6 posts tagged “big island”
Here's the last shot that I'll share of Big Island. This is still down on the coast were the lava wiped out the road (and the Royal Gardens and a few other places). All of this lava in years will be eroded into (surpise) black sand. Chunks of it still break off and fall into the ocean, to be ground up into powder. The Hawaiian Island chain is moving northwestward a few inches a year, and though Kiloaea is still active, there's a new island being formed over the active lava vent. Lo'ihi is the next island, but we won't see her breach the surface for another few thousand years.
I drove that Chevy Malibu all over the island (btw, don't tell the rental company you're driving Saddle Road; it's safe, but they think that since it's primarily used for military vehicles that it's not suitable for cars... b.s.) we drove down the side of Kilaoea (I think) to the coast where the road ended. What caused it, I wonder?
We drove over Saddle Road, which takes you in between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the two large volcanos on Big Island (I just love the idea of driving between the two). I don't have any great shots of doing so (since I was yeehawing all the way across.. it's a blast if you can do it... and go from Kona to Hilo, not vice versa and not at night). On the Kona side of Big Island, it's basically desert like, with scrub brush everywhere. The Kona side is leeward of the volcanos, so it gets very little of the rain that Hilo (or the windward) side does. After cresting the ridge, we essentially drove down into a rainforest on the Hilo side. It was a blast to drive, if you're up for it. The downside is, it rained just about the whole time we spend on Hilo side. There are plenty of VNP shots, but not that many spectacular ones since they were obscured by the rain. We were unable to get to the Pu'u O'o vent (the current eruption location), but maybe another time. This is a shot as we wandered out of a lava tube to look for the car we parked....
Okay not another day, but you get the idea.
The black sand at Polo'lu is extremely fine and if you seen the surf that batters at this beach, you'd understand. Still, the water was crisp and cold that day.
This is a view of the ocean while we stayed in the Hilton at Waikoloa on Big Island. Sooo many palm trees....
