Volcanos Hawaiian Style

by Tonia Kushin, lead teacher from St. Paul Island School, Pribilof Islands Alaska

Well, we got some more flying in today. We did an Island hop over to the Big Island getting a great view of the chain of Hawaiian Islands along
with some culture and lore about each from the live tour guide as well as our own personal iPod tour guide!

As we walked from the plane toward the bus to get up close and personal with a volcano, there was a face from home, St. Paul Islander - Jay Stepetin and his wife, Brandy with daughter
Hannah! They had found out we were coming and drove over to the Hilo side to spend the day with us on a bus tour up to see Kilauea.

We stopped at a few sights along the way (I think the chocolate shop was the kids' favorite) and then made it up to the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.


We were able to see the Kilauea caldera with a huge plume of steam coming from it rising gracefully into the air as well as Mauna Loa nearby and Mauna Kea in the distance.




The Rangers explained to us about VOG - the
toxic gases rising up - and explained to us about the dome or shield volcanoes.

Although we'd studied the different types of volcanoes and seen pictures in our science books and the Internet, it was interesting to hear the students discuss where the volcanoes actually were. I think they were still expecting to see the more composite type with steep slopes and peaks like we have back home. Speaking of home, you'll notice in a couple of the

pictures that the volcanic rock we're near looks just like the picture could have been taken on St. Paul or St. George. We also walked through the Thurston Lava Tube and likened that to the one at Bogoslof Hill on the St. Paul.


The day ended back on Oahu with an evening trip to the Waikiki Beach to
play "Chicken" with the waves. The kids loved that - though they got quite
a bit wetter than they do at home when playing the same game with ice cold
water, but naturally we'd forgotten to bring the camera!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center and underwater on
a submarine excursion. We will hopefully get to wrap our brains better
around what Ms. Ridgeway has been describing and teaching us through
pictures and stories of her deep sea work in the Zemchug and Pribilof
canyons.

Thanks for sharing our adventures,

Ms. Kushin, Ms. Edna & the 5th graders: Andronika, Ermogen, Linnae, Maria,
Savannah, Teresa, Will, and Wynn (plus John, Henry, and Ashley)