Travel Blog: Hawai'i - The Big Island

Hawai'i, by far the largest of the Hawaiian Islands with over 60% of the landmass, is also the youngest, which is why it has pretty much all of the volcanic activity. Our tour guide, Harvey, explained that these islands have been created not by the huge blast-style eruptions of volcanoes like Mt. Etna, Mt. St. Helen's and the Icelandic volcanoes, but by a slow and almost continuous seeping of magma from a hot spot below the Earth's crust. This hot spot sits in the middle of the Pacific tectonic plate, rather than at the edge of one, and the plate actually moves over it. The heated magma burns a hole in the plate and then bubbles or spews out to form lava cones. These cones eventually break the surface of the ocean and become volcanic islands. When the magma flow ebbs, the hot spot cools off a bit and the island literally breaks away from it, staying attached to the ocean floor, and is taken away as the tectonic plate shifts. When the magma heats up enough, the cycle starts again and another island is formed.

The Pacific plate is moving at about 6 inches per year in a northwesterly direction, and this is why the Hawaiian islands are strung out the way they are. Kauai is the oldest of the large islands at about 5 million years, and The Big Island is the youngest at about 1 million years.

That being said, our first day here started with a trip to Volcanoes National Park to see THE active volcano, Kilauea, up close. The active crater that opened up with a sudden eruption in 2008, is called Halemaumau. This is the only continuously erupting volcano; you might recall that last fall there was an eruption that destroyed a number of homes and threatened a small town, but fortunately stopped only about a mile short. Harvey showed a National Parks documentary on the last ten years' or so of Kilauea's history; it is amazing to see close up how geologically active the Earth still is. It was even more amazing to stand at the edge of Kilauea and watch her spew gases. If we had been there in the evening, we would have seen the active crater glow red from the extreme heat.

The gases rising from the active Halemaumau crater

Anybody who's been around for a while knows where this came from!
They were trying to figure out where to do this pose - on
top of a volcano seemed a good spot!

This area glows red at night.

At the side of the road - steam vents from the active
area.

Our next stop was at the Thurston Lava Tube. These tubes are created when a thick portion of the top crust of a lava flow cools faster than what is underneath, and becomes a tunnel. The flow of lava peters out eventually, and instead of blocking up the tunnel, it leaves a tube behind.

Did we mention that it was raining, again, when we got to Hilo and the bus? Fortunately, the rain stopped while we were at the Kilauea summit, but it started again just as we arrived at the lava tube. Now, this wasn't the first rain they had had on Hawai'i this week; the weather here was pretty much the same as everywhere else in the state. We all pulled on our rain gear (in most cases a green plastic poncho from the local tour company), and headed out. What nobody told us was just how porous lava is! We thought we would at least be dry as we made our way through this 400 foot long tunnel...but, no, it was probably wetter inside than it was outside! Barb has some photos from inside, but, suffice it to say that some of the puddles were so big that nobody got out the other end with dry feet!! We spent so much time watching our steps that we couldn't really take in the sheer size of the tube.

The forest leading up to the lava tube

The tube entrance. See how our rain ponchos match
the colour of the foliage?

Outside again.

Of course, once we got back on the bus it stopped raining - again. Our next stop was at the black sand beach at Punaluu, also famous for the Green Sea Turtles that like to bask there in the sun. Because the beach is made from lava that flowed all the way into the sea and was then crushed against the shore, it has a different consistency. It is smooth instead of sharp and if you pick some up in your hand it will all fall through your fingers without sticking, unlike regular beach sand.

We did come across two sea turtles who barely blinked an eye at the people wandering around them.

At the beach. One wouldn't think a warning would
be necessary...

The sea turtles

The puahoehoe lava - smooth rather than
sharp and rocky - that flowed in this area

We finally reached the resort in the later afternoon, during yet another downpour. This one came with lightning out over the ocean as well. We felt lucky to have been able to get dinner at all, since the main restaurant in the resort included outside tables, and the rain had rendered them unusable for the evening. Not having a reservation was a difficulty, but we ultimately were able to sit down for a meal.

The next morning, Harvey took us to the Kona Coffee Living History Museum. It was here where we learned about the history of the particular type of coffee grown on Hawai'i and particularly in the Kona area. Kona Coffee farms were originally established by Japanese immigrants when they arrived in Hawai'i in the 1800s. One couple who ran a farm for many, many years donated their homestead to be used as a living museum when they retired. He has since passed away, but his wife, who will be turning 101 soon, now lives on Oahu. She had continued to run the homestead on the farm in the traditional way until 1996.

The coffee plants. Red berries are ready to pick

By the cleaning and drying shed

The homestead

Drying the washed beans on the shed roof before roasting.

Old fashioned harvesting equipment. The ladder was used to
reach the high areas, and the little children were given tin
cans to collect any berries that fell on the ground. Kona coffee is
entirely hand-picked and processed.

They grew lots of other things here, too. This is a
baby pineapple plant.

This gentleman was showing us how the beans were roasted.
He owns a few acres and with some staff produces some
Kona coffee. He is also about 91 years old - something
none of us could ever believe.

The kitchen in the homestead. Very traditional with no
modern gadgets. The last owner of the house worked
this kitchen in this way until only 20 years ago.

We can't close the post without a few photos from around our resort - the Sheraton at Keahou Bay. It was a very nice resort but not close to very many things if you wanted to go off-site for shopping or a meal. Kailua-Kona is the closest town, about 20 minutes by hotel shuttle. But it was a lot quieter than Waikiki!

The resort from the road to Kona

Setting up for a private luau for a convention group. Looking
rather ominous in the distance...and it did start to rain.
We were also supposed to have a luau that night but ours was
cancelled because there wouldn't be enough room if both
events had to be moved inside. Our luau would now be
on Maui.