Resonant Constellation

Day 6: Volcano & Area
8:00 PM
Today was another busy day, though we left a little later than hoped. We began our venture heading south towards the southernmost point in the United States. Though we didn’t stop there, we stopped at a restaurant claiming to be the southernmost restaurant in the U.S. The food was adequate, but not stunning.

Along the way, we also passed through Captain Cook, which is a town near the place where the real Captain Cook was killed. Apparently when Hawaii was made a part of the U.S., the Queen gifted the small plot of Captain Cook Death Scene land to the English, though you don’t need your passport to go there. This gives new life to the old saying, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

From south point, we headed to Kilauea crater, which has been continuously erupting for several years, though at varying intensity. At the main crater, we saw an enormous sulfurous plume rising from a mysterious hole in the ground, and many side vents periodically turning off and on throughout the whole time we were there. The smell of sulfur was not pervasive, but it certainly was present, and would have been much worse had the plume been blowing towards us (though if it had, we probably wouldn’t have been allowed out of our cars).

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Day 4: Mauna Kea, Hilo, and Waterfalls
10:00 PM (HI)
Yesterday was a slow, lazy day, so there’s really no entry, but today was rather busy, so there’s likely to be a lot. Starting out at about 9 AM, our drive to Mauna Kea began easily enough, but we soon encountered a poorly maintained stretch of windy, hilly road that led up to a state park visitor’s center. Soon enough, though, Hawaii’s typical excellent road quality was restored, and our ride became much smoother.

As we progressed into the saddle between the two large volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, we observed intense vog (volcano fog) on the slopes of Mauna Loa. While Mauna Kea is more compact and has more varied terrain, Manua Loa appears to be a perfect shield volcano-straight slopes all the way down to the sea. The sight is rather impressive, and though it doesn’t appear so tall (even though it is at about 500 feet short of being a 14,000 foot peak), the most impressive facet is the sheer extent of the volcano-truly massive.

Our route took us up the slopes of Mauna Kea to the Observatory visitor’s center. Outside, they had set up a 10 inch telescope with a solar filter, and though there are only a few very small sunspots visible at the moment, it still drew quite a crowd. We were informed at the desk inside that our car was likely not up to the trip to the top of the mountain, so we decided to forego the trip and perhaps try it another day. From here, we decided to head to Hilo for lunch and then north to view some waterfalls.

Lunch in Hilo was rather amazing. We found a small family owned thai restaurant that was highly recommended by our guidebook. We ordered several dishes, including an excellent chicken satay, thai fried rice, an amazing spicy green curry, and wonderful noodles with thai basil, but the star of the show, by far, was the cashew chicken. The sauce, we figured out, was a combination of red curry paste and coconut milk, and was as unique as it was amazing. Nearly every time I have thai cuisine, I’m convinced that it’s the best thai I’ve ever had, but this time is going to be hard to equal.

We finally headed for some waterfalls on a quick hike, and discovered amazing scenery along the way along with some peculiar flowers. As usual, I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

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Day 2: Kona-Submarine & Luau
11:30 PM (HI)
Today was a big day. Perhaps the best way to put it would be to say this: I took more pictures today on my digital camera than I ever have before in a single day (~530 total). I’d say that 60% of these photos are not really all that great for one reason or another. Perhaps 35% are okay pictures, though, and 5% are very good. One or two are actually great pictures, which is always encouraging-getting even a few right is always good.

We started the day by heading to the large harbor to the north for our submarine ride. We were very early, and consequently had quite some time to wait around. This we spent watching the ocean and surmising on the possible presence of sharks (which my dad hates). When the guides arrived, they told us that they only saw a shark maybe once every month which set my dad at ease, but slightly disappointed me. We were soon on the short ferry ride over to our little submarine, and after a five minute ride, boarded the undersea craft.

Immediately when we got underwater, everything turned blue. As we dove deeper, this simply intensified, and at about 60 feet under we basically lost the color red. Throughout the entire trip, we were followed by many Sergeant Majors (a small black and white striped fish which apparently like submarines), and while down on the sea floor, we saw approximately seven species of fish by my count including surgeonfish, yellow tang, pufferfish, and at least one eel. These were all most common among the several shipwrecks we passed.

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Day 0: Travel 12/24/2009
10:44 AM (AZ), 9:44 AM (CA), 7:44 AM (HI)

As I sit here in the spectacular and dazzling Tucson International Airport, slowly forcing some so-called “Mango Chunks,” (these taste…green. Even though they’re yellow…) into my reluctant stomach, I find I actually have some time to collect myself from this morning’s hectic activities. You might say that I woke up at around 9:00 AM to take a shower, and you’d technically be right. However, in reality, I also woke up at 3 AM, 5 AM, and 6 AM during a long and restless night. It seems my upstairs neighbor decided to stomp around his apartment at all hours of the night, then take a shower at 6 AM for no apparent reason. Wonderful.

This horribleness was compounded by a seemingly perpetually sour stomach which started several days ago and simply refuses to abate. The “mangoes” this morning were a bid to settle it, since I seemed to be craving some fruit. Even though these “mangoes” were horrible, I take solace in the fact that soon I will be in a place with some truly excellent fruit. Maybe I’ll get some real mangoes when I get there. The real kicker is that I usually don’t even like mangoes.

While reading through my old Australia Travelogue (written nearly a year ago, which in itself is mind-boggling), I noticed that we flew over Hawaii on our way out, and I mentioned that it was a place which I badly wanted to visit. I would never have guessed that I’d be going there only a year later. I think that I should continue this tradition of flying far to the south-west of where I live next year and visit New Zealand. I can dream, can’t I?

In any case, my friend Doug picked me up around 10 this morning and dropped me off at the airport. After a relatively quick check-in and security process (made only slightly longer by one or two inexperienced travelers and one extremely pushy woman), I came to my usual ‘flying out of Tucson’ gate, A6. For some reason, I always get this one, no matter where I’m going. Being an experienced flyer (I’ve averaged about 7 flights a year for the last four years), I’m always amazed when I hear that grown people are flying for only their first or second time ever (example: my friend Doug has been on an airplane once that he remembers). I don’t think of it as a novel experience anymore-an incredible one, to be sure, but not anything special. I suppose my several trans-oceanic flights make me rather more unique as well. I know very few people (outside the ones who have taken these trips with me) who have flown across both the Pacific and the Atlantic.

So, dear constant reader, that’s where I’ll leave you for now. I’ve got about half an hour before boarding my first plane of the day-a minor flight to LAX before setting off on the real adventure. I’ll next update when something interesting happens.
LJS-11:10 AM (Tucson)

I’ll be spending Gravmas (or Apple Day), my 22nd birthday, and New Year’s in Hawaii. Expect to see a travelogue posted here when the trip starts. I’ll add each entry as a separate post, but I’ll also set up a separate page for the entire log (like my Australia Travelogue). This trip includes a submarine ride and hopefully a visit to the top of Mauna Kea to see some large telescopes. I leave on the 24th, so start checking for updates then!

Note: you should also check out my new Travelogues page, which has links to each of the logs, and info on upcoming travels.