Biking trip to Volcanoes National Park!

We met our tour operating company, Nui Pohaku, at Roy's, a restaurant at the King's Shops in Waikoloa. We got in a van that took us south to the southernmost post in the island (and the U.S.) and then northeast up the eastern coast of the island. We stopped at a site near Captain Cook to see the spot where the aforementioned sea captain was killed, and then again at the Punaluu Bakery, where I tried taro Hawaiian bread (sooooo good.)

Once we got to the national park, we rode the company's hardtail bikes a total of about six miles to see Kilauea caldera, including Kilauea Iki (small crater), the Thurston Lava Tube, Halima'uma'u crater, the Jaggar Museum, steam vents that you can walk right up to, and more.

While there, we searched the ground for Pele's Hair, hairlik shards of glass that flew from the volcano, and green olivine pebbles. The air smelled sulphurous, kind of like boiled cabbage.

The group in the van was, shall we say, interesting. There was a couple we liked who live in Japan. He is an Englishman from the Northwest who likes football, while she is a Japanese woman who likes to exercise. We got on well. But we were annoyed by a crazy conspiracy theorist guy who wouldn't shut up (he believes man never landed on the moon, the government is covering up extraterrestrials, global warming isn't real, etc.). So annoying. More bizarre is that he was on his honeymoon but ignored his wife! People's idiosyncracies come to the fore in a long day's van ride.

Anyway, nighttime brought a trip with the group to a lava field only four months old where we walked using flashlights through the rocks to a location where we could view the glowing lava. It was bright orange as it seeped out of the mountainside.

We came back to Waikoloa via Highway 19, through Waimea. We wished we could've ridden our bikes more. Next time, it would be great to rent bikes and do our own tour.