Whirly Bird

Today's pictures have a theme...a bird's eye view of Kauai. There are a lot of different types of lava around, some spout holes in old lava flow along the coast, striated cliffs, etc. Our helicopter pilot told us there were 39 volcanic craters on the island, Wai'ale'ale Crater being the biggest and most famous. It used to be a sacred place of worship for the Hawaiians, back when the crater was still whole and filled by a lake. These days, Wai'ale'ale gets the most rain of anywhere on the island and is apparently the wettest spot on earth, with tons of waterfalls temporarily created gushing down its steep walls. I think I've got a picture of it. A lot of the old island is covered in lush greenery. My dad's favorite question the whole trip was "But where does the red clay come from?" He was trying to reconcile it with the origins of the island.