By James Allen
Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve
This park consists of 9000 acres. The land is set aside to protect unique
ecosystems including, chaparral, bunchgrass prairie, vernal pools and more than
200 species of native birds and 49 endangered, threatened or rare animal and
plant species, including mule deer, mountain lions, badgers, bobcats, western
pond turtles, white-tailed kites and fairy shrimp. Two species of fairy shrimp live in the
seasonal vernal pools on the Reserve, but only one is found here and nowhere
else on Earth. You can also walk to the
two oldest standing structures in Riverside County that once served as
bunkhouses for cowboys dating back to 1846.
Edge of
the World (a B&B)
This feels likes its name. The road to the
B&B is …interesting… twisty, turny and up/down narrow single lane
roads…great fun…. but the location is
stunning – 180 degree views of the Kona coast, in the middle of a coffee and
tropical fruit farm, the first impression is almost of a jungle clearing.
We headed to the beach by the Place of Refuge to watch
the sunset. The food was good, the
company excellent (obviously) but the clouds out to sea on the horizon meant
there was no ‘green flash’ that night.
Green flashes are nothing more than an optical effect that occur very,
very shortly after sunset, when a green ‘spot’ or ‘flash’ is visible, usually
for no more than a second or two, above where the sun disappears on the
horizon, or, more rarely, it may resemble a green ray shooting up from the
sunset point. A green flash is more likely
to be seen in stable, clear air, when more of the light from the setting sun
reaches the observer without being scattered - normally these are only seen in
the tropics. On one memorable occasion
Mara and I watched a sunset which had a very rare blue/purple flash.
Keolonahihi Park
This has only recently been opened and is a walk among
lava, to old ruins and the shore. A very
quiet area. As we approached the shore
it was clear that there were 4 or 5 green turtles (honu) in the shallows. Our friend Mary was surprised and said she had lived on
Oahu for a year and not seen turtles….
This was a hot day on the lava, so we headed into town to find a
Japanese restaurant owned by an aunt of one of Mary’s friends. A note here: everybody in Hawaii has an Auntie somewhere– it’s just the law. The food
was good and we were presented with a (large) tempura ice cream. Yes - deep (ish) fried ice cream…..
So we then headed to the snorkel beach. The place for those not so much water babies
as water phonics’. This suits us
fine. We ended up on the beach and Mara
offered to sit out the first round, so Mary and I headed into the water in
masks and flippers. There were some
rocks to get thru’ before hitting the water.
At this point it’s the sudden change from beach noise to heart beat that
you hear; along with some laboured breathing.
After a couple of seconds my eyes adjusted and I floated over the coral
and the multi-coloured fish feeding there.
There were yellow fish, zebra fish, silvery blue-ish fish, darker brown
fish, other fish and more fish. It is
easy to become mesmerised by the colours, the fish movements and your heart
beat.
Captain Cook and Kayaking
In Kealakekua Bay there is a monument to Captain Cook who was killed by
Hawaiians.It's complicated but he basically died as he couldn’t swim. One of
the nation’s greatest seafarers, he was attacked on shore after the native
Hawaiians decided he wasn’t a god. His
small boat was off shore and he was unable to swim to it, so he stayed on land
and was killed. A couple of days later a
few, small, parts of him were returned to his crew).
We hired a kayak and started across the bay. When we arrived we saw that there were
dolphins in the bay. here seemed to be two pods
(groups) of about 15 each. Travelling
together the dolphins moved across the bay with individual humps coming to the
surface, much like a merry-go-round. As
we sat amazed the spinner dolphins would jump (well swim fast) and leave the
water head first literally spinning in the air as they did so. We stopped moving and let the kayak drift,
watching as this went on around us. We
then realised that the deep snorting sound wasn’t me knackered from rowing, but
the dolphin’s; this was the sound of them blowing air and breathing in as they
moved thru’ to the water surface. We sat
enchanted watching and listening. The
sound of dolphins splashing back into the water mixed with the breathing was
incredible, as they passed around the kayak.
After a few minutes the dolphins moved away and a little later we
started after them. However they almost seemed
to be playing a game, as we arrived at where we had last seen them, they were
gone. Great fun, but tiring.
‘Place of Refuge’
National Park (or Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau in Hawaiian)
The park is home to some of the most significant
traditional Hawaiian sites in the Hawaii.
