North Of Kona

With 2 days left to explore the W side of the island before we head to Kawai, we pondered on how to best spend our time.  We've seen most of the highlights nearby, and after checking the guide book, opted to head N, back up the W coast to take a look at some of the famous beaches. Those lava flows are less recent, and the area is famous for sand beaches.  We could avoid going through Kona, and traffic on the bypass highway, and would be able to top off the gas tank at Costco on the way home.

The Jeep has more than fulfilled our hopes, but isn't known to be a fuel efficient beast of burden, especially in 4WD. On the highway we average a around 20MPG, chugging along at a creep in 4WD, the number drops, so we're more than willing to top off a less than full tank with cheap fuel when we can.  Given the spacing of fuel stops in the various parts of the island, it's a good idea to keep fuel in the tank rather than risk running dry.

We decided to check out the Greenwood Coffee tour - it's one of the oldest family owned and operated purveyors/growers of Kona coffee on the island, dating back 4 generations when Henry and Elizabeth Greenwood immigrated to Hawaii from England and Austria in the 1850's.  By 1881 Henry had acquired 30,000 acres land along the Kona coast which the family ran as a ranch and farm.  Although they didn't grow coffee, they marketed it, and were the folks who sent coffee (grown on neighboring farms) to the World's Fair in Austria in 1873 that won the first prize and started  Kona coffee as niche product.

At age 70, Elizabeth Greenwood, who had a degree in biology, and raised 10 children, found herself in charge of the family venture when Henry died.  Her first step was to plant her own coffee trees, which are still growing (and lovingly tended) on the farm which now has 6500 coffee trees.  Although they ship beans to a number of well known coffee suppliers including, Seattle's Best, Caribou, and Green Mountain Coffee, the Greenwood name doesn't appear on the coffee - the roasters name does, so if the roasting is less than perfect it isn't linked to the farm.

Some of Elizabeth's original coffee trees

Drying shed  - the roof can be easily rolled off when the sun is out and closed before the afternoon rains arrive 

Being off season, coffee beans weren't being processed, but 1/3 of the trees are pruned every year, and the older, less desirable trees are replanted with trees from their own nursery  When asked who harvests the coffee, our guide said he did, for 1 day when he arrived 15 years ago, and found it to be extremely hard work.  Since the harvest is seasonal - about 6 months a year - locals can't make a living picking coffee (time consuming as each berry is individually picked, when ripe, and not all ripen at once), so migrants from California (mostly Mexican) are imported and spend 6 months here before returning to California in time to start the strawberry season.  How would agriculture feed us without the labor of the migrants?  Most small Kona coffee farms consist of about 3 acres of trees, the maximum they can tend and pick without migrant labor.

Our guide also pointed out that the rarest, most expensive coffees grow in micro climates and in areas where more recent lava eruptions have provided ideal soil to grow coffee.  The Kona district, a 20 mile strip along the west side of Hawaii, has perfect climate and soil conditions. On the S part of the island, coffee production is slowly growing since the collapse of the sugar came industry, but that coffee, while good and improving, is Kau, not Kona coffee, and as of yet doesn't demand the same premium price (averaging $35/pound and up).

When Monica gave us a tour of the farm, she mentioned most of their coffee is sold a family member who owns a restaurant in California.  They are in the process of increasing the number of trees in their orchard to around 5 or 6 acres and plan on opening a coffee tasting and produce stand that will be open for tours.  Driving along the W side of the island, we've seen many small coffee farms offering tastings and sales.

We spent the rest of the day at the Kekaha Kai (Kona Coast) State Park, one of the many famous beaches N of Kona along the Kawaihae peninsula. As our coffee guide commented, the only thing that grows there is resorts.  Most of the big resorts, and they are legion, have sprouted like mushrooms along this arid portion of the coast.  It's been dry since we arrived, and the grass growing on the lava fields was golden rather than green.

The park was access via a semi 4WD road - we saw a number of regular cars making the 1.5M trek, with enough rocks and holes that we would have been hesitant to do it sans Jeep (but no where close what we've done).  It was a nice park with picnic tables and facilities, with interesting tide pools to the S and a sandy cove further N where we tried snorkeling where the surf was less pronounced. Given the recent rough surf, the water was somewhat cloudy and we saw more fish, albeit small, in the tide pools than snorkeling, but we did get wet (and salty) and enjoyed the day.  Although there was a large cruise ship in town and lots of cars in the parking areas, the park wasn't crowded and trees along the back of the beach provided shade, always a plus!

