Good questions, one and all, Acolyte. I flew into Kona and rented a car hitting all the major attractions on that side of the island with the manta ray dive being the main draw. Biggest letdown? Being in Kona on New Years Eve! Damn city was absolutely dead! Nothing like O'ahu. While they promised fireworks and we made it back to the city after our dive (after all, the marina is only two exits down), the most we saw was a bunch of kids throwing jumping jacks! LOL! It even drew a crowd!
While I drove all around the Kona side (including the Waipi'o Valley..freakin' STEEP hike! All the cars flipped over the edge?!? Holy crap!) hitting both possible roads there and back to see different views, I stayed away from the rich resort areas as it seemed too boring.
In Volcano (stayed right in the city), yes. I hiked the tubes as that is where the other end of the crater pictured below let out. Drove down the end of crater road, saw the petroglyphs, went outside the park to the county park to try and hike to the active lava flow (saw a glowing dot but bought GREAT snapshots from a guy selling them claiming to have taken them the month before) and three days+ in the park itself as I stayed at a bed / breakfast about five minutes from the park itself.
Made plans to fly out of Hilo so I drove and hit all the fruit stands / "place of refuge" and black sand beach on the ride to Hilo. Stayed at a mansion there! Another bed and breakfast but it was a freakin' castle run by an oriental family. Only regret, I spent too much time in Kona. Went snorkling in Hilo, the thermal springs (had to drag me out of that sucker) and, yes, did know about, consider but finally caved and brought back samples from the Goddess Pele. Tears of Pele, spatter and even that rock pictured below. I figured, hey, I didn't know about it when I was in O'ahu the year before and brought back lava and even bought a tiki made IN Hawaii (hard to find as most everything is from China!) so I figured that I had protection. Real fragile stuff but most survived as I packed it in with my scuba gear. Oh yes, the mini crater inside the big one is still there.
You are right. Impossible to capture how massive the lava is with a camera. I had a wide lens and didn't post many as it was futile. Looks like black on black as far as the eye can see in all directions.
LOVED this guy's house, though. Only house spared from the last eruption. He blogs all about the current flows. Look at the road. Helicopter pilot named it "road to nowhere." I can see why. For those who don't know, the red dot pictured is a mansion of a house. Nice neighborhood, eh? Wonder why they named the road?
A few more...
LOVED the plants that grow so quickly out of the devastation of a lava flow.
My paultry lava rock sculpture (compare it to the expert one below!)
Finally, one of the last true "black sand" beaches in the world. Predicted to disappear in a very short time. See it while you can!
[Show/Hide Quoted Message] (Quoting Message by acolyte55 from Friday, February 10, 2012 5:48:54 PM)| |  | acolyte55 wrote: | | | did you go in some of the lava tubes? and black crab beach? did you make it to the kona-kilaeuh side? and the photos just cant let people know the sheer size of the volcanoes it took me 3 panaromics to fit the whole of the crater for a complete shot. when i was there , there was a mini crater inside the large one , is it still there?more importantly did you take a piece of the island home and risk the wrath of pele' !!!!! freaky stories about that man and to much truth to it !!! cheers giudo |
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