skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Public Hawksbill turtle nest excavation at Puna Lu`u on Veteran's Day:
There's no doubt that these are the most adorable creatures on Earth. It was so special for all of us to see these lil' babies encounter water for the first time, especially since no one will ever see the males again and the females lead such epic lives. They're fearlessly and innocently heading into an incredibly deadly environment because, well, there's no other option. I don't know about you, but I'm inspired. Good luck, hatchlings!
Veteran's Day seemed the ideal day to take the mondo Mauna Loa 4WD car to South Point to visit the famous and off-the-beaten-trail Green Sands Beach. I'll probably never go to a beach in mid-November again in my life.
My weak attempt to keep sand from getting into my wounds. Ultimately, the plan failed.
Green sands! And plenty of tourists. The green sand is weathered olivine from basaltic phenocrysts, and it's heavier than black sand (basalt grains). It is preferentially sieved by the waves and washes up on this beach.
There's me, sitting at the top of the beach, reading Lucretius' On the Nature of the Universe. It's a good read - I recommend it. He has some funky ideas, like that things that are pleasurable to our senses have smooth, round atom shapes while things that are sticky, smelly, or gross have rough and jagged atom shapes. However, some things, like sea water, can have a mix of atom shapes because it is fluid (smooth shapes) but also salty (rough shapes). Trippy....
I'm sure most of you are aware of this incident by now, if you've seen the pictures on Facebook that Andy P. posted. I thought that I would tell the story from the trailhead, and I'll also mention that I'm nearly walking normally now and the sea urchin spines are almost gone (I think).
The first photo of the weekend, taken on November 6th. The original plan was to hike 6 miles to Apua Point (the turtle beach that I visited earlier this summer), camp there one night, and then continue through Keauhou beach to camp at Halape beach the second night. We're all excited to start the long, flat trail along the southern coastline.
Apua Point at sunset is a beautiful cove. There was a near-cloudless sky with plenty of dramatic shooting stars.
Along the trail from Apua to Keauhou, Katie and I stopped along the way to check out some potential 'shatter rings' for Katie's supervisor.
We finally made it to Keauhou and found the other members of our group. Keauhou is a pretty nice beach, secluded with nice soft sand. According to some people, it's the best snorkeling spot on the island, so of course I was tempted...Unfortunately, the 'best' spot is where the larger waves are.
Snorkeling with Katie! There were a few cool fish, but we were getting pushed offshore by the waves so decided to head in...
The two bobbing heads on the left are us, and we were heading straight for those rocks on the shore when the waves got rougher and pushed us onto them. I was dragged across a sea urchin and about a dozen spines punctured my foot. I also collected several scrapes on both legs and feet from the rocks. Luckily, we had several first aid kits so we patched it up as best we could.
There wasn't really a feasible way for me to reach Halape, so the options were to hike up the pali, or go back the way we came along the coast. Although the coastal trail was longer, it seemed the better option, so Dave B. was a gentleman and walked out the 9 miles with Katie and I back to the car. When I got back to the house, I soaked my foot in vinegar and hot water, and it looked like this:
Gross, right? I think the purple color comes from the venom or dye that was injected by the spines. It faded after a few days. No worries, I'm walking okay, and I'll probably try to get to Halape again during one of my remaining weekends...
Above is Kelly photographing the summit vent, and below, an artsy photo while we're landing.
The view of the ocean entry with the big plumes (Waikupanaha), and you can see the new ocean entry (West Waikupanaha) with the smaller plume in the distance. 
Fun with the camera while we're on the ground...
We took a short stop to sample the fresh flows west of the lava tube. This was the most active (aka fastest) lava I've seen yet! Also, flightsuits are hott. I'm getting one when I get home.
What an adrenaline rush! I have to do this again sometime.
