Highlight of our October time in Hawaii was our day on the Big Island seeing the changes caused by the volcanic activity of last year. Our guide for the day was my honourary uncle Scott. The changes to Halema'uma'u, the active crater of Kilauea volcano, are spectacular. The first photo is from our first visit in 2013. The crater was, relatively speaking, fairly shallow and flat with a small active vent. This year things are different. Firstly, the spot where the 2013 photo was taken is now inside the crater. The visitors centre and parking area that was there have been badly damaged and some has dropped into the crater. All tracks that let you near the crater walls have warnings that you had better take notice of. For example, the track we followed had steam blowing across it from cracks in the ground near the track The access road we used in 2013 is now cracked across in several places and is impassable. The crater itself is around 3 times the size and nearly 600 metres deep. The best place to see the crater now is from Volcano House where these photos were taken from. In the right-hand photo of the middle row, you can see the ochre colour of sulphur , and in the image below it there is a bit of the road we drove in 2013, now on a ledge that has slipped down the crater wall. The big photo shows how the crater walls are still cracking and slipping, the rock-falls inside the crater, and the ponds that are forming at the crater bottom. Things have quietened down now, but could start up again any time, the volcano is still classed as active. If you want a guide to the best the Big Island has to offer, contact Scott at Apau Hawaii Tours; you can't do better.
Labels: Hawaii, volcano
# posted by Bart Bear @ 3:55 pm
