Big Island Trip - Part II

Saturday.

We left the camp early, geared up for an adventure like no other. I didn't bother having breakfast, knowing that I had some bread in the boot of Badass Black. At around 9am we reached the lava flows at Kīlauea, where I met up again with the MIX group and retrieved the aforementioned bread. Dressed in long pants, hiking shoes and garden gloves, we donned our fluoro vests and stocked up on oranges and muesli bars. After a quick briefing from my instructor, we crossed the safety rope and entered Pele's domain.




From afar, we could see the glow of a few embers. Tree branches seemed to spontaneously burst into flame. This is where new land is formed. I'll let the video (and the overly-dramatic car music) do the talking:

It was really cool. Scratch that remark - it was incredibly HOT. There's a part in one of my clips where you can hear me say "I can't... It's too hot!" but I decided against sharing that with you. Anyway, we took some temperature measurements using this fancy rod thing, and the highest recording was about 1,150 degrees Celsius. I must have been trying too hard to break that record that I instead broke the equipment, and we couldn't take any further measurements. Whoops.

Moving on, we trekked a little further, down to where the lava was spilling into the ocean. A giant column of steam steadily rose out of the ocean, sprinkling us with the occasional dose of acid rain. It was here that I noticed my camera was really starting to play up. After a while of half-listening to the teacher, we hiked back to the cars. I remained with the geology crew while the MIX group went on their own adventures, the plan being to meet up with them on the Kona side of the island on Sunday afternoon.

Lunch with the geology crew took place at the beach. But not just any beach - this beach had black sand!

We also checked out this lighthouse that was (somewhat miraculously) saved from Pele's wrath.

Dinner that night was really cool - my new friends treated me to a local seafood dish. You put some poi on your fork, then add the poke, dip it in the shoyu. After dinner, we returned to the lava flows to see it glow in the dark. I was more interested in how big and bright the full moon was, and I spent a lot of time gazing through binoculars at Jupiter and two of its moons. Finally, our last stop brought us to the caldera and its eerie red glow.

Can you see the face?

It was a long day, and I passed out immediately when I climbed into my bed.

The weekend continues here.