Shawn walking on hardened lava

A look at my experience and visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

During our 1st ever visit to the Island of Hawaii (which was on a Hawaii Cruise of course :-)) we visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Nancy & Shawn Power at a road blocked off by lava flow
We’ve seen roads flooded by water before but never by lava! 🙂

Being a UNESCO World Heritage Site

…the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a big highlight for many

…when visiting the Island of Hawaii… aka “The Big Island”.

The Big Island is home to the two most active volcanoes in the world (Mauna Loa which is the largest in the world &
Kilauea) it’s a pretty fascinating place!

Due to the constant activity of these volcanoes, the landscape at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and on the island of Hawaii is constantly changing… now that’s different then most places we’ve ever visited. 🙂

When we first visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park during our Hawaii Cruise on Norwegian Cruiseline’s “Pride of America” Ship, we remember it being so amazing, walking on Lava for the first time, seeing the volcanic flumes coming up from the ground and the steam that the hot molten lava creates as it hits the cool ocean water…

…all of a sudden you realize that they just weren’t making this stuff up in science class! 🙂

Shawn walking on hardened lava
If Shawn’s walking on it we know this lava didn’t flow anytime recently. 🙂 Apparently due to the heat and constant flow after eruption it can take weeks to cool!

 

Volcanic flumes at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
As you drive around Crater Rim Drive at the park you can get out and see these volcanic flumes coming right out of the ground… amazing!

 

Steam rising from the sea as lava pours into it
Seeing the lava flow into the water and producing huge amounts of steam like this is a pretty amazing site… imagine the temperature difference between the two to create this!

 

As we drove around the crater of the Volcano, we got to walk through Gigantic Lava tubes that are formed as the lava flows through the earth plus later we were lucky enough to see the red hot Lava flowing (where that happens changes all the time) as we were sailing away from Hawaii on our Cruise Ship at night…

pretty cool experience to say the least!

The crater at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
It’s not called Crater Rim Road for nothing… there’s the crater right in the middle of it all. 🙂

 

Walking through a lava tube at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Ever walk through a lava tube before? If not add it to your “Bucket List”… quite the experience!!

 

View of lava flow into the Sea at night
Seeing lava flowing into the sea at night from our ship during our 1st ever visit to the park was pretty awesome… and lucky as it doesn’t always happen. And FYI, this was at maximum zoom, you can’t get too close! 🙂

 

If you have been to the Island of Hawaii before and saw Lava flow from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, let us know about it by commenting below and telling us about your experience.

Visit our Hawaii Volcanoes National Park & Hawaii Cruise photo gallery to see all of our pics while here.

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We appreciate You,

Nancy & Shawn
Your Trusted Cruise Experts!

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