Big Island Day 6 - Lava lava everywhere...

...and all there was to drink was the water we carried in. They warned us to bring at least 3 quarts per person. We brought 8 total, and were almost out by the time we made it out.

This is the lava field in the extreme southeastern corner of the Big Island, where lava is actively flowing into the ocean, building new land. The lava fields stretch for miles - dark rock twisted from cooling quickly at the surface, while beneath the crust, hot lava is still flowing out toward the ocean.

The lava fields looked like this, looking back toward the hills:



That's fog in the picture. Turn around and you would see this:



But straight ahead, as we walked along the coastline, was where the lava hit the ocean, and that was the plume of steam that was our final goal:



We finally reached where the lava was actively flowing. It was very hot, super hot near the lava. We could get reasonably close to it, since it was flowing like molasses. It glowed red for a moment, and then immediately began to cool, until more lava would come up beneath the crust and create a new run of it. If I can upload some video, I will, but for the moment this pic will have to convey it:


The sun set, and we had to make it back by flashlight. It was pretty intense, and after more than 2 hours hiking in darkness, with just our flashlights to lead us, we made it back to the car. Exhausted, we drove back to the B&B and hit the hot tub. All in all, an incredible day. The next morning we would wake up and say farewell to the volcanos, and head back to the west side of the Big Island.

Sorry! Almost forgot the rainbow, that was right in front of us the whole hike out...Marlee's heading for it in the distance:

Big Island Day 5: Volcanos National Park

A tree grows in Brooklyn, it's true. But nature finds a way in the middle of a desolate lava field. Day 5 dawned bright and clear, and we left Carlson's Volcano B&B to hit Volcanos National Park. It is the most interesting place I have ever been, hands down.

We started with Kilueau Iki, a small volcaning crater east of the main crater, that kind of looked like this from the rim:




That pale line that runs from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock across the crater floor is the path across. Down there on the floor of the crater, there's actually steam coming up, like this:




And Marlee snapped this picture of the little plant that could - click the link, as I wanted to leave it full size for resolution: plant.jpg

After a day of hiking in Teva's and sandals, we realized that our feet were not going to be happy unless we actually had decent hiking footwear. So we set off for Hilo, and picked up some real hiking boots for the remainder of our time here. Tomorrow, the active lava....

Rock Dust and veggies

A couple in Scotland have found an interesting fertilizer...rockdust. It's a by-product of mining, and when mixed with compost yields fertile soil, bringing the possibility of agriculture where none was before. It's a short article, and a good read.

Maui Day 4: Haleakala Bike Trip

So day 4 hadn't even dawned before we were up and out of our hotel. We left in complete darkness at 2:45 AM to cross the island and make it to the base of Haleakala, the dormant (geologically speaking) volcano that anchors the eastern half of the island, by 4 AM. We got to the Haleakala Bike Company around 4 AM, got our gear, and started for the top in a big van with 20 other riders.

We got to the crater at the top about 15 minutes before sunrise. The scene was unearthly and beautiful:



And the crater itself looked like this:



The ride down the mountain is 39 miles, and you really only need to pedal 3 or 4 times. Yes, kind of a cop out, but biking up the mountain would be grounds to be committed.

We got to the bottom of the mountain, turned in our bikes, and drove up to the north shore of Maui, where the waves were coming in 15 or 20 feet high, no joke. There was a wind surfer cutting through the waves, but no surfers. Apparently it was "closed out", which someone told us is when there's no gaps in the waves for surfers to swim out. The sight from shore was pretty spectacular:



After an hour of wave-watching, it was to the airport, for a trip to the Big Island, and the most active volcano in the world. We arrived too late for anything but driving, and sleeping...

Maui Day 3: Swimming, Snorkelling

On the 3rd day in Maui we got up early, and stopped to rent fins for snorkelling. Unbelieveably, the guy in the Boss Frog's dive shop, Michael, was from Fort Greene, Brooklyn! He gave us a great tip on where to snorkel that day, as a big swell had come in from the north, so we would do best to go south, to mile marker 14 this day. So we did.

Some great snorkelling ensued, and one crisis. As we were almost finished for the day, we noticed a man struggling on the beach with an unconscious woman. People were standing around, some were calling 911 on cell phones, some were trying to help. We found out later the woman had stopped breathing, and we saw her spit up a ton of water. It was pretty scary, and surreal. The police and paramedics arrived, and she was taken to the hospital. Her heart didn't stop, so hopefully she made it out OK. Although I'm sure that she had one hell of a headache.

Sunset that night was beautiful...

Maui - Day 2: The Whales

Day 2 in Maui was Whale Watching Day. My camera is a little Canon, built for travelling, not the best picture taking...

I did manage one decent shot of a whale's tail over the water:



We saw more than I could capture - full breaches of the surface by these humpback whales, which come to Hawaii every spring to give birth and get busy. Then they head back to Alaska to feed the rest of the year. You can read more about humpback whales here.

The wars on terror, drugs, and sanity

The first day, in Maui

So the first day of vacation, we climbed a hill, turned around, and saw this:




Straight ahead is looking northeast - to the right there is Haleakala (pronounced holly-ah-kala), where we'll be in a few days for the sunrise. This hike was pretty fantastic -tons of great birds with incredible calls, perfect weather, and almost no other hikers the whole way up and down. Luckily, we were able to find bandaids for blisters!

St. Patrick

March the 17th, Sleep the 18th!

So I'm having a hell of time getting pictures and movies off my camera! ARGH!!!

Will have some up later today. Can't sleep right now - had something very exciting happen today, and I'm still amped over it. More later...

And Happy S. Patrick's Day. Somewhere, my great uncle Michael O'Brien is pinting one, I'm sure.

Back from the Islands...

Hey - I'm back from Hawaii! Amazing place, so many stories, so little time.

Will fill in later, but anyway, it's good to be home!

Yet another sign of the coming end times

Bill Gates Knighted. Ahh....

Actually, Gates does a boatload for charity, so I guess all things considered he probably deserves this...although...my understanding is that the Mrs. is the one driving the be-nice effort. Guess equal rights is still in the Middle Ages in some ways.

Blues Traveler

The Official Blues Traveler Web Site

I got out of bed this morning, and for some reason started thinking about Blues Traveler. I went and checked out the website...not many dates coming up, so hopefully they're recording something.

I also noticed that the content is about 5 years old. The birthdays and ages are a dead give-away.

All Hail The Death Of Radio (sfgate.com)

A great article on where radio isn't. Can all the blogs, podCasts, ripped MP3s, download services, satellite radio and CD burners save popular music...?

Probably not. But hold out hope for radio...

"I doubt even these Elven cloaks will hide us in there"

Wanna bet?

I'm assuming the wand that shoots fireballs is right around the corner.

An answer...

Check out this new type of power generation that's being developed in Australia. Amazind stuff...using sunlight to heat air, and using the rising air's motion to turn turbines. So simple, it's brilliant - one of those, "how come no one thought of this before?"

Now, will the world catch on?