Today we decided to go to see the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
We left at 7am from Kona seaside hotel and returned back to hotel at 8.00pm. It was a long, exciting and tiring day. The day was not too hot but not comfortably cool either. We saw various types of volcanic rocks and black volcanic sand; we saw lava formations in vast areas; we saw deep craters of old volcanoes; we saw the devastation of the hot lava turning a place full of trees and plants into a black empty land where only recently have a few plants started growing. I will upload the photos soon.
some tips I must share:
It's 30-00 for a car to enter the park and the ticket is valid for 7 days. (You can get a pass to visit 3 national parks for 55-00$. I wish we had done that!)
carry plenty of water as your body dries up when you wander around in the heat.
when you return even as early as 7.30 to Kona, you will find that the restaurants have shut down and no food to eat! I don't know if they had shut as it was a Sunday or if Kona shuts down early and visitors are left stranded without food if they want to dine after 8pm. The few restaurants which were open after 8pm did not have vegetarian fare for my husband and we ended up buying some fruit for him in a grocery store which had not yet shut down. Another tip is that one has to search for vegetarian food as it's a bit difficult to get hold of...for our type of taste.
Here are a few photos.
Above are the cliffs by the Pacific ocean we drove by to visit Hawaii volcanoes national park. There were many spots we could stop and enjoy spectacular scenic views.
Above are vents in the earth from which hot steam rises from the earth. At one place, it was so hot, we had to stay back! The heat from the steam did not kill the plants. There were plenty of ferns and algae and other plants growing around and in these vents as you can see below!
We walked round and at the top of the rim of this enormous crsater caused by an earthquake. The crater was deep and huge! we took a while to complete the walk round the crater and walk down to see the crater. Some people were walking across the crater and looked like tiny ants to us from above.
Above is a lava tube we walked through. A lava tube is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. Tubes can drain lava from a volcano during an eruption or can be extinct meaning the lava flow has ceased, and the rock has cooled and left a long cave...from wikipedia. It was like a long underground cave tunnel, lit by dim lights and this one was called the Thurston tube. We were lucky to be able to walk through this...as this had been closed for over 2 years and had opened up just 3 days ago! Apparently there are tubes which are miles long!
We walked for over an hour in a lava field. Here are photos of the lava, now hardened rock. You can see the pattern of the flow of lava in these formations. The whole area was black with few plants growing here and there. It was empty and it was lovely to be there...no people, no animals or birds. Just a few plants, blue sky with white clouds above and black rock and soil as far as the eye could see.
Below you can see the thick blob of lava ending in an enormous thick drop! It's surrounded by black soil. The entire Big Island seems to have black soil and black rocks...that means the Big Island was literally made and born from the bowels of the Earth! It's an island which has ACTIVE volcanoes and lava flows as recently as a few decades ago. I heard a guide describing a volcano eruption which happened a few decades ago and people coming to see the activity.
Above...these are footprints of people (or one person)who fled the lava. about 300 years ago. These footprints have hardened in the rock! They have been preserved under a glass box for visitors to see. I wonder if the person survived after walking barefoot on this molten lava?
We left at 7am from Kona seaside hotel and returned back to hotel at 8.00pm. It was a long, exciting and tiring day. The day was not too hot but not comfortably cool either. We saw various types of volcanic rocks and black volcanic sand; we saw lava formations in vast areas; we saw deep craters of old volcanoes; we saw the devastation of the hot lava turning a place full of trees and plants into a black empty land where only recently have a few plants started growing. I will upload the photos soon.
some tips I must share:
It's 30-00 for a car to enter the park and the ticket is valid for 7 days. (You can get a pass to visit 3 national parks for 55-00$. I wish we had done that!)
carry plenty of water as your body dries up when you wander around in the heat.
when you return even as early as 7.30 to Kona, you will find that the restaurants have shut down and no food to eat! I don't know if they had shut as it was a Sunday or if Kona shuts down early and visitors are left stranded without food if they want to dine after 8pm. The few restaurants which were open after 8pm did not have vegetarian fare for my husband and we ended up buying some fruit for him in a grocery store which had not yet shut down. Another tip is that one has to search for vegetarian food as it's a bit difficult to get hold of...for our type of taste.
Here are a few photos.
We walked for over an hour in a lava field. Here are photos of the lava, now hardened rock. You can see the pattern of the flow of lava in these formations. The whole area was black with few plants growing here and there. It was empty and it was lovely to be there...no people, no animals or birds. Just a few plants, blue sky with white clouds above and black rock and soil as far as the eye could see.
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