Hawaii!

Mountains, lava fields, the beautiful South Pacific, volcanoes, black sand beaches, history, royalty, green sea turtles, pineapples, coffee, macadamia nuts, the friendliest people in the US, feral chickens and goats, and more – that’s Hawaii!

The Hawaiian Islands have to be among the most beautiful tropical islands in the world.   Compared to the island of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, the Spanish island of Madeira, the Canary Islands, Aruba, Tahiti, Fiji, and even remote islands like Tobago and the San Blas islands near Central America, the islands of Hawaii outshine them all.  Born millions of years ago nearly all Polynesian Islands were formed as a result of oceanic volcanoes spewing molten lava up to the surface as tectonic plates disturbed core hot spots as they moved across the earth’s sea crust.  Millions of years of erosion created rich soil that now supports lush, green plant life on islands like Maui and Kauai.  Yet the Big Island is still black with ropey lava.  The collection of Hawaiian Islands was formed in a magical way to make them after eons and eons, they are a true paradise on earth.

While volcanic action has calmed down since those chaotic times 400 million years ago, five volcanoes are considered active today.  Of those two, only two have erupted in recent years, Mona Loa in Hawaii in 2017 and Kilauea in 2022.

Landscapes on the Big Island sometimes have nothing but brown lava streams and black fields of lava.  It’s a very desperate-looking landscape.  In some places, the lava is chunky and rough like a broken asphalt field.  Brown-colored flows indicate older fields that are just beginning to support plant life adapted to surviving in dry, porous lava.  The black fields are newer and still hostile to most kinds of plant life.

On Hawaii’s north coast, feral goats roam here and there.  They love to position themselves on a high rock.  These guys were given to Hawaii as a gift but they soon took over.  They thrived and multiplied and ultimately became a nuisance, eating native plant life to the point of extinction.  When native plant life becomes extinct so do native insects and animals.  At one point there were as many as 1500 goats in Volcano National Park.  While we saw them fairly often as we drove the highways of Big Island Hawaii, a program put in place by the Hawaiian government reduced their population.  Only about 100 still live in the park.

We spent five days in Kona, such a happy and lovely spot.  We snorkeled in the city’s state park, just two miles from our resort, and explored the southern coast to South Point, the most southern location in all of the United States, and drove north to Waimea.

Snorkeling in Kona is the easiest anyone can ever do.  We rented snorkel gear, walked out on the lovely shore at Kahalu’u Beach Park, and swam out to find schools of yellow fish, parrot fish, black spiny sea urchins, and more.  Stan captured some incredible photos.  It was so much fun; we saved our gear and did a repeat performance the next morning before our 24-hour rental expired.

Just a word about South Point.  A long, squiggly road from Kona will get you there at South Point.  It is the most southern spot in all of the United States.  We just wanted to say we’d been there.  On the day we went there, we just took out; it was an impromptu drive.  The day was so thick with clouds and mist that we could hardly see the ocean just to our right.  It was rather disappointing.  Because this was not a planned trip, we left town without lunch and there were few options along the way.  At the turnoff to South Point, a hot dog stand, Big Dog’s Hot Dogs, stood on a pull-off along the road.  Some of those narrow, colorful stand-up flags pointed us to it.  We decided to have one.  The young dad running the place has a thriving business going on!  A steady stream of hungry customers came his way.  He made each order one at a time, grilling a locally made sausage or a Kirkland’s hot dog and a freshly baked sweet bread bun from a bakery down the road.  The grilled sandwich was then loaded up with each guest’s specifications of Hawaiian onion he chopped before our eyes, relish, mustard, and any number of other accouterments one might choose.  Mine had only extra mustard and extra onion.  Stan and I agreed these were the best hot dogs we have ever had!  It made our cloudy trip worth the effort.

Onward we went to South Point.  The wind was ferocious at this amazing place.  The seas were rough and powerful; the scene was monumental.  We walked across the black lava field to cliffs overlooking the crashing waters.  Men were fishing off the high coast hoping to catch marlin or just snag enough bait fish to try for marlin again tomorrow.  Nearby were the 40-foot cliffs where adrenalin junkies and otherwise crazy people dive from at more calm times. 

After five days in Kona, we moved to Hilo located on the northeast side of Hawaii.  This place is wet.  It rains almost every day.  Stan and I came to Hilo to see volcanoes and we did at Volcano National Park.  No, there was no red lava flowing.  Had there been we would have been evacuated.  We did see, however, the eerie, staggering sight of steam rising from deep within the earth here then there, and beyond.  Someday this place is going to blow again.  We saw both Kilauea and Mona Loa.  What we learned is that a volcano is not necessarily a conical mountain with one gigantic crater.  No, Kilauea is a mountain but there are many craters.  It can blow here and centuries later, blow there.  Powerful!

Folks, here is a truth. . . . We are a busy bunch.  We go to school and work, do some shopping, take care of babies, rear our kids and so much more.  We live our lives all wrapped up in our stuff.  But just remind yourself, we live on a hot ball of molten rock.  Earth was created with a red-hot center and that silent but monstrous center boils underneath us today.