Sunday, April 24

This was a day of transition- we moved from Waimea to Volcano, a very tiny town at the edge of Hawaii Volcano National Park. We are in a delightful small hotel in a very nice room and feel very well cared for. We got here in the early afternoon, so were able to spend the time at the park. Again, we are astounded at the difference of this area from what we have seen before. As there is more rain here than the Kona Coast and Waimea, the lava areas have foliage much sooner, so there is a lot of growth and even forrest here.
After a quick lunch at The Lava Rock Cafe ( ? which came first - this or Hard Rock Cafe?), we went into the park. Our first view as of  the Kilauea Caldera and associated steam vents

 Since we are again at about 3000 feet, the air is on the cool side- so the heat from the vents was noticeably warm.

  The following are sulfur crystals that form over the outlet of a steam  vent:

So we continued on the trail that went back into real forest with some beautiful flowers:

Then we started to explore the Kilauea Crater more by driving and stopping at various points. We went through the Thurston Lava Tube- truly an underground tube or tunnel made  by lava, but our photo of that really is not worth your viewing, too dark. It was pretty amazing.
Then onto a view of the Kilhauea Iki Crater, which is within the larger Kilauea Caldera:

 Then we walked what is called "Desolation Trail" which goes over a fairly recent ( 1900s) lava field, where you can really appreciate the evolution of habitats as they are restablished:

We then checked out the Halema'uma'u Crater, also part of the Kilauea Caldera, which was even more impressive:

 Unfortunately, a good bit of the Crater Ring Road is blocked off due to the sulfur fumes, so we could not drive all the way around the Caldera.  Also, there seems to be no running lava at this time. Life is hard, but we will cope!.We are hoping to hike down onto the Kilhuea Iki Crater tomorrow- and walk across it---which should be pretty interesting.  Maybe be will then even find a beach in the afternoon...... Who knows. Meanwhile, after a really great Thai Dinner, we are off to bed...... Cheers, love- Deb/ Neal

Saturday, April 23

Today was truly a day of contrast - in altitude, temperature, habitiat and sites. We,of course started in Waimaea, and with another lovely day. We had until 3:30 pm, when we needed to be at a pick up point for star gazing expedition, and decided that in that time we could drive to the NE coast to Waipi'oo. Waipi'oo is a valley between two high cliffs ending on a beautiful beach that is a sacred Hawaiian area, and which the residents there have decided to not open up to tourism- no roads, no facilities, etc.  You can drive your 4WD down to the beach on their one road, or you can walk down. You can walk on the road - but are not allowed off the road as all of the land is privately owned, and farmed- taro fields, etc.  So, the valley is quite pristine. So, we walked down 1000 feet ( and yes back up the 1000 feet) - and got to enjoy some very sepectacular scenery that was different than any we had yet seen:. The walking distance was 1 mi, to the bottom so the grade of the road was 25% all of the time.
From the top look out point of the trail/ end of real road:

Then walking on down:

 A view up the valley:

And a view down the valley towards the sea-

Once down in the valley we choose to follow the road towards a water fall, etc-rather than to the beach - and this is what we saw:

 We had instructional signs -

note rock hanging off sign on lower left side- so that we are sure to know what to look for!
The water fall, not running very much this season-

Then there was the stream to ford - we used the rocks-

Note the area that the rocks make a little pool for the children. More sights and then truly the end of the trail for us:

  Time to turn around, enjoy the walk back down the valley -

Then up we went- slowly- but inexorably - up - 45 min non stop - to the top

  safe at last-

Time to drive back to our motel, but first a stop for a great fruit smoothie to sip along the way. We then changed into our warmer clothes to set forth on our star gazing expedition, taking us up to the top of Mona Kea, 13,700. Boy were we glad to be in a 4WD small bus and not  be hiking this one!  The first stop was an early dinner at an old sheepherders station at about 7500 feet:

Then on up to the top of Mona Kea along a dirt road to the top - slowly. We are in awe that they have been able to get the mirrors up there without breaking them.  The driver said that the last one to be driven up took 2 weeks to drive up the dirt road - so that they could run buldozers in front of the truck to smooth the way!!There is talk of the companies who are funding the next large mirror ( 7 segement, 24 meter) actually paving the road before moving the mirror up the mountain. It is way to heavy to helicopeter in to that elevation.
We stopped at about 11,000 feet for some viewing, pictures:

Special note- Neal has on a winter parka!!!!!!(provided by tour company). He even zipped it up later!
Now on to the summit to see the telescopes and the sunset:

 This is only a small sample of the 13 telescopes up there. After sunset we slowly made our way back to the visitors center at about 10, 000 feet. We were amused by the sign, as we are going steeply down hill,that said "HILL". Thanks, we never would have guessed. Once there a telescope was set up and, after chocolate and cookies, we did some star gazing. The sky was brillant with stars/ planets, etc and you could really see everything spectacularly well.  It was very interesting, but not a photo moment.
Then we drove -again down and slowly  - on down and were left off at our car, and we came on home to our moterl and a late ( for us) bedtime.
What a great day-  sea level activity in the morning and being quite warm and then on top of the world and cold in the evening. Truly a land of variety.
So we are now going to leave Waimea, which we have truly enjoyed, - and drive south to the small town of Volcano where we will explore the Volcano and environs. So more later on new developments.
All love to you all. Deb and Neal 

