Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess,has been very busy this year. On our recent trip, we went to Volcanoes National Park to see the new lava vents that have opened up. The location of the lava flowing into the sea has moved out of the park, and is now more accessible. Visitors still leave little offerings to placate Pele: flowers, fruit... I threw a few potato chips towards the offerings depicted above.
We arrived in the late afternoon, and stayed until it was very dark, enjoying the changing light and the cascades of lava that became more and more dramatically visible.
Inside the park, we followed the ranger's advice and walked a short distance to some spectacular lava formations such as this mushroom shape around 30 feet high:
In the crater, a major lava vent also opened in spring, and we saw the steam and sulfur clouds billowing up. At night, when we came back from the seaside fireworks, we visited this vent one more time, and could see the glowing red lava at the base of the smoke plume. The vast amounts of sulfur and particles cause Vog, or volcanic fog to cloud the skies in Kona, where Blue Hawaii is not in evidence this year!
Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess,has been very busy this year. On our recent trip, we went to Volcanoes National Park to see the new lava vents that have opened up. The location of the lava flowing into the sea has moved out of the park, and is now more accessible. Visitors still leave little offerings to placate Pele: flowers, fruit... I threw a few potato chips towards the offerings depicted above.
We arrived in the late afternoon, and stayed until it was very dark, enjoying the changing light and the cascades of lava that became more and more dramatically visible.
Inside the park, we followed the ranger's advice and walked a short distance to some spectacular lava formations such as this mushroom shape around 30 feet high:
In the crater, a major lava vent also opened in spring, and we saw the steam and sulfur clouds billowing up. At night, when we came back from the seaside fireworks, we visited this vent one more time, and could see the glowing red lava at the base of the smoke plume. The vast amounts of sulfur and particles cause Vog, or volcanic fog to cloud the skies in Kona, where Blue Hawaii is not in evidence this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment