Day of Exploring

The drive to Volcanos National Park was beautiful along the ocean; the sky was a sunny blue until we reached the rainy side of the Island. After entering the park we drove along the Chain of Craters Road ...... we saw many active steam vents  (see extra photo) and old lava flows.   Since 1983 Kailua Volcano has been continuously active....but today when we visited the information center, we were told that right now is the first time in 35 years the volcano is not active...NO lava new lava flowing to the sea!  Acres have been added to Hawaii's south shore during those years of lava entering the ocean at over 2000F and cooling into more land.

My photo is taken from 2500 ft showing some new trees growing in the lava in that area. Below you can see some of the acres of land added to Hawaii....in the distance you can see the ocean. The road continued down the hill to the ocean; it was quite a drive across the new land. The road was good and the land there is very stable; the newest area covered by lava in May, 2018 is still unstable and many areas of the park are closed because of damaged roads and unstable ground. 

There is much to learn about Hawaii and how it was formed and continues to grow.....I only scratched the surface.

Since the drive was 2 hours each way and we explored for many hours....NO snorkeling today. But a wonderful day of beauty and education.