Exploring Puna with the new Automobile

Another Intern Alex bought a set of wheels for $700. Though the car isn't much it is able to get us from point A to B to C to home.

Yesterday we tested the new ride out for the first time, venturing to the district of Puna. The island of Hawaii is divided up into several, maybe 6 or 7, districts, Puna is the one directly to our north.

First we stopped at the Ahanalui Hot Ponds. The ponds are heated by thermal energy from the earth. It was pouring rain when we got to the pond and it felt really good to jump in and swim around- the pond was 90 degrees!



After the thermal pond we drove up the coast to Kehena Beach. To get to the beach we had to walk down the side of a cliff. Don't worry a path had been marked and carved out with stones. The beach was a black sand beach. Kehena is a hot spot for hippies and they were out in the masses during out visit.



Our last stop of the day was the live lava flow at the Halema'uma'u Crater. The flow was guarded by police and we couldn't get too close- we were nearly a 1/2 mile away. We were lucky to once in a while see orange and red flickers hit the ocean. The steam cloud was the impressive site that billowed up from the ocean.