Let’s Go to the Movies Together!

Grab some popcorn and check out the movie that my husband made featuring Pu’uhonua o Honaunau off the coast of Kona, and Volcanoes National Park!

Feature Film of Hawaii

Hope that you enjoy this video with sea life and Kilauea!

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Kilauea Iki – Part IV

The next part of our tour of the Volcanoes National Park took us to the caldera known as Kilauea Iki. This part of the volcano is a pit crater. It was in August of 1959 that a swarm of earthquakes occurred and a new cinder cone formed. They named this cone Puʻu Puaʻi, which translates to “gushing hill.” We were walking on a trail leading up to the crater pit marveling at the greenery, when it opened up to this view!

First View of Kilauea Iki

We were standing so high above the caldera here and the view was breathtaking. There is a dark shelf at the bottom of the cone and this is where the lava gushed back in 1959. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, then look at the bottom right corner you will actually see people on the caldera floor where the gusher occurred!

Pit Crater of Kilauea Iki

Here they are as close up as I could get them!

The floor of Kilauea Iki

Next is a close up view of the dome.

The top of the dome

And finally a panoramic view of the whole caldera.

Panoramic of Kilauea Iki

As we walked away from the caldera we noticed alongside the trail these dark spots. It turns out they are what I call rifts that drop down to who knows how deep. In one area we noticed hot air coming from below.

A rift

We next head off to the Jagger museum and along the way find the steam vents. Stay tuned!

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Thurston Lava Tubes – Part III

Inside the rainforest of Volcanoes National Park is the Thurston Lava Tube. I was so excited that I would have the opportunity to walk where lava once flowed. The tubes are actual pathways where lava rapidly flows under the surface of a lava flow. As the lava cools it leaves a tube like the one we are going to shortly enter!

The pathway leading down to the lava tube

We walked down through the damp rain forest, amid the giant fern, and moss covered rocks, when we came to the entrance of the Thurston Lava Tube.

Entrance to the lava tube

The side wall at the entrance was dripping with water and covered in greenery!

Sidewall of the entrance

We enter the tube.

A bit of perspective

It was “raining” inside the tube as we walked along. The rain was water filtering down through the lava rock above us.

Looking up in the tube

Midway through the tube

The walk through the tube takes about 15 minutes. We approach the exit of the tube, which extended further than travelers are allowed to go.

The exit

Stay tuned as the next leg of this trip will take us to Kilauea Iki Overlook!

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Fiddlesticks! Volcanoes National Park – Part II

When we left off, we were at one area of the park where were got our first view of Kilauea! It was amazing! We left there and found ourselves at the Thurston Lava Tubes. The area: A rainforest!

We found ourselves feeling like Alice did in Alice in Wonderland, finding ourselves as tiny creatures amongst the biggest ferns I think I have ever seen.

A perspective on the size of the plants

My husband is in this photo on the bottom left corner. The fern emerges directly opposite him!

Fiddlesticks? The emerging fern leaves are called fiddles, and were were amongst some of the biggest I have ever seen!

One big fiddle!

These ferns were so amazing, and I took loads of photos!

A glorious fern fiddle

The center of a giant fern

Up close and personal

The colors are quite amazing as these things open up.

The fiddles as it opens

The red in the leaves of the ferns was used by the earlier Hawaiians as a dye.

Newly opened fern leaf

I hope that you enjoyed these ferns as much as I did! They are part of the rainforest here surrounds that surrounds the Thurston Lava Tube where we will head in Part III!

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Volcanoes National Park – Part 1

There is so much to see of Kilauea, that I decided to break this down into parts. So this is part 1 of our journey through the Volcanoes National Park!

Entrance to the park

Our first stop took us down a trail that leads to the one of the viewing areas of Kilauea.

On the way to see the Kilauea caldera

We walk around a corner of the trail and there she is: Kilauea!

First view of Kilauea

The opening to the is pretty big, so I took a couple of photos and stitched them together. I used my zoom lens for this shot. Be sure to click on the photo to see the details in this panoramic view.

Kilauea

My favorite author, Mark Twain, visited the volcanoes. There is a plaque that takes an excerpt from his book “Roughing It.”

Mark Twain was here

What is really interesting is watching how the sulfur plume changes.

The sulfur that pours out is continually changing

The smoke thickens

Next we head towards the Thurston tubes, which is a tube that lava once traveled through! So, stay tuned!

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Life in the Hawaiian Foothills…

This week, the Sierra Foothills is moving to the Foothills on the Island of Hawaii for a much needed vacation! Would you like to see what a lava tube looks like? Or, what it would be like to be on the deck of a fishing boat fishing in the deep sea off the Island of Hawaii? Have you ever wondered what the coral reefs look like close up? How about the fluorescent blue, hot pink, fluorescent green gecko right in your face? What about coffee plantations and where King Kamehameha lived?

How about taking a trip with me and my husband to the Island of Hawaii? Interested?

771px-Hawaje-NoRedLine

Tune in as I will be doing a daily blog and hopefully the internet connection will work with me!

Our base camp will be in Kailua-Kona.

Hawaii National Parks Map

Kailua-Kona is on the eastern shore midway on the island.

I hope that you will join us on this journey, and that you will enjoy the trip as much as we do! So let us start the count down! The first blog on this Hawaiian adventure will be posted on Sunday, March 25th! See you then! Aloha!

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