Hawaii - The Big Island, Part 2

Since the Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes, it only made sense to stop by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Unfortunately, portions of the park were closed due to the amount of sulphur dioxide in the air. However, the places we could go were well worth it.

This is steam coming out of Kilauea. Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world! There is lava flowing from it daily, but it can't be seen from where this picture was taken. The lava actually flows through lava tubes out to the ocean where it is creating 20 new acres of land each year!

We were able to see Mauna Loa from the Kilauea Crater. Mauna Loa is the world's largest volcano standing over 13,000 feet high! It looks rather hazy in the picture, but this haze is actually known as vog a.k.a. volcanic smog. Sadly, vog is everywhere on this side of the island.

We took this picture with what little daylight was left of the remnants of a town destroyed by lava.

Not far from this is where you can watch lava flow into the ocean. We were warned by park rangers not to go out there unless we had pants and close-toed shoes on (we had neither), but we went anyway. I was a little nervous, but once I got there I simply laughed. The only reason they recommend wearing pants and close-toed shoes is because the lava is really sharp and if you were to fall on it, it would tear you up pretty bad (you should have seen the bottom of my flip flops after walking on it!) Well, Andy and I had this preconceived idea that we would walk out and see maybe a flowing "river" of lava or something? No, not even close. We couldn't really even see anything. However, we could hear it hitting the ocean and making a sizzling sound because it was so hot, but all we could see was steam and once in awhile a reflection.

This is the best picture we could get...

Speaking of Mauna Loa, it wouldn't be a trip to Hawaii without going to a mac nut farm! We ran out to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory and did the self guided tour and left. The only thing I really learned was it takes 300 pounds per square inch or pressure to crack the shell. Other than that, it wasn't very interesting. Plus, they rip you off. We went to Walmart down the road and stocked up on macadamia nuts for much cheaper.

While we waited for Chris to finish school, we killed time at the Pana'ewa Zoo. Hey, it was free!

To top off the day, we headed to Kona. On the way, we stopped at South Point, the southernmost point of the United States. It was here that Andy and Chris jumped off the cliff as I was freaking out! It was already an overcast day and it was beginning to get dark and we couldn't really tell the depth of the water. Chris assured Andy (me, really) that it was deep enough, but I also know that Andy is just a tad bit bigger than Chris, therefore going deeper. After a bit of contemplation, they both jumped, had a joyous time, and we were on our way. Later Chris told us that sharks frequent the area...