On Thursday night, Patrick and I ventured out trying to beat the incoming Typhoon (it’s a little one, they assure us!) – [edit: the Typhoon was a dud. We got good rain on Thursday night, but none of the main storm they predicted for Friday and Saturday]. We picked up where our last hike left off. The cool thing about Olle trails is that they literally fully circle the island, so if we keep doing small pieces, coming back to start where we last stopped, we’ll eventually make it all the way around!

Ready for our hike!

This hike ended up being pretty short, because we spent most of our time taking in the sunset and crashing waves on a beautiful black sand beach. Yep, when dark lava-formed rocks erode into sand, they don’t turn into “normal” white/tan sand, but stay black. Wow. Hadn’t really thought that one through. 🙂

Patrick on the narrow strip of dry sand on the black sand beach. The tall cliffs behind him are the crater where we hiked last week!

The tide was almost fully in, and the waves were crashing pretty high. I went down to look at the sand and seashells, stopped to take a picture, and my feet got completely swamped by a crashing wave on the shore (thanks for the warning, Patrick!). 🙂 I found some amazing shells – so many different colors and patterns, and even an awesome little lizard/skink type guy skittering around.

sorry it’s fuzzy – he was moving pretty fast. Only about 2-3″ long! Good find for Patrick.

We walked out on a dock, where just before we arrived, a couple guys were fishing? They were pulling in boxes, so maybe trapping crabs or something. Wouldn’t have been hard – poor little guys were getting washed right up onto the dock on the high waves. We saw several dozen little black fellas scurrying off the dock after each crashing wave.

Waves crashing over the end of the dock at the beach. Patrick was getting brave.

One of the little black crabs (about 2″ diameter?) escaping off the dock back to the ocrean.

On the other side of the dock was a rockier section, with some amazing exposed lava flows. Check these out geology friends! I wish I knew more of the terminology, but it definitely looked amazing. I felt like I could see the lava flowing down to the sea where it cooled and hardened into these sheets.

Check out these rocks! Bubbly airy ones on the bottom and smooth sheets on top. And best part, they have been eroded by the ocean into a heart shape. Aw.

The beauty was balanced with the uglier side, too. Tons of trash washed up on the shore – plastic carts and bottles, shoes, cords, empty containers, plastic bags. Ew. I’d love to get the students (or staff?) down here to do a clean-up sometime. I think littering is still a cultural norm here. Would love to work on shifting that, but I think speaking the language is a necessary first step. Rosetta Stone, here I come!

Ew. Garbage. On the beach. Wish this didn’t happen.

Thanks again for reading. Drop us a comment/question (don’t worry if you don’t see it right away – we moderate comments to keep out the spammers) or just keep coming back for more! I love sharing our lives a little bit with you all, and hope you’re all doing great.

A nice way to end the evening and the post. Sunset over the rolling waves. Island life is pretty nice. 🙂