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After a fantastic day of diving off the Kona bay we went to see some hot
lava. The top 2 pictures were taken on the Saddle Road, the only road
that goes across the big island. It connects Kona to Hilo the 2 big
cities on the island. The road was chopped right through several recent
lava flows. This lava flow was from 1910 there were other lava flows
as recent as 1945 that we drove across. It seemed to me that after
about 80-100 years small plants and moss started to grow in the lava.
The big mountain is Mona Kia. It is a bit older that Mona Loa but they
have both been active with in the last 50 years. If you look close
you can see several white dots on top of the mountain. These are the
observatories atop the mountain at 13,465 feet. The elevation was to
high for us to visit because we had just been scuba diving the day before.
Finally on the south west corner of the island we drove until the road was
blocked by the fresh lava and a police barricade. The glowing box of
television news told us that the police barricade went up 2 days before we
arrived because there were too many people getting too close to the lava.
We drove around a bit more around, found a parking place, and went off to
see what we could see. We followed these no hiking signs from the road
all the way down to the black sand beach. From the beach we could see
steam from where the lava entered the ocean. This steam was 5-6 miles
from where we could get to. It began to rain and we decided that
seeing fresh molten earth was just not in the cards today. All around
the beach we saw lots and lots of these little palm trees. After closer
inspection we concluded that the trees were planted but it made the beach
look pretty. On the bottom row of pictures is Pa hoy hoy lava.
When this lava flowed it was very hot and fluid like toothpaste. Lastly
here I am standing in the rain pointing at the steam.