Hawaii Day Nine: June 21st, 2008

Today I set off to see Volcano National Park, situated about one hour from where I was staying near Pahoa. At the visitor’s center I learned several interesting things. First of all, The Big Island of Hawaii is larger than all the other major islands of Hawaii put together (Kauai, O’ahu, Maui, Lanai, and Molokai). It is largest because it is the youngest. The islands were all formed over a hot spot in the earth’s core (or one of the layers down below the crust), and eventually moved away from that hotspot as the Pacific plate moved. As the islands move on, and the volcanoes that formed them die, they begin to erode; thus, they shrink. The Big Island is formed out of five volcanoes. One is considered inactive – the one up in the northwest under the area known as Kohala.
The other four are active to varying degrees. The most active at the moment is Kilauea, which has been erupting continuously since 1983. Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. Mauna Kea, up to the north, has been quiet for a somewhat longer time. Hualalei is the volcano closest to the Kona resort area, located right under the current airport, in fact. The ranger who gave an orientation talk when I arrived at Volcano National Park said that Hualalei is overdue for an eruption. She erupts about every 200 years, as far back as records go, and the last eruption was in 1801. So people planning to visit The Big Island soon might want to consider flying in and out of Hilo, though it is often more expensive! Eruptions here are not the sudden volcano blows its top eruptions of cartoons, however, so there is usually time to escape from a lava flow. Or reroute a plane.

Despite the rain, I set out to examine the Kilauea Caldera from a few different angles. It is smoking away from a vent on the caldera floor, which glows red at night. Back in the 19th century the Caldera floor was a pit of lava, which sometimes sprouted lava fountains. Writers at the time, including Mark Twain, often likened it to the pits of hell. Now the molten lava is estimated to be about two miles underground, and has made itself some lava tubes in order to transport itself into the sea, and build a new coastline for The Big Island. The Hawaiian state government owns any new land created by lava. This can really wreck someone’s investment in beachfront property, so I recommend investing in one of the older islands.

As I tooled around the park, I stopped off to stand in a steam vent. When rain water falls into the fissures in the ground the lava heats the water up, and it flies back out as hundred degree steam. It’s very relaxing, and I think they should build little steam huts over some of the vents, but nobody asked me. Soon a heavy fog set in over the caldera, obscuring my view, so I returned to my hotel for a rest and dinner before the evening hula show.

The evening concert at the Kilauea Military Camp Theater was quite enjoyable. It featured Stan Kaina, a native of Maui, singing falsetto and playing the ukulele (which Hawaiians say “oo-koo-lay-lay” not “you-koo-lay-lay”) (and it is a Hawaiian word, so they probably know) (just FYI), Dwight Tokomoto, a native of O’ahu, on steel guitar, and Al Kaula, also from O’ahu, on bass and back-up vocals. Then there were 11 dancers, 3 men and 8 women, all of whom appeared to be over 50, who danced the hula. I thought it was really cool to see older women dance the hula, since they are the elders, and probably the masters of the dance. I thought Stan was a scream, too. He talked a lot, and about every third thing he said was “of course.” His hair was this weird orange color that looked like the color people’s hair turns sometimes when they dye it and then go swimming in a chlorinated pool. Kind of “vivid rust.” He was a great musician, and seemed very kind. He told everyone that the ukulele, though a Portuguese instrument, has a Hawaiian name. He said that “uku” means “flea” in Hawaiian, and “lele” means “jumping around” so the name “ukulele” means “fleas jumping around.” It is called that because that is how people’s fingers look when they play – from his gestures he seemed to be indicating the fingers that finger the notes look like fleas, not the strumming fingers, although I think that either or both could make sense. All in all it was the perfect way to spend the summer solstice! They even did a song for Pele, called “Aia La ‘O Pele.”