The place of refuge which is enclosed by the Great Wall, a massive 965
foot long lava rock wall the enclosed area that served as a sanctuary, in
ancient times, it served defeated warriors, non-combatants, and those who violated
the kapu (taboo or sacred laws); basically get here and your sins are washed
away. Today the area is still one of the
most sacred places to the Hawaiians. The
protected waters of the bay combined with the availability of water from fresh
(ish) springs provided the ideal location for the Ali'i (Hawaiian royalty) to
establish an important residential and ceremonial site nearby, in an area known
(today) as the Royal Grounds. For
several centuries, these Royal Grounds and adjacent areas formed one of the
primary religious and political centres in Hawaii.
South Point
The
southernmost place in the USA (no it’s not the Florida Keys…). This is a tongue of lava that extends south
by 12 miles – 12 miles that resemble in parts, Scotland & California. The point itself ends at some cliffs (15m) and
was very warm and windy, with a small group of guys & gals jumping into the
sea off the cliff, no, no, no… We
walked around the area and picked up grains of the green sand that makes the
area so interesting. The ‘sand’ is
Olivine, a mineral in lava that is heavier than lava. As the lava breaks down and is washed away
the green Olivine is left behind. A
little north, but with difficult access, is a whole green beach.
We continued on to where we used to live, the Punalu’u,
Black Sand Beach (Well… we didn’t actually live on the beach, more the apartments close to the beach….). The beach is black sand (ground up lava) and
has a couple of fresh (ish) water springs.
It’s also a location of choice for turtles to come ashore. There were about 4 on the beach and a couple
more in the water as we arrived. After
viewing the petroglyphs (rock carvings) we headed on towards the National Park.
Ka'u desert
Within the park, this is an area the gets
little rainfall and has sand, thus named the ‘Ka’u desert’. It’s here that in the 18th century
a group of Hawaiians were walking thru’ when their footprints were covered in a
fine layer of ash. These footprints
(well some of them) were encased and are still visible to today. So we started down the trial only to realise
that it had recently rained….in the desert!
The desert sand was damp! Anyway
an interesting walk, an interesting place, but we only saw the footprints that
have been protected by the park service.
Volcano village and the steam vents
So another short trip brought us into Volcano village,
where we had lunch before entering the park itself. After a brief stop at the visitors centre
(where we were disappointed to discover that no lava was entering the ocean at
present) we headed for the Steam Vents.
The Volcano’s National park is the only drive through
volcano in the world! The upper section
is around the large crater, while the lower section runs down the cliff to
where lava (sometimes) enters the sea.
The upper section has three craters inside of each other. The larger, older, crater is pretty much worn
away and only visible on one side. The
second is the more (blindingly) obvious and is approx. 2km wide and has cliffs
of up to 50m. Steam rises from the base
of the crater which is made of lava from many old flows. Finally there is a third crater approx. 200m
wide and 30m deep sitting in this crater floor.
This is the Helemaumau crater. Up
until about 5 years ago this was a just another crater which had steam
vents. Now it’s got a lava pool at the
bottom and a column of steam and ‘stuff’ that pours out like steam from a
kettle (sulphur dioxide (SO2) and sulphuric acid mainly – not a nice thing to
breath and so the crater rim drive encircling the main crater is closed for
half its length). The steam column is
approx. 200m high before being taken by the wind creating a plume miles long heading
out to sea; approx. 100 tonnes a day of
SO2 leaves the vent, nothing compared to the 2000 tonnes a day from the main
eruption further away.
The Big Island is made up of 5 volcanos; Hulailai and
Kohala are extinct and will never erupt again; Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea are both
dormant i.e. may erupt again and Kilauea which is still erupting (in two
places) and is currently the longest know eruption to man.
The steam vents we headed to sit on the top edge of the
second crater and the steam that comes from them is hot! While it sounds silly, it’s true; the steam
from the vents was unexpected hot (one night when we lived there we visited and
were met by a couple of guys using the steam vents to broil the fish caught
earlier in the day). Basically rainwater
that trickles down thru’ the rock to hot lava which then boils it like a
kettle. We followed these by walking
across to the sulphur banks. Basically
steam vents with sulphur (with nasty rotten egg smell – more SO2) that is in
the rocks and is leeched out by the steam.
At the vents the sulphur then crystallises on the rocks or twigs, giving
everything a yellow crust.
The Jagger observatory is
the closest and best viewing area for the lava pool – and as far along the
crater rim drive that’s possible (and safe).
