Honeymoon: Day 11 Volcano Adventure

We started off our Volcano Adventure trying to figure out the best way to get there. A few people told us to go through Hilo, which would be about 2 ½ hours, but taking HWY 11 South was only about 2 hours according to GoogleMaps. I’m still not clear on why people were suggesting we go through Hilo, but we chose to go the HWY 11 route and am glad we did. It gave us the chance to see a part of the island we hadn’t.  After this day was over, we had pretty much been around the whole island in two weeks! It made our trip feel well rounded and successful.

We were staying in Kailua-Kona. Some told us to take 190 to 200 to 11 through Hilo. (~2.5hrs)
Google Maps told us to take 11 south to the park. (~2hrs.)
We chose taking 11 south!

For breakfast, we stopped at a bakery/café called Up Country in Captain Cook. We got one of my favorite breakfast meals: everything bagel with cream cheese and coffee.  They had chopped up green onions into the cream cheese. Craig thought it was too “onion-y,” but I thought it was yummy. 

We arrived at the park about 2 hours later and headed for the visitor's center first. We grabbed a map and checked out the art gallery. A lot of the art was island/volcano inspired. It would be really cool if Laura could get her pottery in there because her clay body looks like lava rock. I purchased a greeting card for my mom there and we headed back to the visitor's center to get our sight seeing plan together. 

We decided to walk down to the steam vents. Originally, we were going to hike down to the Jagger Museum and look out, but once we got to the steam vents we decided it would be better to drive. My stomach wasn't feeling well, and it was sunny with little shade. The steam vents were like nothing I'd seen before. There would be random cracks in the ground with steam coming out of them. In the distance it just looked like a small campfire. 

At the visitor center.

Rock that Craig insisted I get my picture in front of.

Apparently, it represents the spirit of Pele. The female goddess of fire,

lightning, volcanoes, and all other kinds of kick ass coolness.

Volcano Steam coming from a crack.

What it looks like in the distance.

More steam.

Map of the area.

On our way back to our car, we walked through the sulfur banks. It was a small rocky hillside that looked like someone went crazy with a neon yellow spray can. If the wind was blowing in the right direction, you would get a big whiff of rotten eggies (sulfur).  On the edge there was sign that explained the importance of staying on the trails. It told a story about a 10 year old boy that wandered off the trail and crushed through a thin spot and into a steam vent. His leg went into 200 degree steam. No off trailing for us that day.

The sulfur banks. The sulfur is the yellow on the rocks. 

It looked much more bright neon in person.

Sulfur Banks.

Overlooking the Sulfur Banks.

Overlooking the Sulfur Banks.

We made it back to the car and had our picnic lunch before heading to the Jagger Museum. It was neat to see the volcano up close. It was pretty much just a big cloud of steam (or as they call it here, vog!), coming out of a crater. When you're there, it's easy to forget you're on a volcano. Mostly everything around you looks flat, but that's just how massive it is. We went through the museum and looked at all the different kinds of lava samples. A'a is the rocky/jagged kind you see a lot on the island, and then the other common one we would see was Pahoehoe. That's the more flowy, liquid kind.

The Kilauea Crater from a distance. 

The Kilauea Crater from a distance. 

More up close to the Crater.

More up close to the Crater.

We headed to the Thurston rainforest lava tube. A lava tube is kind of like a cave created by lava.  The Thurston lava tube has a portion that has been cleared out for the public to see. Only about a portion of it is cleared. More of it used to be open, but it was refilled by lava. It's pretty neat walking down to the entry because it's all rainforest around you. It was like a cave walking through it, but no stalactites/stalagmites. Apparently some lava tubes do have some similar formations.

Entry to the Thurston Lava Tube

Inside the Lava Tube

After the lava tube, we headed to the Isaac Hale Beach Park for our Lava Boat Ride. It was about an hour away and we had some time to kill, but thought it would be better to get there early since we were unfamiliar with the area. Just before we got to the park we went down a small, tree covered road that was beautiful because when you looked up it was like sun shining through lace. This area is also known for having a high population of tree frogs. We experienced their chirping later that evening. Anyways, we got to the park and were a little confused about where to meet the tour group. Eventually, we got that figured out. By this point, my stomach ache had switched body parts and turned into a full on migraine. The sun was not making it any better. Our tour guide/captain showed up and gave us the run down of the tour. He explained that the boat was really rough on the ocean and we needed to make sure to follow his orders because just 3 weeks ago a passenger was sent to the hospital. He said if you didn't want a bouncy ride to sit as far back in the boat as you could. I immediately let Craig know that's what I wanted. My head ache wouldn't do well bouncing around, and Craig got sea sick on our last boat ride.  We put on our rain jackets and headed out on the boat. The guide was not lying, it was really rough on the ocean. I can see the risk and can't even imagine being in the front of the boat. It was rocky enough in the seats farthest back!

You can't tell from this picture, but it was really rocky on the boat!!!!

So, we eventually got to the lava after about a 35 minute ride. Here are pictures of the first spot which could be seen by hikers who were willing to do the 2 hour trip. I was very happy to be in the boat however rocky it got because our view was so much more awesome! 

Coming up to the first vent.

The Hikers looking down.

Mostly all you could see at this one was steam.

There's a lil bit of glow.

The hikers were not allowed to go beyond a certain point. Plus, they didn't even get to see the really awesome flow. These are pictures of the second, further spot we went to:

Coming up on the lava.

Up close with the lava.

Ashley and the Lava.

Craig and the Lava.

How unreal is this????

They aren't allowed access to the 2nd spot because the ground is thin between the two and people could easily fall into a river of lava. Overall, Craig and I both agreed seeing the lava with the boat was worth the $200 per person. There's no other way we could have gotten that close with the flow that was going on at this time. Laura said that sometimes lava will be flowing more on the land, but they will still find a way to charge just as much to see it. With the boat tour, we had plenty of time to take pictures and actually look at the lava. By the end, we were tired of looking at it and ready to head back. Which I would rather be tired of looking at the lava than feeling like we didn't get to see it enough.  The trip back to shore seemed like forever! By the time we got back it was pitch black outside, and they were getting ready for the twilight tour. I preferred the sunset viewing for the sake of taking pictures, but I'm sure seeing it glow at night would be cool, too.

So, we drove back through Hilo to complete our circular, one-day trip through the Big Island. We got back around 10:30pm and fell asleep shortly after.