Memories of A Lost Land

Back in March I wrote about the Puna District on the Big Island of Hawai'i that I love so much. The last time we had been there was in January - and had I known that it literally would be the last time that I'd see it this way I probably would have taken way more photos than I actually did. But the memories of this now lost land are in my heart and it's where they will stay.

A big part of Puna has changed forever and is still changing every day. While it comes as no surprise that an active volcano would behave - well, actively - it is still heart breaking. Having your home being consumed by lava that creeps into your backyard is simply terrible. Even though the people had enough time to save a lot of their things, their homes are lost, and even those houses that remain standing may be unreachable because of the lava flow.

This beautiful road along the coast - Highway 137 - is cut off in several places, covered by lava. The lava flew down from Leilani Estates, crossed the highway and entered the ocean.

I fell in love with Puna during our first visit to the Big Island, and most of these pictures are from the summer of 2016.

It's a rugged coast, rough and black. No white sandy beaches are found here, only lava beaches, either rocky or with black sand. There's an abundance of palm trees and, since this is the rainy side of the island, rich and plentiful vegetation. It rains a lot here.

Along this coast there are (or should I say "were") bays and beaches where you could stop, just hang out, surf, talk to the locals or just sit in a chair and look out over the ocean. Often someone brought fruit for everyone to share.

Some of these places still exist since the lava didn't go everywhere, but it might be a challenge to reach these spots.

I'm pretty sure that this road no longer exists. It leads to Kapoho Bay - with wonderful tide pools and great snorkeling. The lava from fissure 8 has entered the ocean here and Kapoho Bay is no more.

While all of this is incredibly sad, it is also amazing and beautiful at the same time. Nature definitely never stops to fascinates, and it does what it wants. No way we can manage it. We can be smart and prepared, but in the end we can only react to what nature has in store for us - much of it as a result of our own destructive behavior. Remember the principle of the seventh generation I wrote about? It certainly doesn't apply to an active volcano, but it's still good to keep in mind.

This is what hot lava looks like (this is the lava flow in 2016) - you can see more pictures here:

I am forever grateful that I could experience Puna in January one more time. The avocado tree house is still standing, but it is difficult to get there. Highway 130 from Pāhoa to Kalapana has several cracks that are worrisome, but as far as I know you can still drive there (only if you're a resident though). At the moment an emergency road is bulldozed through the lava across Chain of Craters Road in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (where I took the pictures of the lava above), but that would be a huge detour. Still, better than having no way out...

When Clouds Cry

Hawai'i is such a sunny paradise, right?

Nope.

Well, yes, of course it is. But it is also very humid and that gorgeous vegetation doesn't come out of a dry soil. At least not in those parts that are covered with rain forests, like the Southeastern part of the Big Island. It is stunningly beautiful and it is... wet. Very wet.

This is the Puna District, and it's probably the least well-known part of the Big Island. It does rain a lot here, and I mean a LOT. The skies just open up and the water gushes down. For people who are chasing the sun this is certainly not the place to go. There are no sand beaches here, but the coast is stunning. Wild and rugged. Lava coast, of course. We're right at the foot of the volcano after all.

These four photos above were taken within one hour, and you can see how quickly the weather changes. From grey skies and heavy clouds to some blue gaps and rays of sun and then back to torrential rain.

Highway 137 - a favorite road of mine - winds along the coast, most of the time very close to the sea so that you can hear the ocean roar and sometimes the spray of the waves hits the windshield. My favorite part is driving through those natural tunnels made out of bizarrely crooked trees that bend over the road.

It feels a bit like being in Tolkien's Middle Earth  - I was expecting either some elves or Treebeard to appear among the tree stems.

On the Southeast corner, at Cape Kumukahi, we parked the car and went through the lava moonscape down to the ocean - we started in the sun and ended up in the rain. Of course. Even though there is mostly lava here, new life is fighting its way to the light, dotting the mostly black landscape with its cheerful green color.

By the time we reached the water it had started to rain again and everything was grey, but the ocean was stunning. It never disappoints. Just look at those colors.

Puna District and the volcano are the areas that first come to my mind when I think of Hawai'i. No sand beaches for me (except for black sand, but that is for another post).

