Day 12 - Rainbows

Last night we saw something I had never heard of before, a nighttime rainbow caused by the light from the moon. At 3 am, we were taking a late night bathroom visit when I looked over and said is that a rainbow? Sure enough it was and I have picture of it just before it faded away.
Once real morning came we took our time getting ready just enjoying the water views and quiet park. But as we have done so far, we were soon off to see more of the island. We made a couple stops at state historical sights to learn more of the history of the area. We saw the ancient site of a fishing village, as well as a royal temple designed by the Hawaiian King. One thing interesting is that us tourists are not allowed close to some areas, but the native Hawaiian’s so they can maintain their culture. We also played a game invented by the Hawaiian’s which Annemarie proudly beat me at.
Down the road we stopped at a state park thinking we would get some snorkeling in. This was a beautiful, Florida style soft sand beach, minus the rocks. We snorkels out along the rocks where there were also kids jumping into the water. Not overly impressed after being spoiled by Capt Cook and the other locations, we turned back and headed for shore. On our way we were lucky to come up on a small green turtle which was happy to swim with us. What a treat.
Next up on the agenda, The Golden Pools. Like a lot of our sights, this one is of the “off the beaten path” type. We hiked a across an old lava flow, to a black sand beach which we followed until it turned to a white sand beach, which was really just a lot of coral mixed in, towards some vegetation growing in the middle of the lava field indicating water until we found the golden pools. Now the middle of a black rock lava field can get hot. But here in the middle of the rock was an oasis of crystal clear fresh water cold to the touch. Of course we had to take a break and swim in the cold water. It was a sight to see as we gingerly stepped on the lava rock trying to enter the water. These hard to get to places are some of the best to find and we were not disappointed.
Today was again one of those days where we crammed many things to see that others would have spent the day on one thing.
Up the mountain we went , headed for Mauna Kea, the largest mountain in the world if you measure from its base in the ocean to the summit. Now we were only allowed to the visitor center at around 9k feet because we don’t use 4 wheel drive required to go the rest of the way. That was ok with me since we would be above the clouds for the sunset. Barely getting the van up the mountain we parked and hiked to the top of a nearby hill to watch the sunset. It was really amazing as we ended up above a rainbow and watched the sunset within the clouds. As a bonus I was able to stargaze in one of the most lite pollution free places in the world. After taking many photos of the stars and Milky Way we headed down the mountain knowing there was no camp tonight, only an illegal camp on the side of the road. This was a night of sleeping with one eye open but well worth it to see Mauna Kea.Baca lagi