Volcano Day

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The best thing about a bed and breakfast is…..the breakfast! It was served at 8:00 on the outdoor lanai, and yes, Jim did get up for it. We met the people staying in the other room, a young couple from Japan who were on their honeymoon. Now we really felt old! The highlight of Steve’s breakfast was the beautiful fruit platter. Some of the fruit he had just picked from trees in his yard. I tried it all, including the passion fruit and lychee. Steve came back after breakfast to answer any questions about Hawaii and to see if anyone needed any help planning their day. The Japanese couple had signed up for a tour to the Volcano. We were going to the Volcano, too, but on our own.

The Kilauea Volcano is the most active volcano in the world and has been erupting since 1983. The lava flow changed last year so it is no longer spewing dramatically into the ocean but is now slowly crawling over an inaccessible jungle area. So what we will see without a very long hike is the Kilauea Caldera or crater. We drove about 45 minutes out of town up the mountain, stopped quickly at the Visitor’ Centre, and continued on to the best viewing area. You can’t drive any further because the road has been closed due to high amounts of sulfur dioxide gas.

Of course, a picture can’t capture how big and dramatic it is. What you can see is steam coming up from the sunken lava lake. You need to come back after dark to see the red glow of the lava. At 5:00 we listened to a very interesting talk by a Park Ranger, and looked around a museum there with some cool displays, and of course, a gift shop. We left to go back to Volcano Village to get some dinner and then come back after dark. On the way we stopped to see some steam vents, basically just holes in the ground with steam coming out. We really are over a hot spot in the earth!

 

We ate at a busy little place called Lava Rock Café. They had some live music, two Hawaiian ladies with one playing the ukulele. Nice harmony--they even had a couple of Christian choruses in their repertoire. We ran into the family who sat across from us at the luau 2 nights ago on the other side of the island.

 

We then drove back to the volcano lookout. It was cold and windy, but there were lots of people there. (We did have our long sleeves on this time.) It was a clear night with a full moon and the glow of the lava was other worldly. Back down the mountain to our bed and breakfast, we fell asleep to the loud serenade of the coqui frogs.