Today was the day! We still can’t believe our incredible luck.
Last night we had organized and packed our things for the drive from Volcano Village to Kona, where we would be staying for the remainder of this trip. It was going to take only a couple of hours, however, so we had most of the day to take our time and find random activities to do.
While Kilauea had been giving off periodic spurts of lava yesterday and overnight, most of such activity had reduced to steam by this morning. But, the USGS website said that a fountaining event was highly likely to occur today.
We loaded up the car and checked out of the cottage at 8 AM and drove directly to the park and the overlook closest to the crater. There were perhaps a dozen other vehicles and more than a few people that were set up at the overlook area for the long haul. They had lawn chairs, blankets, snacks, and binoculars. Some USGS employees were hanging around in yellow reflective vests.
The sky above us was clear and the wind was keeping the clouds at bay and away from Mauna Loa, we we were treated to a full view of the area.
It was our last possible day to see the volcano go off, and we decided to hang around for a couple of hours. At around 8:30 some fast moving but low lava could be seen overflowing from the active vent. Neat! Within about 20 more minutes it began to bubble a little. Then the bubbling gradually went higher. I told Hans to hold our spot while I ran back to the car. I dashed back to the parking lot, which was starting to fill in. I grabbed the camera tripod, some snacks, the sunscreen, water bottles, and our beach/picnic blanket from home.
When I returned to the overlook more people had begun to assemble along the fence. The lava bubbled still higher.
I noticed that an array of little remote robots and scientific equipment was near the vent. The USGS site said that the lava bubbles were about 50 feet high. At this point Hans and I decided that we were going to stick around for a while. Gradually, over the course of 3 hours, recognition set in among the spectators that this was indeed the predicted fountaining event number 50 that we were witnessing. Every once in a while everyone would suddenly fall silent as the low sound of the volcano rumbling and roaring could be heard.
The previous event had reached a height of about 600 feet and according to today’s measurements we were looking at a lava fountain over 700 feet high. A few times the smoke and tephra formed a cyclone next to the vent. The plume was reaching 10,000 feet high so I put my head/face covering on. It was mesmerizing to watch, but at 11:30 Hans and I finally had to tear our eyes away and leave the park.
We had hoped to be around for the event today but that would have been extremely lucky and we were already happy with what we had seen on the previous days. What a fun experience.
Unsurprisingly, every single parking lot in the park was full and NPS employees were having to hold and then direct traffic as space became available. The craziest part was that from the highway on our way to Kona we could see the lava fountain easily over the treeline! Hans and I hadn’t even been present for the full show, it turned out. Eventually the lava fountain peaked at a height of about a thousand feet and continued for several hours. All activity came to an abrupt and complete stop at about 5 PM.
By that time we were checked into the Royal Kona Resort. Along the way we made a quick detour to Punalu’u Beach, a nice little spot with black sand. We got to see a solitary green sea turtle taking a little nap on the shore.
The lava fields all around the highway were impressive. For a late lunch we stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop and had really good breakfast sandwiches made with their wonderful Portuguese sweet bread and Portuguese sausage. We also had a final round of malasada donuts.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park takes up a large portion of the big island and we were going to drive right past another section, the Kahuku Unit. The former cattle ranch land is now part of the national park and it features several old cones and lava fields. We did a short loop hike in the rain - which was honestly very welcome after standing in the sunshine at Kilauea earlier. It also kept the tephra at bay though we could smell the volcanic air periodically. It had a very interesting almost spicy scent to it. The bright red soil contrasted against the greenery.
As we walked along an old lava field we could see tiny flecks of green olivine, the substance that makes up Hawaii's Green Sand Beach. So, we didn't get to walk on the famous beach itself but we got to see some green sand, anyway!
We were a bit tired from the day’s events and being out in the elements all morning. The intense sun here is quite an experience. For dinner we went to nearby Kona Brewing Company.
Mauna Loa in the morning
The progression of the volcano over the course of three hours:
Pele came out to play
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