| Robin met a woman who needed someone to house-sit for her for a couple of weeks. The house is in an interesting subdivision adjacent to the Champagne Ponds. It is a gated community that sits on a bunch of tidal pools that are all interconnected throughout the community. As a result, many people have ponds in their yards. |
| From Francine's House, it's a short walk to the coast where the main pond is. These photos show how local people spend their 4th of July. On the left we have a family who stand chest deep in the water with all their necessities floating all around them: coolers for drinks and food, charcoal broiler. The guy (in the white hat) has a drink and is smoking a cigarette. To the right, we have a family who brought the whole household with them to the beach. No sense in skimping. Live the good life. |
| This is the house we sat for. Nice, huh? It's called a multi-facetted house that has been developed here in Hawaii. For more info see http://multi-facettedhomes.com/. To the right of the house is this pond -->. The water is crystal clear and roughly 7 feet deep. Just behind the pond in the trees is another waterway of crystal clear water that is connected to the Champagne Ponds on the coast (see below) |
| This is a panoramic view of the main pond of the Champagne Ponds, left to right. It is separated from the main ocean by the shallow area where the lady's standing. The depth of this, of course, varies with the tides. The land in the background is the side of the bay we're in which makes this a sheltered area. Those are our friends, Tanya and John (in the hat and sun glasses), in the middle photo. As you look to the right, you can see the houses that are clustered in around the ponds which extend into the subdivision. Very nice! |
| Here are some more views of the Hawaiian family on holiday. In the left hand photo you can see John and his daughter Emmy (short for Emerson) on the right. |
| John & Emmy |
| These pictures are taken from in back of the main pond. The photo on the left is exposed for the pond, the photo on the right is exposed so that you can see the ocean in the background - the shallow area that separates the ponds from the ocean. The ponds extend into the subdivision even farther than where this pictures was taken from. |
| This is a map in Jagger Museum that shows the various distances from the lava flow. On the night of Mar 12 (page 4), we made it as far as the Steam plume viewing area in the dark. I'd really like to get out to the very end someday. |
| Panoramic view of Halema'uma'u Crater, left to right. Today is raining and the wind's blowing like crazy, almost knocking us off our feet. Because of the dampness, the steam shows up much better than on sunny days when we've been here. You may wonder why we keep going back to Kilauea. Well, first there's the buffet. Then there's the fact that it's an extremely cool place. But the main reason is it's a great place to meet friends who are coming over from the other side of the island. Sort of a mid-way point. |
| On the way back to the cars, Robin noticed this fencepost out of the ground.... Sort of makes your feet feel a little hot... |
| The fence is there to keep people from walking in this, which, I guess, would make your feet feel a lot hotter! They are steam vents coming from the lava about 2600 feet below us. |
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Photos 2, page 7
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| July 4, 2006 |
Fourth of July
| July 8, 2006 |
More Kilauea
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