For our last day on the big island, Megan, Chris and I left the house super early an headed back to Punalu'u beach for some snorkeling without the kiddos.
You really can tell, but it was deeeeep. And, I'm half blind so I just had my head under water hoping the camera was catching what looked like a lot of fuzzy stuff to me.
I'm not going to lie, it was hard. While I'm not an avid swimmer, I think I swim realitivly well. It was really easy to get overwhelmed by the distance from the shore, the waves against you and the depths beneath you. The best advice I can offer is to put your face back in the water, steady your breathing and float for a bit. That applies in everyday life too....
Megan rocked it though...
It is really difficult to get a good self-portrait in the water...
Look at that water...it is just as clear as glass.
Soon, after that, we left. We all decided to go back to the spot where we had gone before- not deep and a ton more fish- Kahalu'u beach.
Apparently, if you want to attract fish, just wear whatever Chris has on- a bright blue shirt and red swim trunks with a white and black line down the side. They always swam right up to him...It was like he was their leader.
I finally gave the camera to someone who can actually see.
Here's Megan trying out the self-portrait-under-water thing.
Shark bait, Uh, ha-ha.
There are just too many pictures and too much beauty for this blog to hold.
We headed home after about an hour and got everyone ready to go to Volcano National Park.
On our way we had to go meet the local firefighters.
That is the southern most point of the United Sates!
Once inside the park, we stopped at the travel center and then the lava tubes!
I didn't even know what a lava tube was.
It was so awesome to be standing in the middle of it all...
This photo was taken looking down from the bridge we crossed to get into the tube.
On the other side!
Group shot!
We made our way down Chain of Craters road, until the dead end. In 2003 there was an erruption that sent lava over the road- they haven't repaired it...
This was beautiful. Utterly breath-taking. You can just see the power of the ocean as it crashes up onto the lava walls, slowly etching out the future landscape of the island.
The Holei Sea Arch.
Unreal.
Really, it is hard to gain perspective from this photo, but that sea wall was giant.
And gorgeous.
Megan and the kiddos walking out on the lava...
What do you mean, 'No ranger on duty'? Eli's always ready to go!
Finally saw the state bird, the Nene!
You can see how the lava went right over the road on the way to the ocean. So cool.
Chris took the kiddos and Megan, Stef and I walked over the lava trail to try to see where the hot lava is flowing out into the ocean...
If you look really closly, you can see the steam coming up from Puu Oo's lava flood tubes that empty into the sea.
It was so close!!! We wanted to hike over there, but the sun was setting and we were already a mile from the car, so we headed back.
The sunset was gorgeous...
I love the way the colors were reflecting off of the lava rock...
By the time we got back to the car it was dark and late, but we still wanted to go see the glow of the lava from Kilauea. So cool!
Even though it rained almost the entire time we were there, I was so giddy. As giddy as a middle-school girl obsessing over an upper-classman.
It was soooo cool to be that close to something that magnificent.
(I'm sure that is what the middle-school girl would say too.)
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