July 2012 – Hawaii

Our last trip in the USA was to the Big Island of Hawaii.

This is the youngest island in the archipelago and it has the most active volcano in the word that has been continuously erupting since 1983.

We thought that the volcano will be very touristic, but it turns out that most people don't come to Hawaii to see volcanoes and hike in the rain forest. Go figure.

So in general, the island was not very developed – just the way we like it.

We spent three days at Volcanoes National park. The park contains a number of active and non-active volcanoes.

We hiked within a crater of a volcano that erupted 40 years ago. The volcano pit was a lake of cooled lava and surrounded by a rain forest.

We walked through tunnels that were formed by lava that was flowing underground.

At night we went to see the red glow of the volcano.

Maayan and Moran also went to see the active lava flow. They walked all day on cooled (and not so-cooled) lava rocks.

Good that they put a sign that the road is closed

They cooked lunch (hot dogs and an omelet) on the hot lava (most of the food was burnt) and ate it standing up since the floor was too hot to sit on.

We continued to the eastern side of the island. This side receives an enormous amount of rain and has beautiful valleys with rivers and waterfalls, surrounded by jungles.

Of course, we also spent some time at the beach. The beaches on the island are diverse. Some are rocky and you can imagine the lava flowing into the sea, some have black or green sand and some are postcard white beaches with coconut palms.

We walked along the beaches, sailed a canoe, swam with dolphins and sea turtles, snorkeled and just relaxed.

	An encounter with a sea turtle and swimming with dolphins

Michal jumping from the cliff on the southernmost point in the USA