La Perouse

I had a day off on monday and went hiking/snorkeling with one of the other interns and two of the participants (volunteers who pay to come live and work with us for 2 weeks). Along La Perouse bay runs a lava field that formed in 1790 during the last volcanic eruption on the island. The whole area is part of the Ahihi-Kina'u Natural Area Reserve. There should be an accent mark on the first "e" in Perouse, but i'm too lazy to open up the character map. So you hike through the lave field to access a series of coves and inland ponds. Some of the ponds have incredible snorkeling. The last one you reach is known as the Aquarium because of the sheer number of fish species found there. Unfortunately is was a rather blustery day (I learned that word from (Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day") so the visibility in the water was so great but it was still incredible. I hope to return on a calmer day and with an underwater camera.

So we started by driving by the sources of the lava field. You can actually see how the lava flowed out from the hills.
This is us: Me, Sue, John, and Catherine the other intern (she's Scottish)


As you start down the trail, initially you're walking on sand where the old beach used to be before the lave flow extended the shoreline and cut it off from the water. So we hiked along the lava. It's over 200yrs old but still incredible sharp so I took extra care not to fall.

We passed several beautiful coves some sheltered from the bay others not so much.




We also passed some "inland" pools which were still technically connected to the ocean. This one is called Golden Pool and was easily the most beautiful. These were anchialine ponds which means that while the were separated from the ocean, salt water still seeped into the pond through the porous lava rock mixing with the fresh water making a brackish pond. This type of pond is pretty much only found on Hawaii and contain some unique species such as a type of shrimp. Hence, no swimming in Golden Pool.

Those hills behind the Golden Pool are what remain of the vents that spewed forth lava in 1790. We snorkeled in some of the coves along the way, and they were incredibly fun to explore. But nothing compared to our goal.



Finally, we reached our target, The Aquarium.

Despite what was considered bad visibility for the area, I still saw tons of fish, some like the yellow tangs you could even see through the surface.

I was happy. Sometime being a tourist for a day is awesome.

After snorkeling in the aquarium we headed back to the car. We were greeted by a surprise guest, a rare sight on Maui where most bird populations were nearly wiped out by invasive rats and mongoose. He even took the time to take a peak in the rear-view mirror before flying away.

After a delicious lunch of fish tacos, with mahi-mahi from a nearby stand and some shave ice, we headed to our next destination, Ho'okipa Beach.

Ho'okipa Beach is famous for its surfing, windsurfing, and kite-surfing. However on a day with 20+ knot winds, only 1 surfer and 1 windsurfer were stupid enough to test the waters. The wind was blowing out and knocking the tops right off the waves into a breathtaking mist. This was amplified by the occasional beams of sunlight breaking through the clouds creating an almost unreal view.


After a lot of hardwork just getting out, the surfer eventually did catch a wave, much to the delight of the 100 or so people watching from the cliffs above.





Overall a very good day in Hawaii and a much needed escape from the long work hours and the house i share with 8 people. Did i mention how much I hate bunk beds?