Tuesday, 19 September 2017
Today we’re docked in Hilo and chose a volcano biking tour as our excursion. It was a leisurely 8 mile ride with several stops to see the sights of the volcano, Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Lots of fun!
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| We started by riding a good bit of Crater Rim Drive. About half of the road is closed to all traffic because the eruption makes it too dangerous. |
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| The Kilauea crater is set in a larger caldera. (The road really should be named the Caldera Rim Drive.) |
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| The caldera floor has many small cracks where vegetation is taking hold. |
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| This is a small crater, Kilauea Iki, which was a lava lake in 1959, with a small cinder cone, Pu’u Pua’i. The main Kilauea crater smokes in the background. |
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| The entrance to the Thurston Lava Tube. |
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| The lava tube is essentially a long linear cave. |
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| The solidified lava is both somewhat porous and fissured, so roots from trees above can penetrate the roof of the lava tube. |
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| At the end of our ride. |
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| All the bikes are loaded back on the trailer. We’re here with our guides, Damian (left) and Nate (right). |
After leaving port, the ship cruised around the southern shore of Hawai’i, and we got a chance to view molten lava entering the ocean.
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| Getting the right exposure to photograph lava flows is challenging enough from land. From a gently rocking ship it’s even more of a challenge. |
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| A final attempt to capture an image of the lava flows. |
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