Ulili or Wandering Tattler Bird

Lava flows through the grass land

Traffic, thanks to construction and merging vehicles, was extremely slow as we drove to Costco on the way home.  Maybe within the year, the road will be 4 lanes and alleviate the traffic jam. We opted to take the scenic route along the water after we were past Kona to see something new.  There were a number of public beach access areas along road in the high rent district that allowed us to look.  A quick stop at the big market provided us with food to last the next few days.  Last Saturday we must have hit the market on the right day as the fresh fish cooler had lots of choices, today it was virtually empty, but the meat section had a good variety of nice looking meat.

Returning to the farm we realize how lucky we were to have found this spot.  The dogs greet us like long lost family, and Monica and Kim are welcoming and provide us with a variety of treats - we had fresh apple bananas on the stoop this morning.  If you haven't tried an apple banana, you don't know how good a banana can taste.

If you wondered why we haven't had any sunset photos being on a W facing slope - the first night I was amazed as the red ball eased down toward the horizon, but we were in the car headed to the store sans camera.  We'd see the same thing every night, or so I thought.  Nope. By 4 every afternoon, a bank of haze, referred to as vog, a reaction of volcano gases and the sun, appears along this end of the island and the sun disappears behind it. Fog, like smog, can cause poor air quality when the conditions are right, but that's not been the case during our visit.  It doesn't rain, and every day has started out sunny, with the sun poking over the mountain around 7:30, giving us another great day. Just not great sunsets.  This afternoon we arrived back at the farm about an hour before sun down (around 6:30) and were thrilled to see that familiar red globe sinking through a few clouds and haze toward the horizon.  Well, we think it may be the horizon, but there's always enough haze offshore that it's difficult to differentiate between the sky and the sea.

We now think the sun is just above the horizon and the area between the sun and land is all ocean 

South Point (Ka Lea)

Tuesday we headed to South Point, the most southerly point of land in the United States at 18 54.067 N  (Key West at 24 32.657 N is further N by approx. 340 NM ).  According to the morning's weather forecast, the 20- 25K winds had turned light and variable, but someone had forgotten to tell the wind god who was still honking 20-25, at least where we were.  South Point extends about 12 miles beyond the end of the big island, and after the first few miles, was a barren wind swept plain that looked more like western Montana but for the fences, and a view of the ocean.  Dry, wind blown grass land, home to a series of cattle ranches, not quite what we'd expected!

Heading down to South Point

Much of the road had been upgraded to 2 (narrow) lanes, except for the culverts which hadn't.  The last stretch was a single lane, with shoulders several inches below the pavement.  We've noticed there seem to be 2 predominate  rental cars on the island (given their significant numbers) Jeeps  for the off road types, or Mustangs for the sport car enthusiast, and we've wondered how those fare on the less than smooth paved roads.  Although this wasn't indicated as 4WD (it was paved) they tended to be hesitant to yield the paved portion of the road.  Luckily, in spite of it being a popular tourist site, we didn't encounter a lot of traffic, and we had no problem dropping off the paved portion of the road as required.

Pakini Nui Wind Farm is situated on the W side, about halfway down the point, where it appears the wind blows most of the time. The few trees on the point were proof to this, all with a strong westerly tilt.  A bit further S a short segment of road, dubbed 'Broken Road', led to a cliff with views along the western side of the point.  The road and a concrete landing were built in 1955 in the lee of the point to service the fishing community.  However, nature being what she is, a chunk of the road and the landing washed into to sea in less than a year.

Wind blown  trees

West side of South Pt and the 'broken road' to the water,  Wind farm is upper left

It is believed South Point was the first place the Polynesians came ashore and settled when they discovered the islands.  Artifacts have been found in the area dating back to 300 AD.  Although there is no reliable source of fresh water, the fishing grounds off the point are incredibly rich, providing a reliable food source.  Ancient Hawaiians found the wind and offshore currents made it difficult to harvest the fish, and worked out a system of carving holes into the rock edge and utilizing ropes, fed through the holes, to tie their canoes to shore while fishing (better than drifting to Antarctica).

