Kaimusailing

Here is another blog that I’ve found to be well written:
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https://www.sailblogs.com/member/eagleheartadventures/
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I like their journey up the Hudson to Lake Champlain and will follow their blog as they head up to French Canada.
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I call Hawaii every weekend and this past weekend was shocked at the advancement of the lava from a volcanic cone in Leilani Estates, yes a volcano in your backyard, all the way to the sea. The area of this activity is of great personal interest.
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When my parents moved to Hawaii about 40 years ago, they moved to a house about 7 miles downslope from where the current volcanic activity is taking place. At that time there was a similar commotion about spouting lava from a cone that became known as Pu’u O’o (Poo oo oh oh). They could see fiery fountains at night on the mountain above.
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I loved the coastal area around Kalapana and eastward to Kaimu Black Sand Beach, further eastward to Pohoiki and Kapoho. It was a quiet area and very picturesque. The black lava and white foam of the breaking waves was such a great contrast that the human eye and the photographic film could not resolve it. The sea water was deep cobalt blue, the waves were ocean waves, the depths right off that coast quickly run to over a mile, right offshore. The tropical vegetation included huge fruit trees that had been allowed to grow to full height and were never picked. The air would be full of the smell of fermenting fruit.
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There was a continuous circuit of the volcano from Keaau to the northeast, up Mauna Loa and diverting southward to the Kilauea caldera, Halema’uma’u. The road continued down the escarpment to the sea at Kalapana where it turned east and followed the coast to a junction known locally as The Four Corners. There a left at the intersection led to the town of Pahoa, inland, and the highway continued to Keaau, completing the circcuit.
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I made the trip with my father and saw all the sights. Kalapana was a quiet coastal town, Old Hawaii. We watched a group of public works workers stand and “talk story” leaning on their rakes and shovels. All afternoon. There was a quaint lunch shop for tourists and further down the road a state park visitor center for the volcano state park. It was as extensive as the visitor center up by the caldera. Essentially you would get the same presentation of information no matter if you started down by the sea or up on the mountain.
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It remained that way until a lava flow started to destroy Kalapana. Even the visitor’s center, a substantial building, was leveled, melted, burned away. The beautiful black sand beach was covered in rough lava. A secluded fresh water pond in a large cleft in the rocks, known as Queen’s Bath was over run. The local roads were blocked by large mounds of lava and residents were forced to abandon their homes, if they were still standing. More and more of the area was over run with lava floes. There was a continuous flow of lava to the sea at Kalapana from the mid 1980‘s till this year. Then it stopped and today’s eruption started.
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Fortunately we were able to take a boat tour to view the lava falling into the sea. Spectacular. Now you can’t do that. It stopped. Now it is again flowing into the sea closer to Pohoiki where we departed with the tour boat, but the area has been cut off by lava floes and tourists can’t get there. Tour boats are departing the city of Hilo, thirty miles away, a long haul to see lava drop into the sea.
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I took a lot of photographs of the area last year. Now it is forbidden to go there. Only residents, who are now ordered to evacuate. A single lane exit only road is being completed to allow them to retreat up the old Chain of Craters road, up to the Volcano State Park, which is closed to visitors. There has to be a way to exit and the flowing lava has cut off the exit in the other direction, to the east.
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My older brother had built a house at Kapoho but sold it to move closer to town, to Hilo. Now he is very glad to have moved out of Kapoho. A nice area now getting over run with lava. While visiting him at Kapoho a long while ago I took a hike at the 1960 Kapoho lava cone, and the lake within, known as Green Lake. This lake was sitting in the empty lava conduit and no one had been able to find the bottom. Very deep. The latest flow found a low spot at the edge of the cone and flowed into the lake. The entire lake boiled away in 3 1/2 hours.
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Here is a link to a well produced video of the latest lava flow:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_tjrHg7LOk
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Thanks to Sky News and USGS. The image is from the Hawaii247 news site.