Reflections of My Travel

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We slept in a bit this morning and ended up getting up and about around 0400. We headed up to Haleakala for a second volcano-top sunrise, this time from the summit (10,023′). We got up there just in time. It was a pretty sunrise, but I don’t think it was as inspiring as the first one. I actually liked the lower vantage point of the first one too because it looked like the sun rose straight out of the crater, whereas this morning the sun came straight up through clouds. It was still beautiful and peaceful and worthwhile. We stuck around after the sun came up and went up to the observatory so that we could actually get some pics looking down into the crater. And then we decided that while we were up there, we might as well hike into the crater. We started out on the Sliding Sands Trail from the summit and made our way approximately 2.5 miles in to the crater to the first cinder cone, Ka Luu o ka Oo. We walked all the way around the rim of it which was not only further around than it appeared, but also much more intimidating. The rim was relatively narrow and covered in small shifty lava rocks that made my footing feel quite precarious. Couple that with the fact that falling into the cone and falling down the side of the cone were both equal in their lack of survivability. It was intimidating, but I did make it around. And then we started our 2.5 mile hike back up out of the crater. Up was certainly more tiring than down. Down seemed like it was actually a fairly gradual descent (I generally have more trouble with down because of my knees). However, going up proved it to be much steeper. It took us a bit longer going up but we were in no hurry since we didn’t really have anything else planned for the day. It was definitely good exercise. And it was beautiful in there. When we did finally make it back out to the car, it was about 1530. We started back down the volcano and then headed to the south central coast of Maui. We had a well-deserved dinner at Outback, walked around a bit, and then set up camp for the night. Though we were trying to stay up later so that we could sleep until daylight, we’ve ended up in bed by 2000 again.

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It was a struggle to sleep until daylight this morning but after several false awakenings, the sun was up. We headed down toward Makena which is where everyone said the good snorkeling was. Along the way, we passed through Waimea which seems to be the trendy, upscale part of the island. When we got down to Makena, we asked around to find out where the good snorkeling was and were referred to Ahi Hi Bay. When we got there, there were already several snorkelers there so the people must have been right. It was a state protected bay so the coral and fish were supposed to be healthy and plentiful. They were right. The fish were all around our ankles as soon as we stepped into the water. And the water was so nice and clear (unlike the other protected bay at Honolua state park). This was also the first water that was cold enough to make it difficult to force myself into it. Makes sense since all of our snorkeling has been in the afternoons when the water was already warmed. This was our first time snorkeling just after sunup and the water was just not warmed yet. The bay was terrific because the whole thing was fairly shallow, clear, and packed with fish. After a short while and a short distance from the shore, we spotted an octopus! He was very cool, even if more than a little timid. Every time Randal dove down to get his closeup, he ducked back into his little reef-hole. Big meanie. We floated quietly above him for quite some time watching him poke his head and/or tentacles out and then pulling back in when we tried to photograph him. It was very exciting. I haven’t seen a live octopus since a fishing trip on the Banana River with my dad and brother when I was very young. I think it was my brother who caught the octopus. Anyhow, this one brought back good memories and was just plain old neato. Eventually, after Randal had swam off a little (darn him!) the little guy reached out and grabbed eight different rocks on the reef to pull himself up out of the hole. I watched him climb all the way to the top of the coral, making full use of each of his appendages, and when I finally caught Randal’s attention, he ducked down into another hole. Randal was bummed that he missed the whole thing. I was too; those would have been some great pics (assuming the little guy got over his shyness). We finally left him alone and continued exploring other fishies. There were just so many of them. We even met another couple who lives in the same community we live in. A small world indeed. After a couple of hours, we decided we’d had enough snorkeling and started heading back to Kahului. By the time we got to our hotel, it had become quite apparent that we had forgotten to put on sun screen this morning before snorkeling. Now I grew up in Florida and went to the beach fairly often growing up. I have never had a real sunburn. I’ve gotten a little pink before but it always turns tan within a day or two. Today, I passed sunburn and went straight to scorched skin. But only on the back of me. My legs hurt, my lower back hurts, my shoulders and neck are in excrutiating pain! I cannot believe how red I am. I cannot believe how painful it is. I cannot believe I was so stupid to forget sunblock. My hubby and I are going to coat each other in aloe and then I’m going to bed and hoping that this goes away when I wake up.

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Well, since this is a happy vacation, I’m going to refrain on commenting on our night. Let’s just say I know a hotel that will be receiving a letter soon. We got up around 0430 this morning to get to the airport for our flight to the Big Island. We had a short layover on Oahu but they let us stay on the plane so it wasn’t such a pain. Speaking of pain, it wasn’t just a nightmare. The flesh is still well-seared and quite painful. I could not stand to put on a shirt this morning so I wrapped the sarong that Jonna brought back for me when they were here around me. Sidenote: sarongs are a wonderful and magical clothing option – terrific as quick, casual skirts and wonderful for a non-shoulder/neck abrasive top. Clearly, I need a wardrobe full of sarongs. Such a shame that they aren’t as accepted as clothing on the mainland. The flights were short and uneventful. We got to the Big Island, got our van, and started along the southern road. We stopped at the southern-most point in the United States and took some pics of the huge waves. We thought we were going to see a green sand beach there but the maps did not mention that it was a two mile walk to get to it and, unfortunately, we just didn’t have time. Further up the road, we did stop at the black sand beach (where I finally saw some mongooses). It was pretty but really was not much different from the dark granite beaches of Alaska. We didn’t stick around there long. We had a date with Kilauea before sunset. We ended up getting to Volcanos National Park around 1600 and made a stop at the visitor center for a 20 minute film and some hiking maps and information. We then headed straight down toward the coast. When we got to the parking area, we could already see the steam coming from the shoreline a couple of miles away. We donned our rain gear in order to spite the heavy rain that was battering down on us and walked about .5 mile up the road to where a lava flow had blocked the pavement. We then hiked a short distance across the piles of lava to get a decent vantage point. We made it just around dusk – still light enough to get pics of the steam rising from the sea as the hot lava flowed into the water, but just dark enough that we could already see the red glow of the lava. As it got darker, the hillside turned out to be the better show. The lava was glowing nicely up there. And even though we were still a good distance away, we could see the movement of it. Every so often we could catch a good glimpse of the glow at the sea, but for the most part the steam was obscuring it in the dark. What a great experience to see flowing lava. Granted, we could have hiked further and gotten a little bit closer, but I don’t think it would have gotten us National Geographic close and we could see it well enough. Not to mention, this was our first night of really staying awake past dark so it was way past our bedtime. We sat through a few rain squalls, mesmerized by the liquid rock and after a while we turned on our little flashlight and found our way back across the other-earthly landscape to the paved road. We drove back up out of the park to a little campground down the road from the park entrance that had running water (no, I haven’t been able to get that primitive yet, I like a flushing toilet).