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This was once the protected
grounds for the Hawaiian royalty. |
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Prayer temple. |
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Boat house |
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The Royal landing. |
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Yes, that's the Watsons standing
on black sand.
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Beverly, Gail, Joe and Cynthia. |
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The tour
continued south along the shoreline alternatively passing through lush
vegetation and black cinder areas of recent (this century) lava flows. We
stopped to visit two green sea turtles resting on a black sand beach at
Punalu’u. The black sand is formed when a lava flow reaches the cold ocean
water and explodes into fine sand. |
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Halemaumau Caldera of the
Kilauea Volcano. |
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Our first
long stop was at the museum and restaurant of the Hawaii Volcanoes National
Park located just above the caldera of Kilauea Volcano. The scenery is
rugged, stark and moon like. The lava flows are so recent that little
vegetation has had any chance to take hold. We had a chance to hike to the
edge of the caldera for a VERY close view and to walk through an old lava
tube, formed when the surface of a lava flow cools and solidifies while the
underlying lava flows away. Quite an adventure!
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Joe counting heads prior to bus
departure. |
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Halemaumau Caldera of the
Kilauea Volcano. |
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Twenty
miles past Kilauea we were in a completely different climate. From the town
of Hilo north along the entire windward (east) coast of the Big Island there
is little but small towns, lush green vegetation, countless waterfalls and
grand views of the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is in the northeast trade wind
belt and the trade winds bring abundant rain to the north and east sides of
all the Hawaiian Islands. You don’t know what tropical means until you
experience the lush greenery this produces.
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Our stops
along this stretch of the road were mainly to visit water falls and for
refreshments - ice cream and the Portuguese equivalent of a donut, a “Malasada”,
which are about 700 calories of sugar and dough each.
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Our hotel sits on the site of
what was once the palace of King Kameamea. This was the way royalty
lived. |
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A modern resort, the Hilton
Waikoloa. |
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At the
small town of Honoka’a we turned inland and climbed to 3000 feet to pass
through the town of Waimea and the Parker Ranch, one of the largest cattle
ranches in the United States. Our scenery turned from lush tropical green
to pasture land and then to dry, black lava flows and rocks as we started
down the leeward (west) side of the Big Island. Our day ended as we drove
under a double rainbow entering the town of Kailua-Kona.
Parker Ranch...only 175,000
acres. Note trees shaped by the wind. |
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Parker Ranch. |
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The Southern most point of the
USA, the Big Island of Hawaii.
The group, augmented by Eliot Merk’s Mooney, departed Kailua-Kona Airport at
0900 for a flight to Kahalui airport (PHOG) on the Island of Maui. It is a
short flight if you go direct but we opted for the 240nm scenic route
counterclockwise around the Big Island. This gave us the opportunity to see
from the air what we had seen from the ground two days before, and then
some. We flew over South Point, which is the southern most point of both
Hawaii and the United States. Next in order was a flyover of the spot where
the active lava from Kilauea Volcano is entering the ocean. |
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Gail and Shirley in the Arrow. |
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Joe is also a CFII and ATP. |
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Old trace of lava flow. |
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Lava meets the Pacific. |
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The
locals call the Island of Hawaii the “Big Island” since it is over twice a
big as all the other Hawaiian Islands combined. We soon learned it is
getting bigger every day. The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic, formed as the
Pacific tectonic plate moves northwest over a hot spot in the earth’s
mantel. Five volcanoes form the Big Island. Two, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa,
are over 13,000 feet above sea level. One, Kilauea, is currently over the
hot spot and very much active. |
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As we passed Hilo we went over or under a ten mile stretch of the only
clouds we encountered on the trip. Note observatories atop Moana Kea. |
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After that it was smooth flying in blue skies up the windward coast of the
Big Island for an aerial view of the beautiful waterfalls and green valleys
and cliffs of the Hamakua Coast. |
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