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Have you ever visited my Etsy shop?

From March 22-29 I'm having a spring sale.

15% everything in the store.

A Late Honeymoon

When the Geek and I married we never had a honeymoon. It didn't come to mind back then - there were other things that were way more important and urgent - and we never thought that we had missed out on something. But when Kaefer left home to go away to college, things changed. It took us a while to get used to the fact that we were kind of "free" people now and could go on trips and weekend excursions whenever we wanted. Well, not quite, there are certain times when I have to be at work like the beginning and end of the school year because that time is always mayhem. But that's only a few weeks a year, and the rest is for us to decide what to do with it - on top of my free time during the summer.

Last year the Geek and I also decided not to give each other gifts anymore for Christmas and birthdays but instead save the money and go on trips instead. We both love to travel and it really isn't hard to "sacrifice" those gifts. Traveling is a gift in itself.

When we had a family vacation in Hawai'i back in the summer of 2016 for Kaefer's graduation we fell in love with the Big Island. Back then we stayed in the Avocado Tree House and thought that we should have spent more time there. So it was a very easy decision to go back there and finally have a honeymoon after 20 years of marriage.

This time we stayed for ten days. This part of the Big Island is in the Puna District which gets a lot of rain, and we certainly got our share of that. However, the island is so small that it only takes an hour to drive or so to be in the sun, and it's always warm, whether it rains or not. That wasn't the only difference to our last stay, though. The fruit that we got from our hosts was different as well, of course. This time we had the apple bananas (so delicious), abiu, papaya, rollinia and rambutan which were my favorite.

I was very happy to meet our old friends again, the Gold Dust Day Geckos. They are incredibly cute and quite some fun company.

Whenever I was thinking of the Big Island the volcano came to mind. Kīlauea was a magical place when we first visited it, and it kept its magic this time.

We did a lot of hikes at the volcano, hikes that I had dreamt of for the past 18 months. Now we finally hiked those trails, craters and desert, over old and newer lava, faithfully following the rock cairns - called Ahu - and enjoying nature in this special place.

There was no lava flow in January, no ocean entry of the hot fiery liquid stuff. If you were willing to do a very long and hard hike (we're talking 10 - 12 miles here) you could see some lava flow further up the slope, but since we had seen the lava in 2016 we skipped on that hike since we know how hard it really is.

For the first time we saw Nēnē, the endangered Hawai'ian goose and state bird. Back in 2016 we never saw a single one, but this time we saw so many of them. They are quite beautiful birds.

The Puna District belongs to the rain forest and it certainly rains a lot here. The result is wonderful vegetation, a lot of birds and the drives along the rather narrow roads here are beautiful. I like it when the trees form a tunnel over the road.

The 'Ohi'a Lehua is a unique tree that is endemic to Hawai'i. It grows in different habitats and it usually is one of the first plants that grows out of lava. It's quite astonishing to see a huge field of dark lava and there are trees with the most beautiful flowers growing seemingly effortless out of it.

Of course we went to the ocean - you can't really avoid it when in Hawai'i. After all, the islands are surrounded by the wild and wet stuff. And wild it was!

There are warnings everywhere on the cliffs not to go too close to the edge, but there are always people who know better. I find it quite amusing - human stupidity doesn't know any limits.

I found a heart shaped coral at a beach that was covered in white, orange and pink corals. And we were so lucky to see some Green Sea Turtles resting at a Black Sand Beach or swimming and feeding in low water. Some more unforgettable sights.

Of course there were rainbows and sunsets.

We ate lots of Poke - and I mean lots of. There's a shed that makes the best Poke that we frequented often - it is just so darn good. I have to learn how to make real good Poke since I get sushi grade ahi at my neighborhood market.

It was sad to leave the Big Island after ten wonderful days. I'm pretty sure we will be back. This is such a magical place. During those ten days I didn't read the paper neither watched TV (there isn't a TV in the Avocado Tree House) and it was very relaxing not to hear any disturbing news. We were on an island!

This is what we brought home from Hawai'i - you can see our priorities... little pouches for Kaefer, lots of Kona and peaberry coffee, Macademia nuts for me and Alaea Red Hawai'ian sea salt (for Poke).