timstravel

Hello,

I'd like to get a first-hand update on the Big Island vog. Images like this one make it look like it could be pretty bad. Anyone on the ground there care to post what it's been like the past couple of months (compared to normal) since the new Halemaumau vent opened up?

Thanks.

cblaisd

While not currently as bad as it's been sometimes, it's still bad enough that much of the park is still closed http://www.nps.gov/havo/closed_areas.htm and even on the Hamakua coast (north of Hilo) one can definitely tell it's there.

Deacon

You might take a look at this website :

http://www.konaweb.com/vog/index.shtml

Or, assuming Big Island is your destination, you can go to the "Visiting the Big Island" forum on Konaweb.com and post a question

We won't be "on the ground" there until the 17th, so I've been watching it for a few days in anticipation.

slippahs

Where will you be staying? Volcano? Hilo? Kona? On an outer island?

You can definitely tell how bad the vog will be by the direction of the winds. For example, on Oahu, Maui and Kauai, the weather gets hazy/voggy whenever there are Kona winds, i.e., winds out of the South. Trade winds, i.e., winds out of the North/Northeast, generally means clear skies.

dhuey

I just spoke with someone living in Holualoa yesterday. When I asked her what's news, the first thing she mentioned was the vog and what a bummer it's been.

timstravel

Holualoa is (was?) on the short list of places I was considering. Maybe I will have to set my sights back up towards Kohala.

Thanks y'all for your input!

Jeeves

When I saw "How is the Vog?". I say, "What is Vog?". Now I know its volcanic air pollution. Okay.

notsosmart

It can get pretty bad even in Kona, but it's when you see it in Waikiki that you know that Pele is angry.

clover

We just returned from 2 weeks in Hawaii (Waikiki, Lanai, BI). Our stay concluded with 6 days at the Mauna Lani. We LOVE Hawaii and have vacationed there for 10 straight years (and many other years prior to that), but we will probably not return to the Big Island until the Pu`u `O`o vent in the Halemaumau Crater stops (or radically decreases) the spewing of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

While it is true that the vog is less intense as you go further north from Kona, it still had a significant impact on us at the Mauna Lani. In fact, my wife experienced headaches and some breathing issues each day we were in Hawaii, including the Oahu and Lanai portions. Mornings were usually much better than afternoons on the BI. When we checked in, the sky was so dark it looked overcast (at 3 pm) and that pattern was evident on 4 out of our 6 days.

We visited the 4S at Hualalai on 2 different days and were shocked how much worse it was there vs. just 15 miles or so down the road at our hotel. A waiter at one Hualalai Grill (who we knew from prior visits) told us he had moved his family back to the mainland and might be headed back there himself if it doesn't get better in the near future. We heard similar comments from a number of other folks. We have friends with a home in Mauna Kea who are aware of many service level employees deciding to move to other islands.

Our car rental tram driver said that it was much worse as you head further south (of KOA) and that many locals have taken to wearing surgical type masks at times.

I really don't mean to be so pessimistic, (please don't shoot the messenger!) but this appears to be a potentially epic tragedy for the BI since no one can predict when the vent will cease its eruption. I felt that others on FT should certainly be made aware of the issue and its potential impact on their enjoyment of a trip to the BI.

I am surprised that I didn't hear much about this prior to leaving on our trip, but I would certainly advise friends to, minimally, choose another of the Hawaiian islands for vacation until conditions get more predictably better on the BI.

As it was, Mauna Lani was about 1/2 full and there were rooms available at the 4S Hualalai for the first time I can remember in the summer, even with some rooms closed for renovation.

Perhaps we just experienced a week in which the vog was particularly bad and/or the trades were blowing more in our direction, but from talking with many locals (and from googling for more news on vog) it seems that things are getting worse before better. I hope, for the sake of the island and its residents, that things improve soon.

dhuey

Epic tragedy might be a bit strong, but I think you're right that this might well be a very big, long-term problem. For most people, Hawaii's gorgeous natural environment is the main draw. Poor air quality where they live is precisely what a lot of tourists are trying to escape.

clover

Granted that might be a bit strong....but not by much. BI tourism is based, to a great extent on very high end resorts (4S, MKR, MLR, KV, etc.) and real estate development. I just don't believe that visitors that are being asked to pay more than $750/night are going to continue to return to the BI under constant vog conditions. That customer has MANY other options, including some on other islands, to put up with vog on the BI (or other Hawaiian islands for that matter.

What is scaring everyone over there..and they ARE scared...is that this is a geologic event. Nobody can predict how long it will last...a week or 50 years. That's why I used the word "epic" to describe it.

dhuey

I wonder what this is doing to property values in the areas most affected. In these locations, you'd have to be an optimist to put down big bucks for your Big Island dream home right now.

clover

Property values are declining due to the general malaise in the markets of course, but this situation doesn't help matters. My friend with the house in MKR (purchased about 8 months ago) says values have declined significantly since then. I saw evidence of developments in MKR alone that had been stopped during construction.

In Lanai, Murdock actually had a number of spec houses in the framing stage taken back down to the ground. He is adapting a hunker down mentality to wait this thing out.

As usual during these downturns, cash will be king and there will be some outstanding "bargains" available in Hawaii in the next year or so. Right now there aren't many offers for the inventory on the market (again, according to local residents I spoke with while over there).

rockdoc

As a geologist I can tell you that as mentioned, this event could go on for months/years or end within the week. As I mentioned in another thread, sub surface pressure conditions under the vent are probably in equlibrium and that is why no lava has reached the surface. The SO2 is coming off of the lava at a depth of about 100 meters. Should the lava reach the surface the SO2 emissions would probably decrease significantly. Also a possibility is a change in the subsurface pressure regime in which the lava retreats or moves elsewhere in the subsurface and the emissions cease. That could happen tomorrow or months from now; however, the fact that the vent has been active for so long without lava coming to the surface suggests that things will stay as they are for awhile.

In the meantime, I agree that it is a disconcerting event. We where there in early June and it was a distraction to say the least. We stayed at Hapuna when not in VNP so the air was relatively OK, but views to the south were quite hazy. Sunsets were almost non-existent.

dhuey

I realize this might be a very silly question, but is there any serious discussion of human intervention to bring an end to these SO2 emissions? I have no sense of this problem at all, but I wonder if any blasting at key points or something like that would have any effect.