Bob, the man we are renting our house from, puts together adventure tours for his renters. We have been checking them out and have some wonderful pictures as a result. I’ll take you on a guided tour if you like.

First on tour one was Lave Tree State Park – beautiful!

The lava trees were created when a lava flow inundated a forest centuries ago.

                    

The sign explains what happened.

They have turned it into a beautiful park with peaceful winding paths that belie the tumultuous creation of the lava trees. Note the fissure

– there are many slicing through the park. Some are large enough to fall into so be careful.

The next stop on the tour was at Isaac Hail State Park where we hiked through a jungle  and watched the pounding surf.  The diversity and power of nature is wondrous!

The last stop on our tour was to Black Sands National Park. For centuries this was a wonderful local treasure – a beautiful black sand beach with towering coconut palms where local families swam, surfed, picnicked and communed with nature. Then Mother Nature let loose and covered the area with a blanket of lava 60 feet deep and miles wide.

The people were devastated but are now beginning to reclaim what was theirs. Hundreds of coconut palms have been planted and families are returning to the area.