b"C H A P T E R 3 | ' I N AL AVA, L AVA E V E RY W H E R Ef your reaction to flying into Hawai`i Island for the first time was, We just landed on the moon, you are not alone. The vast fields of brown and black lava you see from an airplane window look quite a bit like what youd expect of a lunar landscape. Stretching from mauka to makai all along the Kona-Kohala Coast, the lava is a stark and magnificent sight that not even those who have traveled far and wide are likely to have seen before.Born of the molten issue from Hawai`i IslandsI S L A N D S B O R N O F F I R Efamily of five volcanoesMauna Kea, Mau- On the south end of the island, 100 miles from naLoa,Huallai,Klauea,andtheKohalatheKohalaCoastresorts,KlaueaVolcano Rangethe dozen or so distinct lava fieldshas been spewing lava continuously for more wedrivethroughtoreachWaikoloaBeachthan 30 years, sitting atop the underwater hot Resort from the airport (which itself is builtspot in the 3,600-mile-long Hawaiian Island-atop a lava flow from Huallai) are anywhereEmperor Seamount chain. from hundreds to tens of thousands of yearsAccordingtotheU.S.GeologicalSurvey, old. The most recent eruption that flowed toAll the Hawaiian Islands owe their existence this area came from Mauna Loa in 1859, andto this hot spot in the Earths mantle that has includes the land on which Waikoloa Beachchanged location only slightly over the past 70 Resort was built.million years. Countless eruptions of lava fed by 5 3"