I came to Hawaii to dive
but it never came to pass. The trade winds have been restless, the sea swelling
in revolt. Instead I stole away with Nui Pohaku Adventure Tours and went on an
amazing 15-hour excursion to the active volcano, Kilauea in the Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park - it's over 300,000 acres.
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| Mauna Loa at Sunrise |
As the black curtain of night lifted we were gifted with
a magnificent sunrise over Mauna Loa. A long, gentle sloping volcano her total
height exceeds Everest by nearly a mile.
Breakfast was at the Southern most bakery in the USA: the
Punalu'u Bakeshop. They are famous for their Malasadas, deep-fried dough
covered in sugar and injected with cream, chocolate or my favorite, guava.
Indulge. They are worth every last calorie.
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| Sweet Breads |
Once
in the park we went to the summit of Kilauea and observed Halema'uma'u Crater
that has a boiling lava lake at its center. The VOG (volcanic fog) was blowing north
so we had breathtaking views of the island's other volcanoes including Mauna
Kea, the tallest mountain in the world.
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| Halema'uma'u Crater |
We followed the crater trail through a rain forest that
was full of lava tubes, one we even were able to walk through and others hidden
below the rain forest floor with dangerous 'sky lights' that many people fall
through each year.
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| Thurston Lava Tube |
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| Dangerous Skylight |
We walked across a massive lava field that buried a town
(160 feet below) back in 1960. Finally we ended up at the sea where the lava at
2100 degrees met the sea at 70 degrees, causing it to shatter leaving behind a
beautiful black sand beach.
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| Black Sand Beach being reforested with coconut trees |
The day was full of interesting bird and plant species,
to see wild orchids grow freely in a field was glorious.
As spectacular as Mother Nature's exhibits were though, the
best part of the tour was the company. There were four of us on the expedition,
an engaging eye surgeon and his wife from Calgary and another Melissa from
Australia. Our tour guides, Pat and Tyler filled our minds with a buffet of facts,
folklore and an ever so tantalizing peak into what it means to live in
paradise. Tyler was born and raised here. Living in the path of a volcano that
can boil over at any moment is what keeps the locals unmaterialistic and
focused on their true wealth: family and friends. Pat lives in a tent on a plot
of land she is clearing by hand where she will one day build her dream tree
house. She has no electricity or running water and she's in no rush.
We shared lots of laughs and at the end of the day a
great meal in a tiny pocket of the island at the end of a dead end street at
Uncle Robert's beach shack - and a shack it was. After continually fishing tiny
flies out of their wine, the couple finally surrendered, accepting the protein
as added nutrition. The meal was simple: veggie burgers and salad, the taste,
however, was almost as magnificent as the sunset before us. The veggie burger
was chock a block of rich flavors but the real treat was the freshly baked bun
that housed it. A well-fed gecko inconspicuously eyed our plates from the
ceiling above our table. Desert was ice cream made in Maui.
After dinner Tyler brought us back to the Halema'uma'u
Crater where our tour began only this time the lava lake glowed orange. Above
us the equator's window to the universe shone bright with both Northern and
Southern constellations.
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| Halema'uma'u Crater at night |
By the end of the day we had covered nearly 700 miles
safely in the hands of our gracious guides. As for scuba diving, there's always next time!
©Melissa J. Haynes, Author and Conservationist
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