Comings and Goings
Apparently I went to Hawaii at an interesting moment. Only the day before our cruise ship passed the Kilauea Volcano, it decided to start erupting again with some force. Not with any fireworks mind you, but with plenty of lava flow. Of course this lava flows all the way into the ocean to create new land mass. You can see a video of the Kilauea lava flows which aired on CBS News (and also on FoxNews) a few days after I returned home from vacation.
Click here to see video.
None of the pictures in the video looks quite like the view I had from the deck of the "Pride of Aloha". The captain of our cruise ship shut off nearly all the lights on deck so we could get a better view. It was nearly pitch dark. There was almost total silence among the passengers as we approached the volcano. We watched while the captain did a 360° turn so that everyone could see. I found a picture on the Internet which comes closest to what I saw...
It was really an awesome sight... the glowing rivers of red lava streaming down toward the water... the clouds of smoke over the top of the volcano glowing red from the molten lava below... the glowing red clouds of steam rising above the lava where it entered the water at 4000°F. As I mentioned to my wife, "Now there's something you don't see in New Jersey everyday".
Unfortunately, my digital camera is not one of the latest or the best, so I couldn't get a good shot. Even if I could have held the shutter open longer, the movement of the boat would make any "still" shots impossible. So (sigh), here's the best I could do. It's a view of the lava where it enters the water. My apologies...
On the last day of our vacation, we went to see the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. A few days later, we turned on the TV to see Sean Hannity broadcasting live from the Arizona Memorial with the likes of Ollie North and Newt Gingrich. I turned to my wife and said, "They must of heard we were there!" Too bad we missed it. That would've been so cool!
Anyway, here's some of my pictures from the Arizona Memorial...
May their souls rest in peace...
posted by Hawkeye® -- Friday, June 01, 2007
7 Comments
7 Comments:
Actually the volcano is always erupting. 24 years straight for this episode. That was a new ocean entry. I was on shore at the ocean entry watching the ship. Usually they stop for maybe 15 minutes and leave. I was surprised to see it spin around to the other side and it stayed for quite sometime. The water is 2000 degrees only right where the lava enters. People scuba dive there often.
Lumbee,
Thanks for your comments. That's kinda cool that you saw our ship. I checked out your blogs. Good luck with your photographic endeavors.
(:D) Regards...
Pump up the volume! As Lumbee says, Kiluaea has been erupting steadily since the early 80's. Years hence, Lord willing, I'll explore some lava tubes the current flow leaves behind...
Hawkeye,
Other, who have been to the Arizona memorial have said, it is a place not to miss while in Hawaii.
Camo,
I know that Kilauea has been erupting "steadily" since the 1980's, but I have to assume that something has changed as of May 16th based on the fact that CBS News and FoxNews both aired footage of the recent lava flows. Here's the blurb from CBS...
"Hawaiian Volcano Putting On Fiery Show
A volcano on the big island of Hawaii is putting on a show again, spewing lava into the ocean. The newest eruption from the Kilauea Volcano began flowing into the ocean on May 16th. New land is being created as the lava solidifies off the coast."
Perhaps the lava is just flowing into the ocean now, whereas it wasn't flowing into the ocean before? I don't know. It just seems that something is a bit different now since May 16th (the day before we cruised by). Otherwise, why air a special segment on TV saying that something is different? Got me.
(:D) Regards...
Maggie,
You're right. The Arizona Memorial is not to be missed if at all possible. I don't know if the Memorial has the same effect on today's younger generation. For them, it must be like ancient history. As a "baby boomer", I'm sure it doesn't have the same effect on me as it does on my parents who lived through December 7, 1941 "in real-time".
Being a child of the 1950's, I've seen those pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbor and listened to that recording of FDR on December 8th again and again. It somehow seems personal to me. I was moved by the fact that so many men are still entombed there in those shallow waters where oil still bubbles to the surface.
But Pearl Harbor was 10+ years before my birth. I can never really have any personal memories of it. However, I do have memories of 9/11. And to some extent, I think the same feelings I felt on 9/11 were felt by my parents on December 7, 1941. Shock. Disbelief. Outrage. Anger. A need to know more about the enemy and why they did it. A desire to fight back... to even the score.
Because there is so little of the Arizona actually remaining above water, it is difficult to get a sense for how big the ship really is. There are small white floats that mark the very fore and aft positions of the ship, but even those are of little help in visualizing the ship's size. I think a life-size replica of the Arizona above water would go a long way toward helping people recognize what lies below. But that would cost money that nobody has, eh?
Forgive me. I'm rambling. Thanks for stopping by Maggie.
Best regards...
What has changed is the volume of the flow, which is why I said "Pump up the volume!" in my previous comment...but the lava has been flowing out to the ocean steadily, too.
As for the new land that's being created, sometimes that drops into the ocean as well. In November of 2005, approximately 40 acres of it did just that. They're expecting a similar occurrence anytime now...
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