Today 2 steep, wobbly ladders go down to the water on the W side of the point, along with a hoist. Snorkeling is reported to be excellent in the very clear waters by the ladders, but given the conditions no one was snorkeling.  We saw one young kid who'd climbed down one of the ladders to go for a dip.  There were a number of fishermen plying their luck along the W side of the point, and even saw one land a small fish. Perhaps fishing is better with less wind.

Two ladders and the hoist

There were several ancient burial grounds that were restricted on the point, which we skirted to walk out on the actual point.  Given an incoming tide, strong winds and big waves, we didn't attempt to get to the ultimate end of the point.

Memorial to original Hawaiians

South Pt (Click here and zoom to find Lynnea)

South Pt Light

Another highlight of the point was a green sand beach, reachable either via 4WD or walking, about 2.5 miles each way.  The guide book indicated the track could be iffy, sometimes with deep ruts in the sand, giving us mixed feelings about making the trek.  We hadn't brought along any boards to help extract us if we got stuck, and when we arrived at the parking area, a couple of locals were 'requesting' a $20 road maintenance fee (suspicious and illegal) if we wanted to drive.  They were also running a shuttle service, but we didn't inquire as the price.  Rather than reinforce their arm-twisting tactics, we departed, having already had enough wind and sun for the day.

We explored 2 small towns, Waiohinu and Na'alehu, we'd driven through on the way to our new digs.  Waiohinu's claim to fame was the Mark Twain Monkeypod Tree, planted when he visited the area on horseback in 1866.  The original tree blew down in the 1950's, but shoots have since grown into a respectable new tree.  It took a couple of passes and some directions (blink and you're past it), but we found and documented our visit.

Mark Twain Monkeypod Tree

Na'alehu, a bit larger town, holds the record of having the southern most just about everything in the US.  We stopped at a deli/bakery which was packed with a tour group, to pick up a loaf of bread. Although they're known for their sweet rolls, we resisted the temptation to indulge.

a 3 ft diameter ball of barbed wire - we've seen these several places

We made a detour on the way home to stop at a small farm that offered coffee, honey and macadamia nut tastings.  We also checked out the Hawaiian Ocean View Estates that's uphill of a small shopping center, home to the closest market.  About 11,000 1 acre parcels on harsh lava were on a series of paved roads, someone's dream community started back in the 60's.  From what we saw, the name was misleading, there were no ocean views; the palm lined beach was 6+ miles down slope and yacht club promised in the original brochure never existed.  Electricity arrived around 1998 and rain catchment is the source for water.  There were a smattering of homes in the development, but nothing new appeared to be in the works.

Don't know what this machine does - seen in Ocean View Estates

We made a quick stop at one of the small roadside fruit stands.  The women were in the process of packing up, but were more than happy to bring their produce (freshly picked that day) out for me. We needed a few things  not available at our farm to tide us over until we leave.   I prefer to buy from the locals when possible as the produce is both fresher and less expensive, and t helps support the locals. They sold me some chocolate sopate which they claimed tasted like chocolate pudding, and  had to be very soft (squishy) to be ripe.  I bought one and was given another.   We tried one for dessert with ice cream, and it did taste and look like chocolate pudding, with a soft, smooth texture. I liked it, Leonard was a bit less impressed.

Black and Green Sand Beaches

Monday we planned to drive down to South Point, but after re-reading the travel guide, we found 'The Road to the Sea' which we thought we'd been on Sunday.  Leonard read that the route we tried wasn't doable (I concur) and we'd obviously taken a wrong turn.  This time we found it and decided to save South Point for another day.

It definitely was a 4 wheel drive only road - some 6 miles long - very rough, and as advertised very straight if you didn't count the zigs and zags around rocks and holes.  Supposedly this is why we rented a Jeep since a standard car wouldn't up to the task (and would cancel the contract), so we kept going, very slowly, in low gear much of the time.  I suspected it might be a bit easier going down hill and wondered what the return trip would be like (1500' down to sea level and back).  It was amazing to see several houses along the way, obviously off the grid, and then several big pieces of machinery sitting at what must be a potential work site even further down the track - how did they get building materials and these big vehicles down on this track?

We didn't time the trip down, but averaging under 10MPH it must have taken an hour.  We found the beach, and had been joined by 4 folks in another Jeep by the time we got there.  With a high surf warning in effect since Sunday and winds 20-25, the waves were rolling in - we had no intention of going for a swim, much less trying to snorkel, but it was fun to watch the waves.  In several places they splashed spray and foam over the rocks giving us a fine misting of salt water - we'd arrived a few hours before high tide.

