Kilauea -- the Active Volcano

After our early morning hike, we drove around to where the volcano flows into the ocean, at Kamokuna.  We had planned on walking out to the observation point, which would have brought our walking mileage of the day to that of a half marathon, but when we discovered rental bikes, decided to do that instead.  The bikes were wonderful...going out to the point... with the wind and mostly downhill.  The way back, uphill and into 30+ mph wind was a bit of a struggle, but we made it.  And for what we got to see, it was absolutely worth it.   

We spent about 30 minutes out there, eating our picnic lunch and just watching in awe at the power of nature and the beauty of the earth.  The ocean was full of so many different amazing blues, from azure to navy to turquoise, and the sight of the lava flowing down to the water is simply fantastic.  The solid lava, which resembles nothing so much as brownie batter spread haphazardly in a pan is wonderful, too.  

On the way home we stopped at a tide pool, but stayed a bit too long...Hans got caught off guard by a huge wave and was knocked into a rock.  Besides scrapes and bruises, he ended up with a gash in his side that required 2 hours at urgent care and seven stitches, but he's recovering nicely and absolutely refuses to let me put a picture of it on the blog (and really, a good thing, too, as it's not pretty).  Thank goodness for good health and good insurance, and he was his old self and well on his way to recovery by the time we left the clinic.  Rule number one in Hawaii -- never turn your back on Moana (the sea)!