Turned out to be a good choice. Firstly, because Toshi grew up in Hawai'i so he knew where to go. Secondly, my other good friend Ryan had vacationed on the Big Island as well and kind of confirmed all of our choices of things to do. Thirdly, because I have had this budding interest in geology and Hawai'i is incredibly interesting from a geological standpoint. I learned a lot on this trip.
Hawai'i the state is made up of 8 major islands, a bunch of atolls, lots of islets, and some underwater seamounts (basically volcanic islands that are below sea level). You can see all of them below. The main islands are at the lower right and the older atolls and islets stream up to the upper left.
Most people know that the islands formed because they are/wer directly over a magma hot spot. Most islands are typically formed at tectonic plate boundaries but not the state of Hawai'i. It's formed over a magma hot spot. No one has been able to explain to me what this magma hot spot is though or why it is where it is or why it doesn't move. I've seen explanations that it is driven by the tectonic plate being thin at that point (in other words it's not a hot spot but rather a weak plate) or that the magma is particularly hot at that spot, but I don't quite understand why it doesn't move or why it is hotter than other areas.
The Pacific tectonic plate that Hawai'i resides on moves and as it moves over the hot spot, new islands are formed (the plates move but the hot spot doesn't). The Pacific plate moves northwestly while the hot spot is fixed. So as you trail northwest along the Hawai'ian Islands you are looking at older and older islands. One thing I didn't realize was that after the islands are created over the hot spot and they move off the hot spot, they are essentially in decay mode. They start deflating and eroding back into the sea. Eventually what is known as Hawai'i right now will be gone. If you look at the very old islands like Midway they are basically sea level bits of land. Midway is barely big enough for a few airplane landing strips. One day it will be gone.
The Big Island is the youngest of the islands. You can tell this because it's currently at the hot spot. And right now it is moving off of the hot spot. A new island, dubbed Lo'ihi (or Lo'ihi seamount) is currently being formed off the southeast coast of Hawai'i, and it will eventually turn into an island. And likewise the southeastern part of the island is the youngest part of the island. In general, northwestern 'stuff' is older than southeastern 'stuff''. You can see a number of mountains on the Big Island - Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and on the bottom right, Kilauea, the youngest volcanic mountain.
The other interesting thing about volcanic islands is that they are surprisingly wide. The stereotypical picture of a volcano with steep sides is incorrect. Well at least the main volcano looks nothing like that. Parts of a volcano (cinder cones) can have that stereotypical look but cinder cones occur all over a shield volcano like Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea. There are a few volcanic mountains or maunas on Hawai'i and they are shockingly wide in aspect ratio with very gently declining sides. They are still tall but the slopes are quite flat. Here's a picture of Mauna Kea; the highest mountain on Hawai'i and technically the tallest mountain in the world. Not the highest mind you. But the tallest. It just happens to start far below the surface of the ocean. Notice how gentle its slope is.
The last interesting thing about volcanoes that I'll mention are the lava flows that come out of them. They stream down the island's mountains on all sides. And it is the most striking thing about the island as you drive along the coast. Every few miles you hit a new lava flow; black rivers that have flowed down the mountain. Each lava flow is designated by the year in which is flowed. If you were standing in the midst of one you might suspect you are in a giant Costco parking lot that had undergone a massive earthquake. It resembles blacktop but it's all torn up. There also seem to be two types of flows or at least two types of results from the lava flows. I have yet to find out what causes these two flows. The first type of flow I call brownie flow. Because the top of it looks just like a brownie. Smooth and somewhat shiny with lots of stress fractures and cracks on the surface. The second flow I call coffee flow because it looks more like piled up wet coffee grounds. I suspect the temperature of the magma and the rate at which it cools and possibly how fast the flow is determines which of the two types of cooled magma you end up with.
Okay turns out I was right. There are two types of flows on Hawai'i. The brownie flow is technically called Pahoehoe flow and the coffee flow is called A'a flow. Here's a picture of the two right next to each other. That Pahoehoe flow can also be ropey and ripply. You'll see it in the rest of the photos.
The young flows are deep black. But the iron content of the magma is quite high and over time this iron rusts creating a browner and browner looking igneous rock. You'll never see brown rock on top of black rock. I'm not sure that pictures do justice to these flows. The 'rivers' they leave behind are monstrous and clearly devastating while they are being formed. Walking on them is strange and not like anything else you've walked on.