There is no direct view of the lava pool, only the steam column. During the day the view of the column of steam
rising up into the air, it’s very impressive and gives a feeling of smallness
when we are compared to the earth……
So we then went over to the Thurston lava tube, set in
the dense Ohi’a rain forest – full of birds and rather wet. As molten lava flows down the side of the
mountain, the surface cools. The lava
then flows underground, through these self-made tubes. The distances that the lava travels are
extended since the tube's roof effectively insulates the molten lava, keeping
it fluid for a longer time. When the
eruption stops, lava drains from the tube, leaving it an open chamber. The often thin roof may collapse in time. The tube is very smooth and has lava ‘tide’
marks where the lava flowed thru’ at different heights and is approx. 10 feet
high (about 100m walkable).
There are 20 miles to the end of the Chain of Craters Road,
20 miles of lava and craters. This road
used to lead to a second park entrance.
However lava flows have covered the road, making it impassable. The sight of the road disappearing under lava
with the occasional road sign sticking out is awe inspiring. Indeed the location of the end of the road
has changed over time, since we were there 10 years ago another 2 miles of road
has been taken by lava…..
If you head back to the visitor observatory you may see a scene from Dante’s inferno….The column of steam was now orange,
lit from below by the lava pool the steam churned, soundlessly, in dim orange light
from the lava.
Lava Tree State Park
This is where in the past lava has flowed passed and
around trees. The trees have slowly
burnt away, while the lava has solidified – leaving hollow, upright, lava
tubes. The park contained nearly 100 of
these standing ‘lava trees’ in a beautiful tropical setting. With the sun shining the whole walk through the park is magical. Not far away is another of Hawaii’s famous
sites...
Akaka falls
These are the highest waterfall on the island at 422
feet (129 m) – apparently number 612 tallest in the world… The short trail gives amazing views of the
drop of the entire falls.
Dark in the Park
Talk
This talk, which we heard on our last visit, was by three authors, introducing their new
book, which highlights the increasing die off of the Ohi’a forests in Hawaii. This was first thought to be man-made, but
has now been identified as a natural process, as the trees deplete the
nutrients in the soil and natural cyclical process; however the introduced
species don’t help the recovery and could pose a problem for the Ohi’a forests
in the future.
At the end of the talk we headed once more to the
observatory to look at the glow. As we
pulled up and switched off the car engine, we got out of the car. As our eyes adjusted we looked up at the
heavens. The Milky Way covered the
sky. A carpet of stars, that as we
looked became clearer. We could see the
interstellar dust weaving thru’ the stars, almost like ivy tendrils. The looming Mauna Loa was lit from behind;
not by a town but we suspect the Zodiacal light (light reflected from the interstellar
dust). As we turned around the column of
steam from the lava pool was deeply orange with the steam being swept across
the sky. We looked at these natural
wonders before looking at each other. We both felt you only get one chance to
see such majesty and beauty together.
For us it will remain the one item of this trip that we
will never forget.
Laupahoehoe
This town was build down at the sea edge on a peninsula;
but on April 1st, 1946 three tsunamis washed in over town at 7:00am killing
many residents including 23 children and four teachers. The children had been
gathering fish deposited from the large, but not deadly, second wave on the
school grounds while the teachers were in their cabin changing back into dry clothes
when the final huge (some say 30 +feet high) wave hit. No one had noticed the water being sucked out
of the bay until it was too late. Only
two children and one teacher survived. They
remained in the water for 10 hours before people on the cliff could get a boat
to rescue them since all the local boats had been destroyed by the tsunami. Hilo suffered also - when you drive into Hilo
it has a huge green space along the ocean front. Actually these are areas destroyed by the
tsunami in 1946 and never rebuilt. Some
120 people died in Hilo that day.
Along the way to Honokaa you can divert to the Kalopa
State Recreation Area. This is a
botanical garden of Hawaiian plants, with many of the native plants maintained
in over 650 acres. A beautiful location that
bring to life the native wildlife.
Waipiʻo Valley
This is
beautiful lush valley that was once the playground of the Hawaiian royals. The Waipiʻo
Valley is a mile wide at the coastline and almost six miles long. Along the coast is a beautiful black sand
beach. Much of the valley was damaged by
the tsunamis of the 1800’s and 1940’s (If you have seen the Kevin Costner flop
Waterworld, Waipiʻo Valley was ‘dry land’). We walked a little way down the road, (it’s a
paved public road but it is open only to 4 wheel drive vehicles. If it were classified as a road, it would be
the steepest road of its length in the United States and possibly the world.
First published in VISA 113 (February 2014)
