Our Adventure In Hawaii

Mark pulled a coconut out of the refrigerator so we could enjoy our first refreshingly carbonated fresh coconut right out of the coconut. Mark then showed us his coffee trees, and we purchased some of his freshly ground home grown coffee!

Both of us have always wanted to explore the islands of Hawaii. As winter was in full swing we figured that there was no better time than now to make that dream come true. After much research we opted for a month on the big island aptly named Hawaii. We purchased one way plane tickets on March 1 figuring that if we wanted to spend more time there we could. We rented a full house near Hilo for $40 per night and an all wheel drive Buick (of all brands) for $60 per day. Something seemed wrong with that but, you know. We will update the blog as our adventures dictate but for now, our first day was spent simply wandering near our home base. As with most of our travels we opt for meeting locals and taking in their stories and advice. We first met Mark, a 60 something farm market owner. He was in the Air Force and called himself a “gun runner” for the Afghans back in the war with the Soviet Union. As his dad was a Pearl Harbor survivor he found himself back here making a living as a farmer. We got lots of good advice (hopefully) regarding special sites and destinations that he thought worthy. He pointed us to a dirt road that was recently re-scraped (what locals call turning a new lava flow into a road) after the 2016 eruption of Mauna Loa. Off we went to explore:

We spotted a nice spot to pull off the road where the lava had just recently flowed to the sea. There was no real path to follow but, as with life, we just put one foot in front of the other and soon we were walking across the lava flow. So cool to be walking on new land!

The colors buried deep in the lava were spectacular.

I even tried to help create a path to the ocean for future lava walkers to use by building a rock cairn to guide the way.

It amazed us that the vegetation was already growing back. Who knew lava had the ability to allow green plants to grow?

After about an hour we reached the ocean. As we are on the windward side of the island, the surf is generally a bit rougher but oh my how the blue came through.

We noticed a number of abandoned cars along this small dirt road. We were later informed that there is now no place on the island to bring junked cars to for salvage so folks tend to simply leave them abandoned. Some locals appear to salvage them during the night before authorities paint the big letters AV on them. Abandoned vehicles are then eventually towed away to the big car graveyard in the sky.

As it appeared we were reaching the “end of the road” we came across a freshly scraped driveway with some signs signifying that there might be someone home that could tell us a bit about the area:

A short quarter mile drive found us at a small house with its owner Gary coming out to greet us. Gary was a self named “Lava Addict” who has lived on the lava flow near the ocean for around 15 years now. He was able to get a special permit that allowed him to track the lava flow while working with volcanologists to track the lava flow, he captured phenomenal pictures during this up close and personal experience with the lava flow. Originally from Wisconsin he fell in love with lava, and hence the area, back when he was visiting on vacation in 2005. He went on to tell us the story of how he purchased the land and built a small home. His stories of how the native Hawaiians treated him were mind boggling. His story of how he watched his house get burnt to the ground when the lava flowed over it were even more mind boggling. He filled us in on a number of other places to go and explore before selling us a DVD that chronicled the building and burning of his first house. I jokingly inquired if he had lava insurance and to our surprise, he did. That allowed him to rebuild on the same spot that the lava had claimed his previous home.

Gary is a professional photographer that makes his living selling occasional tourists like us a poster or dvd. What a great time we had with him.

Gary was nice enough to label all the different lava beds with the dates they flowed.

We cannot argue with the sentiments here (not the no parking sign!)

Next it was off to find the black sand beach both Gary and Mark clued us in on. They also said it was a “clothing optional beach”. We of course “opted for”.

An ominous sign for those who would be going swimming.

This is the only picture we took or would post….Sorry the pics of the black sand will have to wait for another post.

Our last stop of the day was Isaac Hale State Park. Our GPS told us it was permanently closed (we figured that was because the 2018 lava flow was right there creating 800 new acres of land)

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