Interestingly plant life takes root quite soon after they cool. In some ways they are like hydroponic gardens. There are lots of nooks and crannies for seeds to fall into and some plants can get away with very little nutrients from the lack of active soil. So some of the older lava flows have trees, shrubs, and grasses growing on them.
There are two big primary maunas on Hawai'i. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The first notable for it's numerous observatories. The second notable because it is still relatively active (an growing in height). The most active volcanic part of the island though is the Kilauea shield volcano in the southeast (you should have guessed that) part of the island. Most of this area is a National Park (Volcanoes National Park) and most of it is off-limits because it's still dangerous. But there are plenty of places that you can visit which I'll talk about later.
Here is what we did on the trip while you were both with Maira at home.
Day 1: We flew into Kona International Airport on Tuesday, June 10 and made our way to the Sheraton Kona (yay for Amex mileage points). Both are on the west side of the island in an area known as Kona. We checked in and took it easy that day. At night we had dinner at Ray's on the Bay, a nice open air restaurant at the hotel that overlooks the ocean. After dinner we went down to the lookout spot (in the photo below it's to the left point of the hotel) and kept our eyes open for sting rays which populate the area at night. Unfortunately that night we only caught one quick glimpse of a giant ray swimming by.
You'll notice there's no beach. Most of the Big Island has no beach.
We picked up some food for the hotel room too and realized that the Hawai'ians LOVE Spam.
After that we came back to the hotel to shower and change and then drove to a shopping mall where we got picked up by Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. This tour was going to bus us up to the top of the tallest volcanic mountain (out of six) on the island, Mauna Kea. What is most interesting about this mountain is not that it is a shield volcano but rather that it houses many observatories. It provides one of the best astronomical observation points on earth. It's above the cloud layer and offers very clear views. There are 13 observatories on the top of the mountain capturing EM radiation from visible to radio. You could probably write a book on Mauna Kea but I'll leave it at that for now.
We saw one spot with lots of wild animals. Mainly sheep and goats that were eating the wild grasses. A little further on we stopped to stretch our legs on a giant lava flow. This was our first big look at a giant lava flow. This one was right between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. It was impressive.
After reaching the mountain we ascended and then stopped at a visitor center to rest and eat. The purpose of this was because the oxygen levels at the top of the mountain are depleted compared to air at sea level and the time was to get our bodies somewhat acclimated. If you look closely you can see that there clouds below us in the first photo. We are quite high up and the low oxygen could be felt in your body when you went up steep inclines.
There was also a little hike behind the visitor center with some indigenous plants that have a silvery sheen to them. They are trying to get these plants to grow back on the mountain.
There was also a large telescope set up pointing at the sun. It had a filter on it to make it not so bright. You can see the sun in the eyepiece below; the small yellow circle.
After about 45 minutes we continued our trip up from what was a nicely paved road to a very bumpy dirt road. Apparently the road was never completed to discourage locals from driving up. But I imagine the bumpiness caused havoc for the engineers in charge of telescope components being shipped up to the top for assembly. We stopped part way up for another break and photo op. In these photos you can see a cinder cone. This is what you think of when you think of a volcano. But in reality it's just a small wart on the side of the real volcano.
We finally reached the top of the mountain and the 13 observatories. The land up there is completely barren of any life, and it looked like the moon except it wasn't grey. I kept thinking of the final scenes in Lord of the Rings. Some of the observatories were operational as we saw them opening bay doors and swiveling around. The tour also brought two sizable telescopes, and we viewed Jupiter and some of its moons. In this first photo you can see the shadow cast by Mauna Kea (the mountain we are on).
These are the observatories. It's barren at the top of the mountain. No plants can grow at this altitude. But it's unlike other mountains in that there isn't jutting rock anywhere. The entire mountain is basically made up of ejected lava particulate. It's like being on top of a giant stone pile.
The observatories look quite impressive but the buildings are generally quite bare and thin. It's merely to protect the serious equipment inside from being damaged by the elements.
We then descended to near the visitor center, and the guide reset up the telescopes so that we could view a number of astronomical objects including the moon (which was almost full), the jewel box cluster, the beehive cluster, Saturn (we could easily see the rings), and others. Here's a picture of the moon we were able to take through the viewfinder.
