Nakalele Blowhole–Day 2

I forgot to post one picture from the tide pools that for some reason I really love.  It looks like some strange place from another world.

After visiting the tide pools, we went further north to the northern side of the island.  This part of the island is very windy and gets moderate rain.  This hike was to the Nakalele Blowhole via the Acid Warzone.    This area is made up of volcanic rock that is relatively young (thousands of years).  Much of the rock you see there is riddled with olivine, a semiprecious gemstone.

You can see in the picture above all the yellow/orange flecks are olivine (you may have to click on the picture to zoom in).

The wind was howling and watching the ocean pummeling the shore was part scary and part awesome.  Getting into the water here would have meant almost certain death if you got pounded into the razor sharp rocks that make up the shore here.

The acid warzone was a large area that could have been a set for a movie taking place on Mars.  Amazingly, this bizarre landscape has been created by the spray created by the blowhole over hundreds of years slowly eroding the rock.  Seawater is fairly basic, and bases, just like acids, can cause significant erosion.  These pictures are just a small part of the large area that was composed of these strange looking rocks.

The Nakalele blowhole.  This is essentially a lava shelf with a hole in it.  As the surf pounds underneath the shelf, sometimes it comes shooting out of the hole.  The hole is about three feet across and for scale, you can see the people in the bottom of the photo.  This blowhole can range from not doing anything at all, to shooting water 70 feet in the air.  It was going pretty strong when we were there along with monster waves occasionally crashing over the edge of the shelf. 

A closer up view of the blowhole.  In this particular shot, it wasn’t too spectacular, but you get the idea.  So Maui isn’t all golden beaches and calm water.  Just go to the other side of the island and you can see the ocean in all its fury.  Very cool!