Photos for Pele

On our last day before it was time to start working we hopped a ride with Lucy, another volunteer here, and Ollie and Snowey- a couple vacationing here who just happened to have a rental car. Ollie had the yen to go snorkling where Captain Cook died. We decided to take the scenic route through Volcanoes Park. At all the scenic stops along the way we stopped the car to look out and take photos. It was gorgeous-- I posted photos to blogger and I've enclosed a bunch here too.

The old lava fields are awesome. Its really cool to see that people still leave gifts for the Hawaiian gods there.










Near the end of the park we saw the petroglyphs-- they were spectacular. The little holes are where ancient Hawaiians put the umbilical cords of their babies to ensure a long life.
After getting through the park we realized that we still had a long way to go, but the scenery was amazing.

By the time we arrived at Captain Cook's monument we were all exhausted and road weary and just wanted to get into the water. Unfortunately the spot we chose didn't seem to be the safest place to hop in. Instead we turned around, headed back the way we came and hit a beach about 3 miles up the road. It was picturesque with cliffs and all the other tropical trappings. The water was chilly but not too cold, and there was brightly colored coral and fish. We all managed to snorkle for a while, then piled back into the car to head back. We stopped at a local spot on the way back to get fish sandwiches. It was a super long day and we all barely dragged ourselves in for bed-- but it was totally awesome.