Pride of America provides week-long cruises around the state of Hawaii. Photo / Supplied
Pride of America provides week-long cruises around the state of Hawaii. Photo / Supplied
Andrew Louis get depressional on one of the highest volcanoes in the world
While on a cruise holiday, sailing through the balmy blues of the Pacific, it seems a little weird to find yourself suddenly standing amid red dust and giant rocky craters on what feels closer to a Martianlandscape.
Hawaii is well known for its volcanic activity. Visiting the Haleakala Crater on the island of Maui is one of the many shore excursion trips available from the cruise ship, Pride of America.
After disembarking at 8am, it's a scenic two and a half hour drive up the dormant volcano in a luxury air-conditioned bus.
Haleakala Crater, on Maui, in Hawaii. Photo / Getty Images
Haleakala is a dormant volcano that last erupted in the 1790s. It is termed a shield volcano. Hawaiian volcanoes do not explode but rather lava slowly oozes from the weakest points in the Earth's crust.
Our driver, Roy, best describes it to be similar to baking an apple pie. When the pie goes into the oven, heat causes the filling and gases to expand. If there are no holes in the top, it will crack and you have apple filling bursting out and a mess to clean up. I missed breakfast this morning and now I'm starting to get hungry.
He also explains it's not actually a crater but an "erosional depressional valley".
The volcano is sacred. Back in the day, human sacrifices were performed to please the gods. Luckily for women and children, only men were picked for this grim ritual. The chosen were promised that their family would be elevated in rank within the village, plus he would get to mingle with the gods.
The twisting road up has a gentle gradient that was originally designed for horse and cart. The daughter thinks the farming landscape looks a lot like New Zealand. We pass a few houses and pockets of introduced flora. Pine, wild guava and avocado trees. An endemic plant that piques my interest is the silversword, a small shrub with long silvery leaves resembling a ball of mini swords.
Roy claims that by the way the experts measure it from the sea floor rather than sea level, this is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. My ears intermittently remind me of the lowering air pressure.
Nearing the summit the vegetation disappears.
We constantly see cyclists coming downhill. At the top I meet one, Greg from Utah, who claims it took him about five hours to ride up to the summit but will only take one and a half hours to go down.
Visitors gather in low light at Haleakala Crater, Hawaii. Photo / Kristen Sturdivant
I'm glad I brought a light jumper; the temperature is cool but not cold.
The panoramic view is majestic and very beautiful in a Tongariro Crossing way. The barren ground is rugged with reddish brown volcanic rocks with only a few mountain plants surviving up here. This is how the original landscape would have looked like before introduced planting.
After spending a short time absorbing the sights and peacefulness of the erosional depressional valley we start our descent. The others in my group and I think how great it be to ride down. I wonder how Greg and his road bike went.
Safely back on the ship, I discover there is a another tour available through the cruise that would save you the grind up. Maui Downhill Bicycle Adventure takes you and a bicycle in a van up Haleakala to an elevation of 1980m. You then ride 22.5km back downhill. If we had another day to spend here I would definitely give this a try.
