Olivine Pools

David's brother Jonathan standing near where the ocean meets the lava shelf.

John Harrison did not want to leave and cried every time we took him out of the water.

largest of the lava pools

Baby lava pool for John Harrison

Last Saturday, we drove to the North side of Maui and led only by our trusty guidebook, ventured past the end of the main road onto a narrow road that led us to a small, unmarked dirt pull-off area where we parked. The landmarks given by the guidebook were a gate and a boulder that sounds hollow if you knock on it. Given such specific guidance, we were confident that we would easily find our destination point. The broken glass on the dirt did not deter us from parking and hiking....in Hawaii you take all your valuables out of your car and leave the car unlocked because thieves will usually check to see if the doors are unlocked before busting our your window.......the way we see it, we figure that no thief wants a navy blue Chevy Impala (no local wants to be caught dead in a car that so much as resembles a rental) and if he is so desperate that he needs a beach chair to furnish his house, our car doors are left unlocked so that he can have his pick of our chairs. Anyways.....we parked and hiked down a fairly steep rocky and dusty path to what the guidebook author named the Olivine Pools (the guidebook writer said he had never found the pools documented in any other guidebook or seen where the pools had been officially named). These pools are basically areas in the lava shelves by the ocean that have been deep enough to fill with water and sealife from ocean swells. The water in the pools was fairly warm and VERY salty due to evaporation (our bouyancy while swimming was incredible due to the high salt concentration of the water). John Harrison had fun playing in some mini pools and we enjoyed our picnic lunch looking out at the beautiful blue water and harsh black lava landscape. David's brother Jonathan is out here in Hawaii with us this week and we had a lot of fun together enjoying the beautiful scenery and looking at the different animals such as crabs and small flying fish that resided in the pools.