Watching the surf roll in

 While I was poking along the rocks and beach, Leonard watched an extended cab truck drive up the steep sand hill by the beach.  He was all for trying it, although he admitted the guy had to work to get up through the loose sand.  Instead of following suit, he picked another very rocky track on depicted on the map, and we ended up on  the other beach.  Leonard was having the time of his life, enjoying every moment while I had some very white knuckles.

Panorama of the beach area - the sand hill furthest back is the one we slid down click here for detail (the bottom is behind the hill in front, so it was steeper than it appears) 

When we left, Leonard couldn't resist taking the track down the sand hill - with a big grin on his face.  I would have taken a picture, but didn't think I'd get more than a blur given the constant motion.  The guide book mentioned Mahana Beach, another beach to the west, worth the effort and reached by driving through a yellow gate, but then commented the track was rougher and suggested the prudent thing to do was walk the mile past the gate.

Panorama of Mahama Beach  click here for more detail

Detail of the green bushes above - flowers looked like bead work

With the sun behind some clouds and a stiff wind blowing, walking wasn't bad, and the road was as advertised, rough.  Leonard thought the Jeep could have handled it, but I wasn't so sure.  We had that beach to ourselves, although at just about high tide, there wasn't much beach to walk.  These beaches had black and green sand thanks to the amount of olivine, a semi precious gem in the rocks, and both were listed as 'real gems' in the guide book, and were worth the rough ride to see them. Unfortunately our photo of the green sand didn't make the cut.

If you look closely, you can see flecks of olivine in the rocks larger specimens are rare

As we slowly made our way back to civilization, we met another Jeep heading down.  The driver, an older guy who appeared to be a local, suggested we take an alternate, less bumpy, route out, turning onto a track through 2 white posts just before the hill where the track got a lot rougher.  When we got to the posts, the hill looked pretty daunting, so we took his suggestion.  The road was smoother, but it ended at a locked gate.  There was a very rough track going up the hill just before the gate, but by then we figured it was wiser to stick with the familiar.  If we made it down, we should make it back up and we retraced our tracks.

6 miles of rough track!

By the time we made it back to the farm, we were both exhausted and more than ready to call it a day.  I guess 5 plus hours of  sunshine, stress and wind will do that to a person.  With several more days until we depart, we'll have time to explore the other places that look interesting..

Manuka Nature Preserve

Sunday we stopped at the Manuka Nature Reserve to look at the 2 mile nature hike.  Leonard did the smart thing and put on his sneakers - I should have done the same since the trail was a bit more rugged than I expected.  We were surprised to find a number of cars in the lot and saw a number of serious birders, complete with binos and fancy cameras with big telephoto lenses.  We saw birds, but once again, most weren't visible in the canopy which was filled with bird song.

Hiking Manuka Nature Trail- Note the short shadow, the sun is almost directly overhead

Pan of a crater along the trail with trees growing in the bottom  Click Here for full size view

The map had indicated the trail was a loop, but after climbing 600', looking at another crater, the trail showed no sign of turning back toward the parking lot.  Leonard checked on the cell phone to see if Google Earth might show the trail - with no cell coverage, it didn't.  We reached a spot marked 'rest stop' and seeing the trail continue deeper into the jungle we decided the prudent thing to do was retrace our steps rather than end up far from the car.

Warning Sign at the trail head

Back at the trail head we saw the trail map - it was a loop, and we'd gone a bit more than half way.  The sign that had caught our eye was the one warning about cliffs, drop offs and the possibility of cave ins.  It was a nice hike with the trail consisting from everything  - forest soil, tree roots, small loose lava gravel, larger loose lava rocks requiring us to keep an eye on where we were stepping rather than on the scenery.

Beggars waiting for crumbs while we ate lunch

 After lunch we headed for a 4 wheel trail down to one of the small bays on the S shore.  We can now say we've done some off road driving, and it was rough.  From where the pavement stopped to the bay was 7 miles - too far to walk, even for us.  After passing through a couple of narrow rock fences, and a couple of miles of being bounced around and the trail surface deteriorating as we drove, we decided we didn't want to go to the beach that much, and very carefully backed and filled to turn around.  Having the smaller version of the Jeep helped since it has a short turning radius.  Later we realized we'd neglected to take photos of the 'road'.