Friday, A;pril 22

We wake up to another beautiful, cool morning, reminding us again that we are at 3000 feet. Almost need a sweater.View of the hills from our room :

After an excellent breakfast of Macademia Nut Pancakes, we venture forth to the beaches on the Kona Coast. We started out near Captain Cook's Memorial ( where he was killed over an altercation about a boat on his 4th visit to Hawaii). We were able to rent a Kayak and Kayak to this bay area for swimming and snorkeling. You can also get there by hiking ( 500 feet down- and then up afterwards)- we thought kayaking was a better deal. And it was lots of fun to kayak on the ocean, under the clifss, with white tailed tropic birds gliding overhead -- absoultely clear water, etc. - so here are a few photos of this neat experience:

so this is the memorial ( I don't know if this was worth getting murdered here for it )

We pulled up our kayak on the lava rock and then were able to snorkel -

 The snorkelling was great- saw all sorts of fish, coral, and even another sea turtle! After a while, we kayaked home, this time closer to the cliff wall-

 So, what else to do  but to move onto another beach. This time, to a recently reopened State Park just north of Kona. The road into the park/beach is a little dicey

 It took us 20 min to drive the 1.8 miles to the beach parking area--mostly totallly unpaved lava rubble-- kept getting singage of "Unimproved Road ahead" Ha!
Then a short walk to a truly beautiful beach, of which I thought I had taken more photos- but here is what I have. The swimming here was great- Deb did her lap swiming with her mask on- and we saw a few fishes, and also some more sea turtles. There were very few people here.

 Then, the walk back to the car-- with the inland hills in the background_

The habitat variety here is amazing- from the lush coast and beautiful water, to the lava flow path, then later up through the grasslands and then into the hills of Waimea where we are staying,- all  in about 12 miless.
We had a phenomenal dinner at a place called 'Merrimans' here in Waimea. It was really supeb. Our  appetizer was a wild pig quesedilla . Then I had a wonder leg of lamb  and N. had pork -both locally produced, and all of the vegies, etc were local and organically grown. It was, I think, our best meal here so far and will be hard to beat.
Neal has already gone off to bed- and now it is 'me too', too much sun and swimming. Tomorrow we are doing an evening expedition up Mona Koa for star gazing- so we may not get our entry in for tomorrow done 'on time'.  Stay tunned. Love, Deb and Neal

Thursday, April 21

Great day- started early- went on birding trip wtih Hawaii Forrest and Trail.We were picked up at the junction of Saddle Road and Route190:

As we were driving up to our first stop we saw the Pueo, the Short Eared Owl:

And we drove up to our first birding spot where we had breakfast::

 

 Note the tablecloth! Note our orange vests - our tour leader told us we had to wear them because Cheney was hunting nearby....
Actually there is hunting going on for the ferral sheep and pigs on the area. It is also near a military training area. Not sure where Cheney fits in- pig, sheep, military????
Then we went bird watching- we are including some photos of the birds that we saw We did NOT take these photos ( well, we did, from a bird guide of "Hawaii's Birds", a wonderfull small book re these, and they get full credit for the photos, which look better in the book than in my photos:
  So here is our birding scenery and birds in what is called the dry forrest- the area around 7,000 feet. The original forrest was almost totally destroyed by grazing cattle and sheep- and now some is protected, and they are trying to save the endemic birds, especially the Pilila, which is nearing extinctoin.

The following is the Hawian Amakihi

Then we saw the elusive Palila, and once found had a very good look at it :

and the Elipaio- which we saw both here and in the next site as well:

We then drove on to a new site and habita, the 'Wet forrest" ( not that anything was wet - they have been having a drought for the last 5 years, and we saw many dead or partially dead trees). This area was part of lava flows- and we saw  and walked over several different kinds ( and ages) of lava in our long hike down to the Koa trees where these birds were. Again some photos of the hiking and our group - and of the birds( again from the book)

 The path that we took, which used to be a cattle trail:

This is our lunch spot- in the middle of an oasis of trees surrounded by  more recent lava flows:

And the birds- really glorious--
 the I'iwi- we saw alot of these - note the cool curved orange bill -

And, much, much more elusive and rare (only 1,500  total popluaton now)-we finally sited the Akiapola'au ( fondly called the "Aki").  We found the male and 2 juveniles, who had just fledged the nest. And, we even reallly were fortunate to get to see the male feeding his young ( no photo of that !).Anyway, it was really neat to have such a good long look at this bird after such a long search- and get to really see it: ( this photo really does not do it full justice)

 And the thrush-'Oma'o-- also quite elusive- thank heavens for our leader  who knew the birdcalls as well:

 And we saw the only hawk in Hawaii-- the 'Io - the Hawaian Hawk - a Buteo - quite magnificent and he was very nice about staying in one place for us to have a good long look at him:

Now for a look at the happy birders at the end of the day, by the lava

and how these early plants can make the lava look quite beautiful

So we had a long day 10 hours- but so very beautiful and interesting and fun.; Everyone else in our group of 8 plus our guide and a staff person were really nice and interesting as well. It was a really great day. And, no rain!!
We then drove up north to the small town of Hawi and had a delicious dinner at 'Bamboo'- Thai/ Hawaian - and have come back to our modest hotel, ready for bed. Not sure what tomorrow will bring.
And yes, to you savy few, Neal is definitely participating in writing this blog....
Love, Deb and Neal