Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea Volcano and Snorkelling with Wild Manta Rays {Hawaii, Day 4}

Seeing an active volcano was one of the things I was most looking forward to on the Big Island, hearing on the news that it has erupted dramatically within a week of me standing on it is shocking. Nature is unpredictable and we never know when things will change. Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983 with varying levels of destruction, over 100 homes have been destroyed in that time. As of now most of the national park remains closed to the public. Click here for closure info and current photos from the crater.

As was very typical, we started the day off with a 2-hour drive. To be clear, none of these long drives bothered me in the slightest due to the fact that they’re beautiful and scenic. We went straight to the visitor centre when we arrived, looked at the maps, decided where to go and went.

Here is a bit of what we saw.

  

Our very first stop was to see the steam vents. We walked a short marked trail to see several spots that allow steam to escape from underground.

Along the same trail we saw the sulphur shelf and very near by, and quite memorably, we also saw a small hole that a 10 year old who went off the path fell through in the 90's. The hole would have been covered by a thin crust caused by the steam before he stepped on it.. The steam inside was about 700 degrees Celsius but he somehow got out alive with burns on only 10% of his body.


One of the things I was most excited to see was Nāhuku or as it is more commonly known, Thurston lava tube. A short walk through a lush forest of tree ferns leads to the lava tube. You walk right through, in one side and out the other, back into the forest. The tube is open 24/7 so you can visit any time. Lights have been installed inside, presumably for safety reasons, but they get turned off at night so visitors can experience the true darkness of the cave if they wish.

From the fern forest we drove to the Jagger Museum which has the best view of the Kīlauea caldera/Halema'uma'u crater . Don't be fooled by photos though, you are quite far from the active vent and cannot get any closer. If you look closely you can see a small amount of lava bubbling up beneath the gas and steam. Not that we stayed to see but the whole area glows red in the darkness.

 

An unexpected favorite from this day was stopping to see the Pu‘u Loa petroglyphs.  The hole is where families would bring newborns and place their umbilical cords. It connects the baby to its family and the earth. Some markings were also made by ancient travellers, a sort of "DH was here" kind of thing.

We drove a significant portion of the Chain of Craters road, stopping many times along the way to walk through the lava fields, do short hikes or just take in the views all around us. I wish I got more photos but as the driver I would have had to stop constantly to capture it all.

When we had our fill of the park we drove to the nearby black sand beach in hopes of seeing the green sea turtles. We had planned to swim as well but decided against it since we would be snorkelling later in the evening. Strangely, all the turtles laying on the beach were within an area that had been marked out with rocks. I know that the rocks are put there to make a boundary between man and turtle, but how do the turtles know to go there?!


As great as the park and beach were, the best part of this day (or maybe the whole trip) happened after the sun went down; Night snorkelling with Manta Rays.

We drove to downtown Kona, got into our wetsuits, onto a boat and took a short ride to where the Rays spend their nights. I spent 4 months waiting for this and could not wait to get in the water with them.

The tour we went on had very specific rules about what you should and cannot do in the water. The leader has a surf board with a battery and lights on top (with holes cut in the board so the light shines under the surface), handles around the edges and a rope at the end so he can pull us to where we need to be. We are expected to keep our mask and snorkel on at all times, hands stay on the handles, legs stay straight out along the surface. We were also given a noodle to put around our waists to help keep us up. Putting legs down or reaching isn’t allowed and will get you kicked out.

We were only in the water for a minute when we got our first sighting, surprisingly it wasn’t a Manta Ray, it was a pod of dolphins! Some kept their distance but a few swam right below us, close enough for our lead to touch if he had wanted to. For the record, touching, feeding, chasing, or generally harassing marine life is Illegal in Hawaii.


I’m not sure how best to describe this whole experience. The Manta Rays are like giant butterflies under the water; gentle and unconcerned by our presence. The lights on the surf board attract Plankton, one of the main sources of food for Mantas, and therefore attract the Manta Rays and keep them swimming nearby. We had several come right up to perform their feeding backflips, and it was quite a sight.
We were in the water about 40 minutes or so and it was truly one of the most memorable things I've done. I couldn't recommend it enough. This is the company I went through for anyone interested in trying it out for themselves!