We weren't sure if we had the right track - several are marked on the map, but aren't easy to find even with the directions in the guide book.  Most  roads heading toward the ocean are gated (and locked) as part of developments some of which have been 'in progress' for years, but thanks to locals successfully fighting to protect their fishing grounds and way of life have been stopped  The latest attempt to develop the several 1000 acres was in 2009, and although streets were paved, only a few (non development) houses have been built.  Since water would have to from catchment (no wells) we can foresee a number of problems, but the views were spectacular if barren.

The Coffee Farm

In the morning Monica took us on on extended farm tour, picking a variety of exotic fruits as we went.  My problem is remembering the names of everything, most unfamiliar to me!  The farm had been a rodeo ranch when they purchased it 10 years ago, with the rodeo ring in front of our unit. We met the 4 farm dogs - rambunctious, but very friendly - 4 goats and a large flock of chickens and roosters.  We also toured Monica's green house and work room, and she gave us directions to several of the more interesting beaches, telling us to ignore the no trespassing signs posted.

The rodeo ring from our deck

Various flowers and fruits from the farm for our use

A remnant of the cattle ranch

Bird of Paradise 

Monica picking and dethorning a dragon fruit - its a cactus fruit - very prickly!

Coffee cherries on a Tree

And Chickens

After lunch we took the very narrow, twisty road down to Milolii and the town beach park.  Monica mentioned the town is what old Hawaii was like - she grew up on the big island.  Most beaches aren't sand here - they're broken up lava rocks (the flows took place in 1851 and 1926 just sparing the town) with a few hand's full of sand scattered between the rocks.  Shells, where there are any, are tucked among the rocks.  We walked about a mile before turning back.  We've dealt with sand burrs in the Bahamas, but the sticker bushes that border the beaches and are in the jungle here are much worse, with multiple long, very sharp thorns that easily pierce our Crocs.

Homoalino Bay and the black sand beach in the distance

 A lava arch - arches or caverns are present in many places in the lava flows and can give out without warning

Lava Flows down the mountain - darker ones are more recent

Since the locals enjoy going to the beach much as we do, Saturday we decided to drive N to Kona rather than deal with crowds at the beaches.  Kona isn't that far away (35 miles), but the GPS indicated it would takeover an hour. The highway was a 2 lane squiggle, much with a 35 MPH speed limit, luckily we weren't in a rush.  We took an even slower road, down to and along the coast.

The topography is interesting on the island.  At sea level, a very flat coastal plain extends for some distance inland to where the cliffs quickly rise to 1500' or higher, making for some interesting  driving with lots of steep grades and hair pin turns to get down to sea level.  Given the pitch of may driveways and roads, it's obvious ice and snow aren't a problem here.  I suspect a fair number of the driveways require 4 wheel drive to get to the house.

We stopped at the 'Painted Church', San Benedict's Roman Catholic Church.  While the exterior was a simple white, the interior's awash in colors, painted by Father John Velge between 1899 and 1904 when he dedicated himself to create frescos from hell to the Temptation of Christ on the inside walls and ceiling.  It was well worth a visit, unfortunately our interior photos don't do it justice given the contrast of bright light from the windows and the dark interior.

St. Benedict's Painted Church

the alter and walls

The Ceiling

We also toured the National Park at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, or the Place of Refuge.  In ancient times, commoners were governed by the kapu system, a dizzying number of laws that resulted in death by club, strangulation, fire or spear.  If the crime was serious enough (stepping on the ali'i's, royality, shadow), the offender's whole family might be executed.  It was believed the gods would send tidal waves, lava flows, droughts, or earthquakes if crimes went unpunished, so communities tended not to tarry when announcing the verdict.  However, should the perpetrator reach an area of refuge, asylum would be granted after certain rituals mandated by the priest had been performed, allowing the transgressor safe return home.  However, reaching the place of refuge was no mean feat, given the rough lava shore since most would arrive by sea, and only the ali'i could land a canoe in Keone'ele Cove, a protected cove.

The site included a Great Wall, built in the 1500s, 1000' long, 12' high and 18' wide in most places, a replicas of a several buildings including a temple, mausoleum containing the bones of 23 chiefs, thought to contain supernatural power and ensuring the place of refuge would remain sacred and a work area where boats and nets were made and repaired.  Even today no swimming, sunbathing or picnicking are allowed on the site.

