Kona and the Volcano Park

We really liked the town of Kailua Kona (aka Kona). It's quirky, walkable, touristy and just fun. We had an early dinner one night at a pub just across the street from the ocean. Kinda weird to watch Monday Night Football at 4 pm but who's complaining? We had good food and some really good desserts too.

We spent one day at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is at the southernmost tip of the Big Island. It would seem not to be too far from Kona but the major highway around the island is mostly a two-lane road, so it takes much longer than on an interstate (or the H1). We stopped to stretch our legs at one point and I got this photo of the lava fields. Out in the distance is the Pacific Ocean. You can tell how the lava just flowed all the way out to the sea. It's fascinating just because it's so different from any landscape I've ever seen. (Click any of the photos for a larger version.)

In the park the first major thing we saw was the Kilauea Caldera. It's huge, several miles across, and has this giant steaming vent, the Halema'uma'u Crater. It's only about half as deep today (500 ft) as it was when the first Western explorer found it in 1823.That's due to lava flows overflowing and building up the floor of the caldera, though at least four times the result has been the caldera floor breaks due to all the extra heat and weight. Since 1905 seven new flows have been added to the caldera floor.

We drove down towards the sea, keeping an eye on the weather. It had been overcast much of the day with sun peeking through every now and then. We stopped to hike out to the petroglyphs, which were .7 miles away. We hadn't gone very far when it started sprinkling. By the time we reached the petroglyphs we were soaked to the skin. It was relatively warm but it was just so odd how it wasn't raining on the road, but less than half a mile away we coudn't escape it! We hiked back to the car and found it still hadn't rained there. Fortunately we'd brought changes of clothes and were able get dry at our next stop.

That next stop was at the end of the Chain of Craters road, which is the main north-south connector in the park. The road stops abruptly as it turns eastward at the coast due to lava flowing over it. But it's a beautiful stop, very dramatic lava cliffs and the Holei Sea Arch is there. I love these two photos I took.