Volcano Updates

Kīlauea Iki looks fairly tranquil these days. But, in 1959 it was a seething lava lake, with lava fountains up to 1,900 feet.   From the top of the overlook it is difficult to comprehend the scale of Kīlauea Iki. The crater is a mile long, 3,000 feet across, and the floor is 400 feet below the overlook. It is 4.5 miles roundtrip, used to be a loop trail, but damage to the trail has made this an out and back trail until further notice.   It can take 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on your hiking speed, how often you stop to take pictures etc.  At the entrance to the park stay in the left hand lane for the booth on the left. You will make the next immediate left after going through the booth. Follow the signs to the Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot to begin your hike. As of right now you can only do the trail clockwise so head down the trail to the left from the parking area.  This has always been one of our favorite hikes and we are so glad you can now enjoy...

Here we are a few days into Spring 2019!   It was a gorgeous sunny day, ALL day, until I finally finished cleaning rooms and getting all the laundry done…then came the rain.   Eh, it’s okay! We can’t have all the vegetation without the rain and Volcano Village wouldn’t be the same without either of them!   It’s a unique place to call home.    Living in the middle of a rainforest next to one of the most active volcanoes in the world!     If you choose to stay with us, it will be your home for a few days too.   Most likely, where ever you live during your non – vacation life isn’t anything like Volcano or the Big Island of Hawaii.   How we live is very different as well.   We ask you to please remove your shoes upon entering our home.   We provide slippers that you can wear instead, or you can go island style like we do, barefoot!   We ask you to remove your shoes to assist in not spreading germs, dirt and even chemicals ...

Just a heads up to our guests traveling to Volcano Village and Hawaii Volcanoes National park during these dates to expect minor delays.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________ HILO – The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) notifies the traveling public of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey work that will be conducted on Mamalahoa Highway (Route 11) from mile markers 28 to 32 in Volcano on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019 through Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019 (including Saturday and Sunday) from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., daily. No lanes will be closed; however, a GPR survey unit and shadow vehicle will travel along the roadway at speeds of 15-20 miles per hour. For each one-mile segment the travel duration is anticipated to be four minutes. After each one-mile segment the vehicles will pull off the roadway to allow traffic to pass. The GPR survey work involves collection of data relating to subsurface voids associated with c...

I can’t believe it is February of 2019!   The entire month of January flew by before I could get a blog out about the latest and greatest news happenings here in Volcano. It seems 2019 didn’t start off much better for those of us on the East side of Hawaii Island.   The partial Government shut down closed off part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the last 3 weeks.   The park is open again, until at least Feb 15 th , 2019 so you might want to plan accordingly if you are coming to visit.   The good news is, even though parts of the park may be shut down again, there is still quite a bit to see, however flowing lava is not one of those things.    I’m surprised by the number of guests I continually meet that ask about seeing the active lava flow.   (Where were you guys in 2018??)   The lava flow subsided as did the collapse of the summit crater, Halemau’mau, around August 4, 2018. The USGS and HVO announced the official end of the K...

It's been a tough year for the Big Island and it seems we may have to wait until 2018 for an improvement.  This is directly from the HVNP website regarding Alerts in changes to the park. Hawaii National Park, HI – During the shutdown of the federal government due to a lapse of appropriations, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures. Some park roads, trails, and viewpoints in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park will remain accessible to visitors, but emergency and rescue services will be limited.  There will be no National Park Service (NPS)-provided visitor services in the park including public information, but the following areas will remain open:  •  Kīlauea Visitor Center (KVC), picnic tables and restrooms. KVC exhibits will be open; KVC auditorium will be closed and films will not be shown.  •  The Hawai‘i Pacific Parks Association store in KVC will be open....

For a lot of folks, a trip to Hawaii is a once in a lifetime opportunity.   Figure the minimal amount of time it took anyone to get here is at least 6 hours from the mainland USA or Japan. Many of our guests travel much further than that overall to get here and a large percentage of them will spend time on Oahu before heading to the Big Island.   Unlike the previous lava flow, I bet hardly any of the mainland news stations are reporting about the Hotel strike happening on Oahu and Maui.   It isn’t ALL the Hotels, but of you have reservations at the Sheraton Waikiki, The Royal Hawaiian, Westin Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and Sheraton Maui then it may impact your vacation.   The parent company who owns these properties, Kyo-ya, wants you to believe that the strike won’t impact your stay and they have contingencies in place to handle the load. Unfortunately, what that means is over worked Managers are trying to pick up the slack of the vaca...

  For those guests of ours traveling to Hawaii June through November, we want to share with you some information about Hurricane season, specifically as it relates to us on the Big Island. Virtually every storm system approaching Hawaii from the east since 1950 eventually weakened to a tropical storm or depression by the time it reached the islands. This included a large majority of those migrating from the eastern Pacific basin. Dating to 1950, there is no record of a hurricane landfalling on the Big Island of Hawaii. On August 7, 2014 Tropical Storm Iselle became only the second tropical storm, and the strongest, to landfall on the Big Island since 1950. The only other storm to do so was in 1958. Of course, in the vast Pacific Ocean, even the Big Island represents a pretty small target for the center of a tropical cyclone.   There are several reasons why this happens so often. Drier, more stable air from the subtropical high to the northeast of Ha...