Carved statues

Replica of the Temple

A portion of the Great Wall

We took a 1 lane shore road toward Kona - an interesting experience.  In many places the shoulder consisted of a 2'-3' drop off with crumbling pavement, and a number of blind hills. Being a Saturday, we met more oncoming traffic than anticipated.  While there were a places to pull to the side to facilitate passing with care, some of the drivers drove like skiers heading for the slopes - don't get in their way!  Given the state of the road, most did adhere to the 20 MPH speed limit.

We stopped at the town of Captain Cook, and at the turn off checked out a trail - 2.5M with a 1500' change in elevation down to a monument.  We opted to skip the challenge although the number of parked cars indicated folks were hiking the trail.  Instead we went to the Donkey Balls factory in town where they make huge chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

Kona has the only Costco store (with gas station) on the island, where gas prices are about $.40 less/gallon ($2.86/gal) than elsewhere, and since we're members we filled the tank.  When we attempted to drive through Kona to find a place for lunch, traffic was at a standstill, and rather than sit in traffic, we returned to Costco for a quick (cheap) lunch.  After lunch, we drove down to a marina  N of town to look at boats, somehow, no matter where we are, if there's water, we are drawn to marinas to check out boats.

Kona may be charming, but from our short drive through after  checking out the marina, it appeared far more tourist oriented than Hilo, and make us glad we hadn't chosen a place in town.  Our 'outback' location looked all the more appealing upon our return.  Having 'done' Kona, we don't plan on returning or checking the famous beaches N along the coast.  We'll spend the rest of our stay exploring some of the more far flung parts on of this side of the island.

Volcano Park again and on to the west coast

We were packed and underway shortly after 9 with plans to spend more time at the Volcano National Park on our way to the W side of the big island.  When we entered the park, the ranger solved our problem of how to roll down the windows - 2 levers on the dash board with a somewhat vague pictograph.  It made more sense when you knew what it meant.  Now we won't need to run the AC so much.  Life would be so much easier if the rental companies included the owner's manual with the car!

Panorama of one of many craters on the Chain of Craters Road (note small red jeep in upper R corner for size) click here and enlarge to full screen vertical

After stopping at the rangers at the visitor's center to see if anything special was occurring in the park we headed down  the Chain of Craters Road - the same road we'd drive from the other side of the lava flow.  We stopped at several of the many craters along the road to check out the huge craters left by eruptions before driving down to the Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs Trail, a sacred and awe-inspiring gallery of petroglyphs dating back to ancient times.  The site is still used by native Hawaiians who bring the umbilical cord of their new born for burial with hopes of receiving the blessings of a long and prosperous life (it didn't appear that they carve petroglyphs).

One of the petroglyphs

Another petroglyph with a sailing canoe

Board walk to the petroglyphs - some visible on the right

We drove to the barricade at end of the road and walked about a mile before heading back to the car in order to arrive at our next 'home' to check in by 4.  We were glad we'd approached the flow from the other side, which looked to be closer.  There were neither shuttles nor bikes for rent in the park, making for a long walk with no shade.

Long hike to the lava flow

With little time to spare, we drove past a number of places we'd have liked to see - saving them for the next week.  For some reason, our GPS address on the cell phone wasn't correct and we had some difficulty finding Kim's Coffee Farm and had gone past before calling to better directions (they'd been written for arriving from Kona).  Eventually we found it, and our host was gracious although he had an appointment in Kona - 38 miles N.

The view over looking the old rodeo ring from out apartment

We arrived to find an very comfortable apartment over a garage, overlooking the ocean on a small coffee farm run by Kim and Monica.  The farm is about 1500' above sea level and gets a nice breeze to keep it comfortable.  The house was beyond anything we'd expected (it's hard to tell from the AirB&B photos) - a large living room, a fully equipped kitchen, a king sized bed in a large bed room with a porch extending along front of the unit. Included with the room are any and all veggies or fruits we wish pick from the trees (and free range eggs, we find any), and coffee from their trees. We were directed to a reasonable grocery store about 15 minutes away for anything else we might need.  Why would anyone consider staying in a resort or hotel?

