2 1/2 hour drive southward around the coast to Volcanoes National Park. All started well but we were only 30 minutes down the road when Neil said …”Hmmm, the engine light has come on”.
My initial reaction was to panic until he pointed out that we had only JUST passed the airport, so back to the Alamo office we went and with little drama we had dumped the dodgy Dodge and were back on the road in a Chevrolet Captiva.
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| Black sand beach |
South of Kona we passed through quiet little towns with a slightly tired look, interspersed with a couple of nice resort areas and lots and LOTS of Kona coffee plantations. The further south we went the area became less and less populated and as we swung around the bottom corner of the island we went though an isolated, tiny but tidy little town called Naalehu which advertised itself as having the southern-most bar in the USA! It’s not far from here to the actual southernmost point in the country but our rental car agreement barred us travelling down that road so we had to make do with seeing the southern-most bar instead 🙂
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| A tired turtle |
On the roof of the Naalehu town hall there is a huge painting of a green sea-turtle which are very common in the waters here. Just up the road we pulled in to see the black sand beach at Punaluu and, hopefully , to see one of the turtles for ourself. There is an area on the beach that is marked out as a turtle “resting place” but it was totaly unoccupied so it looked like we were out of luck. We were just about to head back to the car when we saw a flipper flapping in the surf ! Serendipity struck again as a lone turtle swam up past the rock and slowly started to pull himself up the black sand. He took it in spurts and looked downright exhausted after each effort of dragging himself a few feet – I hope he did get a good rest because he really deserved it.
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| Pele and me. |
From here it was only another 30 minutes up the road to Volcanoes National Park. I had booked us into the iconic Volcano House Hotel, which perches on the rim of Kilauea Crater. The original Volcano houe was built in 1846 and there have been various renovations and changes ever since ( particularly after 1940 when a fire burned the place to the gound!)
The most recent renovations were only completed last year and we were looking forward to our stay in a crater-view room. The hotel has the same style of many of the National park lodges but with a Hawaiian twist. Like several other lodges it has a stone fireplace with rocking chairs to enjoy it but this one has a carving of the Volcano goddess “Pele” above the mantel.
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| The road crosses a massive lava flow |
We checked in , took a quick look at the smoke billowing up from the vent in the crater and headed straight back out again to drive the Chain of Craters Road which descends 3,700 feet in 20 miles and ends where a lava flow crossed the road in 2003. The landscape we passed through is hard to describe, the black lava almost looks like it is still flowing in huge swathes down the slopes to the ocean.
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| Lava meets the ocean |
In places it’s so smooth it glistens in the sun and in others it’s a jumbled and jagged mess. You are under no illusions as to how this island was created, you really FEEL the geography here and it makes you realise just how helpless the people are in the little town of Pahoa which is currently under threat from the latest lava flow. Nothing will stop this stuff when it’s coming.
From the hot, dry moonscape at the ocean we drove back up the road to see some old craters ( last eruptions in the 1970s) and also walked through the Thurston Lava tube. The lava tube is tucked away in the midst of a lush rainforest, so here we’ve experienced yet again how rapidly the climate, landscape and temperature can change in only a few miles in this extraordinary state.
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| Neil in the lava tube |
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| Neil and Crater by day… |
Back at the hotel we were a little dismayed to see that our view of the crater was obscured by a thick mist. We had really been looking forward to dinner in the restaurant by the light of the glow from the lava in the crater. However, it looked like we were in for a disappointment as the darkness descended and the view from the restaurant window remained stubbornly black.
Every now and then some one would get up from their table and peer hopefully out the window, before sitting back down with a disappointed expression on their face. The waiter knew better though – we heard him say “This is Hawaii! Wait 5 minutes…” and sure enough, quite suddenly the fog shifted and an orange glow lit the sky. They briefly turned off the restaurant lights and there was an echo of “Ooooh” “Aaaah” through the room.
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| Neil and Crater… night view |
After dinner we rugged up and took to the road again to drive to the Jagger Museum Overlook, which is the closest point on the crater rim to the lava vent. From here the view of the golden smoke billowing up from the vent was really spectacular. The cold was also spectacular! It was only 12 degrees C but the wind was blowing a gale and it felt a lot colder. I was glad I’d added one of Neil’s long sleeve shirts to my own layers.
I’ve just looked out the window and the fog has descended into the crater again, there’s now only a faint pink blur to show where the vent is so we really were very lucky tonight. Hmmmm…maybe I should buy a lottery ticket?….