Hawaii Apr. 6th - Hot Spring Quest

My plan for today was to soak in a lava heated hot spring, see beautiful ocean scenery, and possibly more lava. What I didn't plan on was being rained upon three times!

I decided to visit the Puna area, in the southeast. According to my guide-book, this is one of the least-visited and most scenic parts of the Big Island. It also wins in the most-recently-destroyed-by-lava category. Of course, as is typical of me, while I'd read my guidebook a couple of times, I forgot it at home. So I was going on vague memories of directions on how to find out-of-the-way places. Surprisingly, I found most of the good spots.


My first stop was Champagne Pool. This was reached down a dirt road, and then a 4WD-only road which I hiked down. Others drove it, even in their 2WD rental, but I preferred hiking to getting stuck in a rental. I did find out that while the hike wasn't bad, hiking when you mean to, with poles and hiking boots, is much more fun that walking down a road with a bunch of stuff.


The pool itself was nice and warm. There were a bunch of fish to see, and I'm getting better at snorkeling. If I'd bought an underwater camera, you'd see a few pictures of fish darting away. As it is, here's the scene from above.

Beautiful, but you'll note the advancing storm clouds. So, after lunch I decided to pack up and move on before getting rained upon. Ha! On the hike back, two different people did offer me a ride, but I decided to walk. I'm not sure why, but I did get soaked. It's a warm rain, not so bad.


Then I was off to another volcano-heated pool. This one was much more like a public swimming pool in shape, and contained many many more people. As I was wandering around, contemplating whether to swim, take a cold shower, and then attempt to get dry again, it started to rain. That and the crowd led me to take off to find another spot.


The next stop on my unguided tour was a public beach. While I thought the beaches wouldn't be too crowded since it wasn't the weekend, I hadn't counted on the Good Friday holiday. Oops. The guidebook had said to leave it to the locals on the weekend, since there aren't many beaches in this part of the island for families to gather at. Okay, one quick shot of the scenery, and then moving on. Can you sense a theme?

Further along the road I found another recreation area. Less crowded, but also less scenic. It featured pine trees (??) and the worst bathrooms I've experienced on the island (ick!) Going in the woods would have been a much better idea. It also featured pouring rain, so no pictures.


After another break to read my book, I ventured off again. This time, I spotted a sign that said "Snacks". Given that I hadn't seen a hint of commerce in many many miles, I decided to stop, and I was glad I did. I ended up at the welcome center of a yoga retreat. Ah, very relaxing! I had lunch, hot coffee, and the chance to sit in a comfy chair for a while and soak up the oh-so-mellow atmosphere. Very reminiscent of Women's Camp, although yoga-focused. I can now see why people go on these sort of retreats. Maybe I'll take up yoga! The coffee was delicious as well. I only wish I'd had dry clothes, since mine were still damp.


After a while, I was back in the car, driving down the road. I drove past more beautiful scenery (even in the rain) before heading for the volcano. This was the lava field that's caused so much recent destruction, and is down near the coast, outside of the national park. The county maintains a parking lot and a small viewing platform atop the lava which crossed the road. They also employ a couple of talkative people to inform the tourists. You can go view it up close via private hikes, but I chose not to do so.

The lava with plants is about 20 years old, from the original flow which destroyed a town and a couple of subdivisions. The lava without plants is 1 - 2 years old, from subsequent flows. The lava keeps forcing the county to re-route the road and move back the viewing area.

This person's house isn't remaining from the original lava flow. No, it was REBUILT on top of the lava. Apparently, since there are still original residents in un-destroyed homes, others wanted to move to the area as well. And since you can buy land for really cheap, people do so. They live off the grid via solar panels, collect rainwater and haul other water in, and have wireless internet service.


After having a look around, I decided to go back to the car, only to be rained upon again during the walk back. Fortunately, after a bit of a drive, I did manage to find some good Pho. It's always comforting to have hot soup during a rainy day. The owner was very nice - she was both the cook and the waitress! Then it was a long (100+ miles) drive back to the rental. The coffee, however, kept me awake far into the night.