We Found It

We are really proud of Christoph who passed his last check flight before Christmas and is now finished with his helicopter training. Christoph took me on a flight Thanksgiving weekend where he practiced airport approaches using instrumentation only. While Christoph was navigating the skies 2,000 feet above Kona, I noticed a skylight to a cave in the lava field below so I snapped a picture. Chris matched the photo with the satellite image of the lava field on Google Earth to obtain the skylight's coordinates. We programmed the point into our GPS unit and took the trek to find the cave on Christmas morning.

We've been exploring lava tubes for about four years and this one is just what we've been looking for. Our goal has been to find a stand-up cave (no crawling) near town so we can conveniently take friends to enjoy the cave, too. On Christmas morning we hiked up the cave for 800 feet when the tube intersected with another cave, which we hiked down for about the same distance. By then, we were late for Christmas dinner. We haven't finished exploring up or down in either cave and we feel there is potential for the cave to go a long ways. We're impressed by the volume of the flow and the height of the cave. It's the winner we've been waiting for!


Light streams through a small skylight in the cave we found on Christmas day.


I'll throw in this photo of Hualalai just because it's pretty. This is the volcano that made the lava flow that formed the cave we're exploring.

Christoph navigates over Kona International Airport.

Hello from Okinawa

I am here in Okinawa with my husband who is performing a soil survey on a jungle warfare training area. I will post pictures when I get home.
It's a rainy day so I am hanging around the hotel waiting for the clouds to clear so I can go to the beach. My swim suit is on. I'm ready, if this weather would just cooperate.
If anything has struck me so far about Okinawa it's how nice the people are. Everyone is helpful and they seem so genuine and respectful. They really want me to have a good time while I am a guest on their beautiful island. It makes me wonder what Japanese visitors experience when they come to the Big Island. My best guess is they find a little less aloha than we have found here.
The food we're eating is fantastic and our chef tries hard to cater to my tastes. No eggs, no vinegar and I don't care for tomatoes, but I assured him seafood and raw fish are very good. Menus are set each day and we never know what they will bring us. My food preferences keep him guessing, but he has managed to amaze us with his delicious fare. Pictures coming, I promise!