Day 3: After having fun paddle boarding, mommy had set up a kayaking trip. We got ready early in the morning after a breakfast of papaya and pineapple (we skipped the awful turkey bacon) and headed down to the same bay. Mommy and I shared a dual kayak and headed out with a group of about 20 people. As soon as we left the bay two things happened. First a large needle fish launched itself out of the water. And then we heard word that dolphins were headed our way. Sure enough a minute later we saw them approaching. Probably about 20 in total that passed right by us. We were hoping they would stop so we could swim with them but they just passed on by; a few of them jumping out of the water.
We continued paddling to the south taking breaks now and again to let people catch up. Mommy and I would disembark the kayak and swim around in the relatively warm water. We would then mount the kayak again and travel on. The first big thing we did was kayak into what is effectively an underwater lava tube. A tunnel that pops out of land at about sea level. We obviously didn't go into the submerged lava tube, but we did gingerly make our way into the cave.
We then headed farther south and eventually stopped at a good place near shore to snorkel and have lunch. It was also a place where you jump off the cliffs into the water. Both mommy and I decided to do it but started to get cold feet once we ascended the approximately 24 foot high cliff. It looks a lot higher from up top. We got a little lesson (always look at the water, keep your arms out, pull everything in tight before you hit the water) and then jumped. We ended up doing it twice. The first time both mommy and I had sore butts for some reason. The second time was less painful but we both got saltwater up our noses. We then headed back to the bay.
We have some picture from this trip but we didn't use our phone or camera. We used a waterproof film camera (I know. I should have brought the GoPro). If/When we get them developed I'll add them. Here's the pictures. They are not very good. It was a cheap plastic camera. But they are fine.
Here we are jumping off.
I think these are photos of me in the water from the top of the jumping spot.
Here's our kayaks all tied up while we had lunch.
An underwater shot.
This is the shot inside the cave/lava tube. There was no flash of course.
A few shots of us along the way.
This is where we jumped (to the upper left off screen) and where we sat for lunch. This rock is painful to sit on and walk on.
We then checked out and started driving to Volcano, HI. On the way we stopped at Punalu'u or a black sand beach. You can probably guess why the sand is black. It's from the black volcanic basalt lava flows that get eroded just like white sand beaches (coral reefs, shells). It wasn't very soft even though the particulate was small. It's more of a novelty more than a real beach you would hang out at. The beach also has lots of green sea turtles. All of them were in the water while we were there. They were mainly under white wash so we couldn't see much apart from the occasional head that popped up for air.
We then finished the day by driving the rest of the way to Volcano and settling into our cabin for the night. It was a nice sized house and very near the national park that we were going to visit the next day.
Day 4: We rose and had a breakfast of mangos, pineapple, and papaya that we had picked up Wednesday from a farmers market. We then drove about a mile to the entrance of Volcanoes National Park. From here we drove in and parked at our first hike at Kīlauea Iki. Here we are at the start of the hike which walked along the crater's edge on top. The hiking trail made its way to the back of the crater then descended.
So what are we looking at here. It's a giant crater. Kilauea Iki is right next to the more active Kilauea caldera which we'll get to later. I had thought this was a caldera (by the look of it) but it's referred to as a pit crater or crater. How it was formed I'm not sure. Originally I thought a caldera was a volcano that literally blows it's top off leaving a crater behind. But now I realize calderas also form by simply falling back onto themselves if the magma below vacates directly below the volcano leaving a gap. How the Kilauea Iki crater formed I'm not sure.
What is interesting about this crater is that in 1959 it basically sprang a leak and started filling with magma. It used to be much deeper but now it's almost filled up. The crater bed you are looking at here is solid lava. The spot where it leaked created a new shield volcano called Pu'u Pua'i. To my eyes it looks more like what is called a cinder cone. At any rate this leak filled up much of the crater. But it has since been fairly dormant and people are now allowed to walk across it. But when it sprang a leak it looked like this. Lava flowed out of both a primary leak as well as breaks in the side of the crater. You can see the lava pooling up in the bottom.
We then descended into the crater. It's quite big. But not nearly as big as Kilauea itself. In these photos the lava leak sprang from that mound on the right.
This is one of the more pretty trees/bushes that sprouts up in the lava fields.
Here's where most of the lava came out that filled up the crater.
The floor of the crater is fairly flat except some areas where earthquakes have cracked it or the hardened lava collapsed.
There were numerous vents where steam was coming out. Rain falls into the cracks, evaporates from the heat blow, and comes up out of the same cracks as steam. You could spot these easily as white calcium deposits would pepper the black igneous rock. And also plants had found a perch nearby living off the condensing steam.
