Geothermal interest

What would the beginning of my day be without a healthy breakfast of Cheerios, two fried eggs, and a glass of OJ? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. Too bad the smell of fried pork can stay with you for hours after Dr. Benham turns off the stove. Shortly after the quick meal we stuffed ourselves into the vans and headed makai (or toward the sea) to our first stop. Highway 11 toward Hilo was as it normally is from here: straight and gradually, but steadily, sloping. We had a quick stop off at a grocery store so Lois Benham could buy lunch meat for this carnivorous bunch. Shortly thereafter we pulled up to a guard station off the main road and topped a small hill. Behind it lays the Puna Geothermal Venture. The impressive facility greeted us well as we were told more than most wanted to hear about the facility and its power producing ways. The excited guide made sure we got all the facts he could possibly cram into our heads in the time we were there, always insisting that he didn't get off until 5:30pm and that he could talk our ears off that entire time. Wow. Stopping well short of his generous 5:30 offer, we left the facility for our lunch time destination.

Rainforest canopy sprawled well overhead at our lunch spot. Lava Tree State Park is a monument like reminder of the power of lava flows. When the red rock flows it sometimes encounters forests. When this happens the molten material would wrap itself around standing trees. The trees themselves would, of course, burn into nothing, sometimes leaving behind the stumpy cast of lava that surrounded it. While being eaten by mosquitos and trying to avoid the pornographic material scrawled on the picnic tables, the park offered an interesting and mystical look at past flow's mark on the modern landscape.

Just a short jaunt towards the ocean led us to the black sand (obsidian) Kaimu Beach. Prior to 1990, the area we parked in by some houses was prime Hawaiian waterfront property. Post 1990: a third-of-a-mile wide lava flow covered the old beach and pushed the shoreline well away from those houses. The new Kaimu Beach is a black obsidian sand beach that was created in a matter of weeks when the flow came in contact with the ocean. When this happens the lava immediately flashes to glass (obsidian) and blows apart into tiny fragments. These pieces largely make up the beach's sand. This year, however, Dr. Benham was shocked to find the beach erosion to be as dramatic as it was. Two years ago it was a wide, only sand beach. Today it's a somewhat pathetic sand beach with rounded pillow basalt rocks accounting for most of the shore. After a few photos and time to take in the beauty of the area, we began back towards the vans. On the way, I pointed out the fires on the nearby pali from an a'a flow to Ally and Renee. Just then I noticed a small cone visible just behind the pali. Steam and smoke fumed from the top of the cone and streamed into the sky. My guess labelled it as the actively fuming Pu'u O'o vent in the East Rift Zone of Kilauea. Benham confirmed my observation and I was stoked! It was my first glimpse at the active source of 17 years worth of lava flows. Kinda' put me in my place.

Feeling like we were imitating a scene from Twister, our aerodynamic and new vans convoyed down a winding, forest surrounded road. Heads of locals turned to watch our passing as if curious about our mission. We had no serious mission except to swim in a geothermally heated lagoon attached to the ocean. Most of the group entered the warm water via some slimey rock steps. We relaxed, had water fights, and were nibbled on by small fishies in the water. Our time there seemed to be all too short and we all took vans in separate directions, eventually to meet back up at KMC. Our van ride with Lisa attemped to hit a Jack in the Box for some snacks but were led astray by poor navigation due to poor maps. We spent nearly an hour wandering around highways that were nowhere near our goal. Once we finally found Highway 11 we decided against the Jack stop and continued directly home. My afternoon was a combination of doing laundry and wishing my laundry would get done. Somewhat hyper, I annoyed Kristin and Ally (also washing their unmentionables) most of the time. They sent me off with fifty cents and told me not to come back without a candy bar or something. I hurried to the store and back, consumed the sugary treat, and became even more annoying. Once my clothes were in the dryer I thought I was home free. That didn't turn out to be the case. Three quarters and 45 minutes proved insufficient to simply rid my articles of the water from washing. I had to lay some of my stuff out overnight to get them anywhere near dry! Piece of ____ dryers. What's this world coming to?!

The rest of the night was a frantic struggle to grasp the material covered thus far in the course. Many prepared for Friday's quiz in a flurry of loud factoids and lists. Unaided by this approach to studying, I decided to ignore the norm and study my notes while in the garage pounding the shells off macademia nuts with Brooke and Nick. Theraputic. Although I didn't get much true studying out of it, we got a fat bowl of nuts out of the deal which I gladly ate while doing my real studying. I think I'm prepared for tomorrow's quiz. Stupid plant memorization. I guess someday when I'm stuck on a remote desert island I'll be able to use my limited plant identificaion skills to survive. Right.

Oh, as somewhat of an aside, we didn't have a good opportunity to see tonight's full Lunar eclipse from the back of Kilauea. Too bad too. Much of the group was ready for an over the active lava flow viewing of it. Can't control the weather here, that's for sure. No Lunar eclipse

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Thu. January 20, 2000

Geothermal interest

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