Sulphur Dioxide and Sea Urchins Aren't Your Friends

     The Big Island, Hawaii.  First thing to know- it's not called the Big Island for nothing.  While we typically drive around Oahu a few times on a trip there, the Big Island is a different story.  It takes almost 3 hours to get from Kona to Volcano National Park and the road isn't along the coast, it's 2000 feet up the hillside.  However the drive is amazing.  It starts with Kona.  A lovely hillside town known for it's coffee.  If you're a coffee drinker the drive itself will be an amazing experience.  The entire town is covered in the scent of roasted coffee.  In December, poinsettias bloom in huge abundance along the road, along with the everpresent bougainvillea.  It's an experience for the senses.  The most remarkable thing about the Big Island is it's newness.  There are lava flows everywhere that haven't had time to regenerate much growth.  The starkness of the landscape is in sharp contrast to the lushness of the rainforests immediately ajacent. 
      We are always on the lookout for inexpensive lodging.  This time we stayed in cabins at the National Park.  It's 4000 feet elevation so the days were a nice 70 degrees but the nights were cold.  The cabins are operated by Volcano house and at the time of this writing are $55 a night.  They provide bed linens, towels, and a bar of soap.  You get a cabin with one double bed and a bunkbed set and access to warm showers.  They recommended bringing your own sleeping bag or additional blanket.  That's a necessity.  We would have frozen without our warm sleeping bags.
     There is nothing quite like watching lava flow into the ocean.  The vantage point outside the park gets you a peek but you're still pretty far away.  If I had the money I'd take one of the boat rides out there that get you a much better view.  It was still a fun experience walking along lava flows at night with a flashlight and a ton of other people.  In fact it was the only time on the trip that we were with a lot of people.  Early December in the park is remarkably quiet.
     After spending the day hiking volcanoes, crawling through lava tube (that's a must do), and seeing petroglyphs we were on the lookout for a beach.  I envisioned black sand beach extending for miles in both directions.  Instead we discovered a place unvisited by tourists but such a serendipitous find that I didn't care about the black sand.  The shoreline was rocky but we couldn't resist stepping into the water anyway.  What we found was water in the high 80s.  Water seeps from a hotspring through the ground and into the ocean.  It was a delightful experience to sit in the water and have the warm water from the spring wash under you and the cool water from the ocean wash over you.  We also found a delightful natural hot spring pool to relax in.  We shared it with a local mom and 4 little girls who chatted the entire time.  Lesson learned: don't sit still very long.  The shrimp like to pinch.  I was goosed a few times by little red shrimp.  The beach was called Isaac Hale beach.
     The day we left Hawaii the winds turned and we drove through clouds of sulphur dioxide gas from Kilaeu.  Sulphur Dioxide smells like a burning match.  It burns your throat and makes you cough.  We were glad to have caught the park the day before when the pollution levels were much better.
     On the way out we decided to catch one last hour at the beach.  We found a beach near the airport.  Drex quickly walked in and before we had the chance to get in ourselves he came walking back out- saying, "Something got me."  In his heel he had 2 inch long mini-spikes sticking out.  I tried to pull them out but they just broke off.  Not know what it was, we had no idea the seriousness of the situation.  I was envisioning us getting on the plane and Drex's foot swelling up like a basketball or the creature to be something venemous and him getting violently ill on the plane ride home.  We were lucky enough to find some local surfers who told us that it was a sea urchin and that it wasn't anything to worry about.  We found a security gaurd who had a first aid kit for sea urchins.  So here is the first aid for sea urchin stings.  Don't remove the spikes.  They're just calcium and will dissolve in the skin in a few days or weeks.  Put vinegar or a lime on the spikes for as long as you can to help dissolve the calcium and check to make sure it doesn't get infected.  By the next morning Drex was ok and riding his bike.
     Sulphur dioxide, sea urchins, and really cold nights aside, The Big Island was one really remarkable trip.