You'll notice that the floor isn't completely flat. It seems to have solidified into these small islands or flat convex bubbles. Kind of like wide bumps that pockmark the floor.
Some Hawai'ians are also very superstitious and have a polytheistic religion. They placate the gods by making these piled up stones.
Here's a final view of the crater when we finally climbed back out. Notice the people.
After doing the full circuit you find yourself across the street from the Nahuku lava tube. We have been through a lava tube before (formed by Mount Saint Helens). This one was different though. It was much shorter and less glassy. It looked more like a bored out tunnel. Actually I don't know how long it actually is. But the part you can walk through is quite short. It continues on but that part was not accessible to the public. The way a lava tube forms was explained to me before but it was an incorrect explanation. I had been told that the lava bores a tunnel into the ground. But that's not correct. The way it forms is the top and sides of a lava flow cools to the point where it is solid and the lava inside becomes insulated from heat loss and continues to flow. Eventually the flow is plugged at the source or the flow runs out and he remaining lava inside vacates this tube. They are really fun to walk through.
Next we drove down the Chain of Craters Road to the ocean. As you drive down you run across lots of pit craters (smaller in size than the Kilauea Iki) and massive lava runs. It's an impressive drive in its own right. The lava flows are massive and continue for miles and miles down to the ocean. Not much grows here above a few feet. Part of that is the destruction from the lava flows but also I suspect the high winds that pass over the land. You literally feel like you are driving across the moon at times. Here's one of the other smaller crater pits you pass by.
As you get closer the ocean you realize you are still significantly higher than the ocean level. And it becomes apparent why. There's an enormous drop off just before you hit the ocean. I later learned that this is called the Hilina Slump and also the Holei Slump. At the time I could not figure out why there was essentially a cliff drop off when all the topology of the island had been one of a gradual slope. If you look at this computer generated view of Hawai'i you'll see towards the bottom a green-ish colored area that extends into the sea. This is the Hilina/Holei Slump. In sophisticated scientific terms what happened here is the land fell into the damn ocean. A landslide if you will. After this drop the land is gently sloping again. Well that is until you get to the ocean.
At the ocean you again get a drop off or cliff. Not nearly as big but impressive nonetheless. In particular because the cliffs and the battering sea have created sea arches. The Holei sea arch being the most famous. Getting up close to these cliffs (perhaps 50 feet high?) is a little daunting because the waves are so strong you will see them climb up off the top of these cliffs regularly.
If you keep driving down the road which looks to follow the south coastline eastward, you eventually realize you can't. One of the more recent lava flows has completely covered the road. Pretty cool and interesting.
I couldn't resist and ended up walking over this lava to the water. Mommy didn't want to come and was a little worried when she couldn't see me. But I came back after a few minutes. If you fell off I'm not sure you would survive. The waves were brutal the day we were there.
Here's some more of the brownie flow but this has a ripply quality to it.
Farther down that road is the most active volcanic region of Hawai'i. Puʻu ʻŌʻō lies down this way and it's the most active part of the Kilauea region. This cinder cone has been erupting since 1983 and you simply aren't allowed near it. This particular cinder cone has the traditional volcano opening. You can see a quadcopter video of flows from this cone here,
And the more traditional cinder cone opening.
If you look at any aerial views of this cone on you'll see smoke coming out of it. Since we couldn't drive further we headed back to look at the primary attraction in the park, the Kīlauea summit caldera. Because it's a caldera it's not prominent like Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea. In fact it's basically a hole in the ground. But keep in mind that most of the volcano is below the ocean so it's not correct to say it's not tall. It's big and it's active. And by active I mean active for a significant period of time. Dating back to the early 1800s this caldera has been active and probably longer if there were better records. Back in 1823 when it was first put under observation the pit was much deeper. It has since then been slowly filling back up like the Kilauea I'ki.
Keep in mind what you are seeing here. That smaller pit crater in the middle with smoke coming out isn't the caldera. Most of what surrounds that is the caldera. It's BIG. Most of these shots were taken from the lip of the caldera walls.
While it is a distinct volcano from the nearby Mauna Loa (meaning they have separate magma chambers which feed them), they alternate activity. When Loa is active Kilauea isn't and vice versa. When you look at it aerially you notice that there is a big caldera and then inside it is another more visually prominent crater called the Halemaʻumaʻu crater. That part is still very active and you can visit the area at night and see a soft glow from the magma below. Unfortunately I forgot my camera charger (I know. Idiot!) so the best we could do were these phone photos.
