Halana Lodge

As mentioned in the Warnings...

by kahiwa

As mentioned in the Warnings section, please don't take any lava rocks from the area. The entire Volcano area is considered to be the home of Madame Pele, the goddess of fire. She is very powerful, and should not be mocked or made fun of. Be respectful.

A friend of mine stood at the rim of the volcano and did a mock hula dance and chant. He was also joking about his having to room with a male friend, and was making references to their possibly being more than just friends. I warned my friend not to mock Madame Pele, but he just thought it was a joke. For the next two years (yes, YEARS), he had problems with his colon, which resulted in him eventually having to have surgery. He did go back and apologize to Madame Pele when he got the chance.

BIG ISLAND

by Amazonka

"Big Island (Hawai'i)"

It's the youngest of all the Hawaiian Islands. Inland, ancient Hawaiian ruins and sleepy and not-so-sleepy towns with melodic names punctuate a landscape of tropical forests, lush pasturelands, and barren lava fields.
Here and there you'll see ancient stone heiau and statues, perhaps of the war god Ku. And the volcanic activity that created the entire chain still percolates impressively-over the last 10 years, lava on the coast has added some 70 acres to the Island.
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is the site of Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes and the only one in the state that's not currently dormant. The park's bleakly beautiful Devastation Trail demonstrates what happens when lava gets a bit too frisky. Lava tubes, cinder cones, and barren creaters create an otherworldly landscape along Chain of Craters road.

"Kilauea"

Adrenalin level goes up!!!

Shame I didn't get to see this myself.

Five volcanoes formed the Big Island perhaps a half-million years ago: Kohala, Hualalai, Mauna Kea (White Mountain), Mauna Loa (Long Mountain) and Kilauea, which is currently active. Early Hawaiians believed that Pele lived in whichever crater was erupting. Even today, eerie stories are repeated as fact; they tell of a woman hitchhiker who dresses in red and wanders the volcano area accompanied by a small white dog. "My neighbor gave her a ride, but when he looked in the mirror she was gone!" is how one oft-repeated tale goes. As far as volcanic eruptions go, those Pele has caused in recent years have been relatively nondestructive, flowing from rift zones through 'ohi'a forests on Kilauea's gentle slopes. Lava has flowed repeatedly through Kalapana and the remote Royal Gardens subdivision since 1983, however, destroying nearly 200 housing units and blocking Chain of Craters Road; but no lives have been lost. You can drive almost to the end of Chain of Craters Road, leve your car, and walk to where molten lava flows into the ocean. Helicopters carry sightseers over the 2 1/2-mi lava lake called Kupaianaha, an 800-ft cinder cone, to view steam clouds rising from the ocean as the hot lava meets the sea.