An Easy Day

Left on our list of interesting things to do in Hilo were the Tsunami Museum, and the Imiloa Astronomy Museum on the University of Hawaii campus.  The Tsunami Museum had a video about the 1946 tsunami that devastated Hilo, featuring survivor's memories of the event.  The museum had displays covering other more recent tsunamis as well.  It's run by volunteers and is dedicated to tsunami awareness to help avoid loss of life in the future.  Note - the museum and downtown are within the tsunami flood zone as depicted  in the front of the phone book - our house, on 'high ground', wasn't.

The Imiloa Museum, housed in an architecturally unique building on the University of Hawaii campus, offered an array of exhibits covering astronomy and ancient native navigation, including 4 different films in the planetarium.  Being spring break week, we were surprised to find the place packed with kids doing a variety of activities and having a good time.  They must have attended one of the earlier films, and when we came out, they were departing, leaving the museum for a handful of adults to enjoy.  The exhibit that fascinated both of us was a large floating globe that appeared unsupported as it rotated and turned by a touch screen.  It featured a series of different global wide programs, cloud cover, ocean currents, tsunami wave projection, a night scene depicting lights visible from space, and a version of both Mars and the sun including active sun spots.  After we finished playing with it, someone else found another program with google map type photos and a story line.  Fascinating!

Imiloa Museum and gardens at the Univ. of Hawaii

A 10 ft glob suspended in air with computer controlled images projected thereon

Since we were out with the car, we stopped at the nearby big KTA Supermarket which rivaled any big city high end market on the mainland for variety and quality.  We didn't need much since we didn't have a way to keep food cold as we changed locations Thursday.  I did a some price checking and was surprised to find prices comparable to home - both sale and regular prices.  Not sure we'll find anything quite so posh across the way (Hilo is the largest town on the island), but we have been checking on line to see what might be available and found several reasonable markets and farm stands, none within walking distance from our next place.

We have been surprised by the beautiful weather we've had since arriving last week.  We expected rain at least part of most days.  Perhaps our purchase of plastic ponchos did the old umbrella trick - we've had brief showers at night a few times, but the days have been sunny and pleasant thanks to the trade winds.  One local I talked to mentioned the winter had been gray and wet with everyone more than ready for the arrival of spring.  We're hoping the weather holds for the rest of our visit.  So much for lazing away and doing nothing - we've had some long busy days - not that we're complaining!

Volcano Park

Tuesday we drove to the National Park, viewed the park video and got pointers from the rangers about areas of interest.  Another ranger made an announcement that the lava lake at the crater by the Jagger Museum viewing area was active, mentioning it might continue to be visible, or not, so going sooner rather than later was advised . We joined the parade on the Crater Rim Drive and even found a parking spot.  It was impressive to watch the lava bubble and spurt in the lake.  We stopped by the steam vents on the drive back.

Active Volcano from the viewing area

Telephoto of the lava lake bubbling in the crater

Once again our gray hair had the ranger suggesting one of the shorter hikes, but we figured the 4 mile Kilauea Iki loop, one of the more popular hikes in the park, would be more to our liking.  While the trail descends 400 feet, much of the rim portion is in the rain forest and shaded making for pleasant hiking. The part across the crater looked like scenes from the moon - barren but for the bits of vegetation gradually taking root.  We'd done the hike in the right direction - with the trade wind providing a welcome breeze as we walked into it across the crater.  Once across, a gentler trail took us back through the rain forest back up tp the rim.

View of trail across the crater from the upper rim trail

Hapu u pulu Plant

Descending down into the crater note the people on the trail ahead of us

On the crater floor - it's not as smooth as it looked from the rim

Looking back once across the crater

While the forest canopy was filled with bird song, it was so dense we couldn't see the birds for the leaves.  It's amazing that 2 so different ecosystems, rain forest and moonscape, can exist in such close proximity.  Once back on the rim, we toured the Thurston Lava Tube before walking the last  half mile to the car.  The 500 year old lava tube was interesting - a somewhat short, lighted tunnel - a shorter version than the longer unlit tube that requires reservations for the few folks lucky enough to score one.

Short Lava Tube

We hiked the Devastation Trail, a short trail that skirts between the ash and rain forest behind the S side of the Kilauea Caldera.  Unfortunately, part of the trail was closed due to nesting birds. We did spot a pair of Kalij Pheasants on the way back to the car.

Devastation Trail through an ash field

 Kalij pheasant 

Realizing we didn't have to do the whole park in a day, we decided to save several other areas on the Chain of Craters Road, running from the park to the ocean for another day, possibly when we move our base to the other side of the island on Thursday.