Saturday, February 2, 2013

Blog Number Two


Alright so blog number two, here it goes…

Picking up where I left off, Day 4 in Hawaii. Day 4 might have been the best one yet. We started off with breakfast at the military camp and immediately when on one of the most amazing hikes I have ever been on. We started off along the “Crater Rim Trail” at Volcanoes National Park. As we walked, steam lined the trail coming from vents in the Earth. It was almost like walking through a sauna. It’s a shame looking that pictures can’t capture the vast beauty of looking out over a volcanic crater, probably 1000 feet deep and miles long and wide.

We took a little break at the Visitor Center to learn a little bit about volcanoes and lava and such and then progressed down another trail even more beautiful than the first. As we walked, the active Kilauea volcano (hasn’t erupted since 1984) was visible in the immediate distance. Again, pictures can’t do the view justice. The trail descended into a lava tube (which is basically a cave that was formed by lava) and all of a sudden, we were in the middle of a rain forest.

After the hike and a couple hours of free time, we had a cultural presentation by a Hawaiian couple who educated us about the goddess Pele (the chief deity of the Hawaiian culture), Hawaiian instruments, and Hawaiian dance. We participated in playing music and followed along with some hula dance moves (which I learned that all hula moves have a meaning). The beauty and tranquility of the couple playing music and singing was very striking and it is really characteristic of Hawaiian culture. We actually learned that when explorers arrived in Hawaii for the first time, the Hawaiian queen actually conceded all of the islands because that’s what she thought would be safest for her people. Afterwards, we had dinner and class for a couple hours and after reading a bit, passed out.

Day 5: We got picked up by a coach at the military camp and went to the black sand beaches to see sea turtles. We only saw one, but it was still a pretty cool sight. Our next stop was a five mile round trip hike along the coast to the green sand beaches (one of only two in the world, the other is in the Galapagos Islands) and to the southern most point of the United States. We had a picnic lunch on the beach and got caught in the rain (which has been characteristic of the trip) on the way back to the bus. We made one more stop at the place where Captain Cook landed in Hawaii (and where he was killed) with dramatic scenery. Steep mountains lined the coast because when tectonic activity happens, earthquakes will actually push sides of the mountain into the water.

The bus finally took us into Kona, which is the tourist part of the Big Island. Of course, since we’ve been here it’s rained a bunch and they haven’t had rain in eighteen months. Upon arriving at the Kona Seaside Hotel, we were relieved of the itinerary and given the night off to go into Kona. We ate dinner at a good seafood restaurant and walked around for a couple hours and then came back to the hotel. Although I had the intention of getting some work done, I sat in the hotel lobby with my laptop open and talked instead of getting any reading done.

Day 6: In the morning, we listened to a presentation about conservation and alternative energy at the National Energy Laboratory Hawaii Authority (pretty boring, not gonna lie) and came back to the hotel before getting turned loose for a few hours of free time. At 4 pm, we departed for Mauna Kea at an elevation of 9000 feet. Who would’ve thought there was sub-freezing weather in Hawaii? Unfortunately, the sky was pretty cloudy, but we saw some stars for a little and we got to look through a telescope to see the rings of Jupiter.

Day 7: We got up, ate breakfast, and hopped on the coach to take a tour of a Kona coffee plantation, which was pretty interesting, even though I’m not a coffee drinker. Afterwards, we had a couple hours free time to grab lunch in the city of Kona and then took a tour of the palace that all the Hawaiian monarchs before Hawaii became a US territory. Those monarchs definitely had it pretty good in an 1800s style New England home right on the coastline. Later on, we had a couple hours of class and were turned loose to study and work a couple of 250 word essays due on Saturday.

Today, we got up early to depart for our sea-kayaking and snorkeling trip. We got to the place around 9 and headed out of the harbor. We attempted to find some whales to see if they would come get close to us. Though that didn’t happen, if we went a few feet underwater, we could hear their noises as they communicated with one another. The next stop was to attempt to cliff jump. We kayaked toward some cliffs and few of got out of the boat to swim to shore. I was actually ten feet away from the climbable part of the cliff before 15 foot swells started slamming into the side of the cliffs. The guide decided it would be unsafe to swim any further, but it was sort of fun bobbing up and down in such large waves. Afterwards, we went to snorkel before wrapping up the expedition. We got back to the hotel to hang out for a little/work more on the essays before having class for an hour or so before having our last-night-in-Hawaii-dinner with the whole group and with our instructors who will be departing tomorrow. As always, we came back to the hotel to work on schoolwork, but thank God I sit here now having finished all of my work for Hawaii with a little bit of time to relax before going to bed.

This will be my last update from Hawaii before heading off to Australia. Saturday, we get to have nice a 24-hour travel day (3 hours early for our flight, 1 hour to Honolulu, 3 hour layover, 9 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand, 4 hour layover, 4 hour flight to Brisbane, Australia…check my math if you feel so compelled) and in fact, it will technically be Monday when we arrive. So that’s something to look forward to. Stay tuned for updates from Australia!


Cool view at the point where Captain Cook landed in Hawaii
Me Standing In Front of the Lava Tube

Looking Toward the Volcano

Lava Steam Vents

Ancient Hawaiian Carvings

Green Sand Beaches

Black Sand Beaches


View along the Crater Rim Trail

1 comment:

  1. Sure nice you have this blog as there is no other way you could possibily remember all the places you've been, what you've seen and what you've experienced! NEAT!!

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