We "LAVA" Hawaii!!!!

We "LAVA" Hawaii by Mrs. Grimes

Just when we thought we couldn't go any further, we arrived at South Point, the southern most point in the United States. It was here that the massive waves crashed against the shore. Just around the corner, it was said that waves reached 40 feet and would pull you under if you were standing on the rocks overlooking the ocean. Words nor pictures could explain the beauty of this place. Although we weren't soaking up the rays in our swimsuits relaxing, it was a gorgeous place to be. It seemed like the world stood still. 

We couldn't stay here forever, because there were many more places to visit and not enough hours in the day. We were off to the black sand beach known as Punalu'u. ( Wow, that was a tough one to spell.)  Here, we received a chemistry lesson from Dr. Bramlett,  dean of the math and science department at UAM. The black sand is made from iron silicate. As we walked up to the sand, a rather large sea turtle was basking in the sun on the shore. He was very friendly and allowed us to take pictures up close and personal. We were planning to bring some black sand, but it was prohibited. Just up the road, there was a green sand beach. We were not able to visit, but we did get a sample of green sand at a local restaurant. The green sand is made of magnesium silicate, or the mineral olivine. 

Conveniently located near the black sand beach was an amazing lunch stop. We ate at the southern most bakery in the United States. Here we sampled a new yummy treat for dessert. It was called a Malsada, a Portuguese doughnut. Faddie the Food Critic ( videos to come) found the strawberry filled delicacy to be wonderful. There were many flavors including guava, passionfruit, taro, and chocolate. These are not as sweet as a doughnut, but very filling. 

Because we had many things to do, we hopped  into our vans and headed to what we had been waiting for all week!!!! We were off to Volcano National Park. Our trip through the park had to change a little due to high 
levels of sulfur dioxide. We walked along the rim of the craters at Mt. Kilauea and saw steam  vents.  This was the main crater and lava would flow into the field and drain into the lava tubes ( resembling a straw like underground cave) heading into the Pacific Ocean. This is how Hawaii is growing, creating new land even today.

Our next stop was the Jagger Museum. This stop gave us a closer look at the crater. As we walked up to the front of the museum that overlooked the crater,  the steam was rising. We were able to share this with one of our MIS students, Zach Jones. We skyped with him allowing him to see exactly what we saw. Upon visiting with the park ranger, we learned that the lava flow was about 400-500 feet below the caldera. When asked how they knew this, he said they have a camera that took still photos every 15 minutes. While we were there, it showed the levels of lava were rising and the photo looked like the lava was active and bubbly. Tonight, they hoped the embers would glow and would light up the night sky. Man, we wished we would have been able to stay around to see this! 

The journey was not over yet. We kept driving along on the coast of the ocean to a lava field. This was one of our coolest stops of the day. It was here we walked about a mile atop layers and layers of lava to reach a sign that said, " road closed." This was a fitting sign for this location because it was impossible to pass. In the early 80's, lava flowed across the road closing the road forever. Piles and piles of lava covered this  area, some very smooth and some very jagged and rough.

On to the next stop on our marvelous journey through the national park. The next stop was a very unique sight. It was a forest overtaken by lava. The trees were green, but the lava covered the trunks of the trees. Imagine that, more lava in the Volcano National Park. The lava cooled so quickly that it didn't kill the trees that grew there.

Boy! We have learned a lot today. But, the excursion is not quite complete. We had one more stop. We actually got to walk through a lava tube. Wow! That was really cool and we shot some video footage that we will be sharing with you later. To get to the lava tube, we had to walk down steep steps through a lush, beautiful rain forest, leading to the entrance of the tube. A cool experience in so many ways. It was cool in temperature, not what you expect being connected with lava. It was also cool in appearance. It was a dark, cool, man-made looking cave with ferns hanging from above. As we exited the lava tube, our attention was directed to a native Hawaiian bird, the apapane. This is a red bird, somewhat resembling our cardinal, however appeared smaller, more like the size of sparrow. 

 Who knew we could take in so much information in one day? This day was an awesome experience and we wanted to take in every moment. However, we are sitting here extremely exhausted! We have just arrived back at our room, dragging just a little, but working very hard to keep everyone back home in Arkansas informed so you can experience this journey with us. If you notice, many of our posts appear to come in the middle of the night. For instance, it is almost 11pm here and in Arkansas, it is almost 4am. 

 Be sure and check out our pictures that will explain some of the sites we visited today.  For now, we must sign off to get ready for our adventures tomorrow. We will be departing bright and early to visit a botanical garden.