From the Mountain to the Sea

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world because its base is 17,000 feet below sea level. It's one of the five volcanoes on the Island of Hawaii. We were excited to take the road to the top because there was snow there.  Wouldn't it be fun to say we'd been in the snow in HAWAII ! It was late Friday night before we found out that Elijah's 4 wheel drive Jimmy was actually available.  We weren't allowed to rent from Enterprise because the road was too rough even for their 4x4 vehicles.  The day looked promising with only a bit of cloud visible.

Alas, the road past the visitor's centre was closed!
All that way, all that trouble to get a vehicle, and we couldn't do what we'd set out to do.  So we started walking up one of the side trails to get to the top of a little hill.  We were at 9,200 feet, but we'd wanted to be at the summit of Mauna Kea at 13,796 feet. Once out of the car we put up our hoods and tightened the strings.  It was brisk and windy even at that altitude.  At the top, the winds were supposed to be between 70-90 mph, hence the road closure.

                                                                      It's the first time we'd worn long pants since we got here.

As we walked around we heard a gobbling noise in the tree tops.  Terry said it was a chukar , a plump partridge type bird, but it remained elusive.

At Terry's right is the Mauna Kea Silversword.  

This is the best we could do for view.
A group of Mission Builders had been up the whole way just the previous evening.  A young man from Brazil was elated to see snow for the very first time.
After this the clouds rolled in, so we were glad we'd arrived early enough in the morning.

Funny to see in Hawaii one of the same kinds of weeds as at home--  Mullein.  In fact the terrain was similar to the desert in Arizona.

For the rest of the day we ventured south of Kona.    This is the Painted Church, St. Benedict's Catholic Church, built in the 1800s.

Inside are frescoes painted on the wall and on the ceiling by a Father John Velge.  This one is "Handwriting on the Wall."

The last stop of the day was the beach at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau.  Wonderful snorkling!  I didn't explore the whole reef, but swam around a bit to see my favourite bright yellow fish, the Yellow Tang, striped black and white fish, also a Moorish Idol, and a blue fish I hadn't seen before.  Also huge coral and sea urchins everywhere.  If I'd remembered to bring the flippers, I would've ventured further.  Awesome!

Sorry, not a picture of the fish!  This is all Terry could manage from his vantage point on the lava rocks.