We went to bed early that first night. A combination of all-day travel and being on California time made us exhausted beyond words. But being on West Coast time had us up early too so we took advantage of our early rising and headed to Volcano National Park. We wanted to catch the sunrise but due to cloudy conditions, it really wasn't that exciting. What was exciting was seeing the glow of Hakma'uma'u crater from the Jagger Museum. Believed to be the home of Hawaii's volcano goddess, Pele, it was amazing to behold. The overcast conditions enhanced the glow and because we were there before 6am, the park was almost empty.
The sunrise behind the clouds
From the Jagger Museum spot, we could see the steam rising from several vents along the ridge.
Here's Tom with our sweet ride for the week. We put that car through the ringer.
As we headed down the road, we stopped to take a closer look at the steam vents.
They were hot, wet and stinky.
It was amazing to feel the heat from so deep in the earth. The kids mostly thought it smelled bad.
A rainbow and the plume of the crater.
More steam.
We then started down a lush trail to check out the Sulphur Banks.
Stinky, colorful earth.
I read later that the walk isn't recommended for the elderly, people with heart conditions or small children because of the sulphuric fumes. Oops.
Mauna Loa in the distance. I read
this interesting article about scientist living in a dome on Mauna Loa to simulate living on Mars. They recently
emerged.
When we got back from our morning adventure at the volcano, Tom and I were awestruck by what we had experienced. Leo, on the other hand, was in tears because he thought we were going to be on the beach once we got to Hawaii and Serafina declared "Hawaii is boring". It wasn't even 9am and things were looking grim so we decided to make our way to the coast to satisfy the kids' itch for the ocean. Tom and I were happy to explore this part of the island too. So we prepped for the day and headed to Puna (an east coast area of the island). We first headed to Pahoa Town in search of natural swimming pools. We headed down an unpaved, jungle road. It was beautiful and hot and humid. It was also full of private property and we weren't able to gain access to the coast. It was frustrating but we pressed on to find the Kapoho tide pools. We didn't have proper snorkel gear but the kids had their goggles and they didn't hesitate one bit.
Off she goes.
My mermaid.
Leo on the sea wall between the tide pools and the ocean.
Don't worry. Tom was close by.
We were so impressed by their adventurous, brave spirits.
Next we went to Ahalanui Park. We got lucky with parking and a picnic spot (which would be a theme of the trip and made things a lot easier). After lunch, we headed into the pool which is fed from the ocean and volcanically-heated streams. The water was warm with spots of cool ocean water and extra warm stream water. It was very fun for all of us.
Leo liked to hang out where the waves came into the pool.
We dried off in the grass and Serafina and my matching pedicures were still holding up at this point.
It was a long exhausting day, but we couldn't resist seeing the crater glowing at night. The drive wasn't far from our cottage so we headed out and it was very worth it. I don't really have the words to describe how incredible it is to see the glow of an active volcano from deep in the earth.
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