• Halema`uma`u Just Before Dawn

    Hawai'i Volcanoes

    National Park Hawai'i

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Do you have Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park experiences that you wish to share?

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"Volcano From the Sea at Night" - submitted by Niels H. on April 7, 2013
Back in 1996 I sailed from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to Hilo, Hawaii. That's 2522 nautical miles in 21 days at sea. Those are numbers I'll never forget. Two people sailed on a 36 foot sailboat. There was no automatic pilot so one of us was at the helm 24/7 with a compass setting of 273...273...273... When we finally arrived to the general vicinity of Hawaii it was nighttime and we noticed a big red spot in the middle of the ocean, right on our heading.

After 21 days at sea, we were a bit delirius, we couldn't figure out what it was. But we did know that we'd come too far to crash in to it! We adjusted our heading to a northerly route towards Hilo. There would be no sleeping this night. The red light never moved, but it did wax and wane. As we approached the Island, we noticed lighthouses and checked our maps. That's when we realized the red light was a plume from the volcano, illuminated from the lava underneath. I wondered how many sea travelers had seen this beacon over thousands of years?


 

"Volcano" - a poem by Korianne O.
Korianne is a student from Hanalani School on O'ahu. Her fourth grade class came to the park on an education program in May 2012 and she was insired to write this poem.

The volcano rumbles
The rocks tumble
Down down the hills they slide
Into the water that was there beside
Up into the air the ocean sprays
Down to the bottom the rocks are to stay
The volcano erupted letting lava out from a crack
Leaving behind a molden hot track
Burning down trees it left in it's wake
Destroyed homes it was to take

 

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Did You Know?

Baby Hawksbill Sea Turtle emerges from its nest.

The endangered Honu`ea (Hawksbill Sea Turtle) comes to shore on the main Hawaiian Islands to nest.  They lay multiple nests throughout the season with an average of 175 eggs per nest. Only one in 5,000 hatchlings survives to adulthood.