Hilo January 28^th

After sailing all night we landed on the Hilo side of Hawaii.  I’m not completely sure I like this sailing thing. It’s very hard to walk sometimes as you are not sure if you are going to crash into the person next to you. The Hilo side of the mountain is very rainy. They get 375 cm of rain per year so of course, it was raining when we got there. The tour we took was called the Land of Frozen Fire and it was about the effects of lava on the island. The volcano makes underground tunnels and will spew up lava out of a tunnel  miles away with no warning. There are caves and tunnels connected to the volcano everywhere so you really have to stay on the path. One part that was very interesting was where the lava had come down the side of the mountain and filled in the ocean. The lava went out one mile on a seven mile stretch of beach. It is unbelievable to see so much lava. The beach that was once there with lovely black sand has now disappeared and there is only lava for as far as the eye can see. There is a house that is still standing where the lava had just gone around it and the rest of the town (Kalapala) has disappeared.  They are allowed to grow marijuana here but only about 6 plants for personal use. It is called pakalolo or crazy cigarette.

We also went to a McKenzie Park where there was a pool coming off the ocean (man-made) and again you can see the cracks in the earth where the lava tunnels are and small animals like mongoose live in there where it’s warm and radiating heat. We’ve taken lots of pictures but sorry to say we can’t download them all.

When this lava came out of the volcano, it completely covered the beach 1 mile deep by 7 miles in width.

When the lava rolled over the trees, it made them look like statues like this one. Over time a tree will grow out of the top of it. Amazing, isn't it?

 

 

Here we are enjoying our day of touring the lava. All the islands are made up of lava and as the lava comes out of the volcano, there is more land.