Day 5 began with, what else, pineapple and papaya for breakfast (and apple bananas on oatmeal). We then headed east in the car to the town of Hilo. We didn't stop there though but kept driving up north to the Akaka Falls. This is not the tallest falls on the Big Island, but it is the biggest one that is easiest to get to. In fact you can see the waterfall from the parking lot. There is a second smaller waterfall on the short loop hike, but it was partially obscured by lots of vegetation.
The area also had quite a few unusual flowers even though I think we are past the primary spring bloom.
I believe this is the famous Banyan tree but I'm not 100% sure. It could be a related species.
One interesting thing about the falls is there is both a fish and a shrimp that make their way up the waterfall. Or more precisely up the rock wall behind the waterfall. They do this to head back to their spawning grounds.
As we drove back to Hilo we took a scenic route through Onomea which has numerous small waterfalls and streams and an interesting bay.
We then continued back towards Hilo and went to see the Rainbow Falls. While smaller than Akaka, you could actually climb over rocks to get to the head of the falls. The water drops over a natural lava cave that is supposed to be home to Hina, a Hawai'ian goddess.
Mommy takes a picture of me and I take one of mommy.
Finally we stopped by the famous Hilo Farmer's Market to pick up, wait for it, pineapple, papaya, but also a custard apple, more apple bananas, and something similar to a hairy lychee called a rambutan.
These remarkable things are lais. Normally it's some small flower but these were very intricate (and expensive).
We also stopped by a mochi store for mommy.
We then drove back to Volcano and before relaxing for the night headed back to the national park to see some more steam vents and the sulphur (or sulfur; the yellow stuff) banks.
Day 6: We were done with the national park and started heading back to the resort area of Hawaii to complete our stay. We first drove east to Hilo then north and then west along the coast. We wanted to stop off at one spot, Waipi'o, along the way on the north shore. It was a valley that had both a waterfall and a secluded beach. Both were hard to get to because you needed a 4x4 car to get down. It is the steepest road of its length in the entire U.S. Unfortunately we didn't have one so we had to make the descent into the valley on foot. And it was steep. Really steep. Going down was hard enough but coming back was exhausting. But worth it.
We then drove the rest of the way to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. It was nice to be back in civilization. Volcano did not have a lot of amenities or stores. The first thing we did when we got back was get a Starbucks coffee of course. The resort was beautiful and right next to its sister hotel the Mauna Kea. The Mauna Kea was more expensive but frankly I liked the Hapuna better.
The hotel looks out over the pool and ocean.
We decided to hike over to the Mauna Kea. It was longer than we thought and there wasn't a well made path either.
Here we are reaching the Mauna Kea hotel.
And look who we saw... Caroline, Will, and Charlie from school.
We sat and had a drink with their parents. Here I am photobombing the shot.
Day 7: The next day we got up and had our usual breakfast and then headed down to the beach early. We did a little snorkeling first (again I'll add pictures if they get developed) and we saw a fisherman harpooning octopus down in the water. He caught three.
We then walked down the Hapuna Beach.
Near the end I spotted something.
Nope. Not a turtle. I missed that. Walked right by him. Mommy pointed him out. He was busy feeding on the rocks.
No I found a little alcove.
We then had dinner and passed out. We were quite tired from all the traveling at this point. And we need to simply relax.
Day 8: The next day we checked out at the Hapuna and drove over for lunch at Three Fat Pigs and then to the Four Seasons. Our one big splurge on the trip. This place was swank. They upgraded us to a ocean side villa. They brought us champagne on ice. They bussed us to the villa on a golf cart. It was awesome. The beach wasn't as good but the amenities and services were all top notch.
They greeted us in the lobby with fruit, a lai, a nut necklace, and some fruit juice.
There were numerous turtles all over the property.
Our room had a nice balcony and view of the ocean.
Daddy finishing off the champagne Hawai'ian style.
The showers were located outside. That was sort of the best thing about the whole place.
At night we had dinner. I don't remember a thing I ate (I had a lot of champagne) except for the bon bons.
The next morning we relaxed after breakfast and saw some more turtles. It was really a great great trip.
And although you guys were very pouty and sad you couldn't come you had fun with Maira back home.
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