Well today started at 3am. That is the time we first woke up. Probably because it was 8am at home. We tried for over an hour to go back to sleep but just couldn't. We finally decided to get up and then take a nap later. The nap really never came but we had a fabulous day to say the least. We left our cottage around 8am, Hawaii time with lots of time to relax and just enjoy being on vacation before we left the cottage. It was awesome as it felt like we had two days in one. We drove to a black sand beach that I had read about. It was not really one for swimming as the currents were rough and the rocks dangerous but we decided to check it out. We sat and ate our lunch overlooking the ocean crashing against the rocks. Pictures just don't do any of our sites justice.
 |
| Some of the lush parts of the island. Ironically on the other side of the road is a lava rock dessert. |
If you turn yourself around when watching this mountain you will see the ocean from above. Such contrast - breathtaking.  |
| Sea urchins in this little title pool of water. |
 |
| In these pictures the most beautiful partis the color difference in the water. It doesn't show up the same as in real life. Light blue, dark blue and turquoise. Nor do you get the sound of the wind and the waves. Still beautiful though. |
Us on the black sandbeach |
| It is amazing how the lava took different forms when it cooled. This one is wavy and almost looks like frosting that has been spread. |
We were about 15 feet away from the turtles.
The noise from the crashing waves was enormously loud and the waves mesmerizing. You could sit here and forget that the rest of the world even existed. |
| A lava rock dessert. This went on for as far as your eyes could see. |
We went exploring and found these coves that the water came into. We quickly understood why they suggest you do not swim here. Even the best swimmer couldn't fight the waves pushing them into the rocks. |
| You can't really tell here but the rocks have formed a small cave. |
 |
| The wind and the water splashing on us made us forget that we were out in the sun. It was so nice and cool. We each got a little sunburn. Thank heavens we tanned before we went or we would be red as lobsters after a steam bath. |
After the black sand beach we ventured out to the base of a volcano to see the old lava flow area. This hardened lava went on for miles and miles as far as you could see. There is a vent of some kind where steam just pores out a couple miles up from here. Our original plan was to hike up to there but we decided against it. This lava was from an eruption in January 2011. The lava is considered young and unstable. Although seems really hard there are pockets of air trapped in places that prevent safe venturing. If we hit one of these pockets one can fall a couple of inches or many, many feet. Traveling on this young lava and getting too close to the gases escaping the volcanoes is how most people now die or are seriously injured from volcanoes here. As much fun as we are having we just decided it was too large of a risk. We will enjoy every second here but want to return home. As cool as it was, just not worth it. Many helicopters were circling over head so we hope we will be able to get up closer that way in a few days. In this spot there used to be hundreds of homes. Then in 1990 a volcano to the right erupted and wiped everything out. Since then the government build a road through the middle of it so you get closer to see the volcano and venting. However, then in 2011 the lava flow started again and covered the road and much of the first lava. The 2 year old lava is the stuff that is unstable. The devastation is unbelievable. Some small plants are starting to grow in the 1990 hardened lava but the 2011 hardened lava has no sign of life whatsoever.
No comments:
Post a Comment