Hawaii Trip 2-16-2013

For today's adventure, Dave and I headed out on our own, expecting a long hike through rough terrain.  Well, to be fair, about 5 miles roundtrip, but when you are navigating a field of lava flow with no marked trail, it can be pretty strenuous!  We wanted to see where the lava flows into the sea and even if we hadn't gone that far, the lava flows we walked through were breath-taking.  Pele was bronze, black, gold, silver, sparkling, braided, corded, cracked and every other formation you could think of.  It was a hot hike in the black lava, even with a steady wind.  Don't try this without water!

 

 And we finally made it!  You can see the red molten lava flowing off the tip of this newly forming land.

 

While we were watching the lava flow into the sea, we happened to glance to the right and see some lava flowing even closer! 

 

 

 

After this exhilerating lava tour, we headed for the Wai'opae Tidepools.  These naturally formed pools are protected from the crashing waves, but a treasure trove for the snorkeler.  With the wind blowing pretty hard, I was actually pretty cold, but hung on as long as I could in this underwater paradise.  The fish were amazing.  I saw a little puffer fish too, but he was camera shy.

Saddle Wrasse

Possibly a Blackspot Sergeant

Some kind of bird wrasse?

 

Convict Tang

 

I believe this large fish is a blacktail snapper.  He was about a foot long. 

 

Hawaii Trip 2-15-2013

The 15th proved a very soggy day, but we didn't let that stop us!  We all drove to Akaka Falls and enjoyed the little nature walk through the rainforest to the 420 foot falls.

This was a massive amazing viny entangled tree system. 

Banana Flower- you can just make out tiny bananas starting beneath.

Akaka Falls- 420ft plunge

After getting thoroughly soaked but energized with the walk, we piled back in the car and drove out to the coast.  On the way we went down beautiful viney roads and alongside a papaya field.

I finally got to snorkel!  My first time ended up being in a sort of man and nature collaborated pool. Evidentally there are volcanically heated springs which feed into this, so people made a kind of swimming pool connected to the ocean, so fish can come and go and the temperatures vary depending on the tide.  Ahalanui Warm Spring. 

Dave setting up the GoPro Cam for Tina- all underwater pics in this blog from my Fujifilm though.

Raccoon Butterfly Fish

Convict Tang