Halema’uma’u Crater

One must visit Halema’uma’u Crater both by day and by night, two completely different experiences. I recommend going during the day first, so you can clearly see the size of the crater and really understand what you are looking at when you visit it at night. If you can only go once, go at night! You will see what appears to be glowing lava and if you are at the Thomas Jaggar Museum Observation Deck, you are as close as you can possibly get. (Note: after the 2019 eruption the Thomas Jaggar Museum is closed and this outlook no longer exists.)

After we finished our stinky walk through the Sulphur Banks we headed over to the Thomas Jaggar Museum (a very large one room museum with a gift shop and bathrooms). It is here that you will have the best possible view of Halema’uma’u Crater. This is also the most crowded area of the park. The viewing area is quite large and if you are patient you will make your way to the small stone wall which will be the only thing separating you and the land leading to the crater.

During the day we were impressed by it’s size and our proximity to it. It was steaming constantly; a lava lake is located beneath the still active crater. The height of the lava lake rises and falls, at the time we were there it was too low for us to see.

Afterwards, we headed back to The Volcano House to have dinner at The Rim. The view from The Rim is astonishing at night (assuming the weather cooperates). Some time during dinner they will announce that they will be turning off the lights for a few moments so everyone in the restaurant can witness the red glowing Halema’uma’u Crater. This was our first glimpse of the crater at night and it was phenomenal. (Note: after the 2019 eruption, I am not sure if the crater still glows, as the lava that was causing the glow was released during the eruption. I would contact the restaurant to find out.)

I had read some complaints online about the restaurant, which I felt were unfounded after our experience. I think some people were not happy with their prices; however, you are paying for the view. Even the tables away from the windows have great views. We had no complaints about the food, it is pricey, but we felt the entire experience was worth it. I would definitely repeat the visit and have highly recommended it to friends. The one area that was a problem was making reservations. They have since added a reservation button to their website, which was not available for our trip. I called repeatedly and the phone either rang unanswered or I was put on indefinite hold. I finally gave up and sent an email requesting a reservation. I received a confirmation email but when we showed up for our dinner reservation they had no record of my email. Of course, I brought my email notification with to Hawaii….but left it at the treehouse. They were very accommodating and apologized for the inconvenience and we were given a table within 30 minutes. The 30 minute wait was not a problem, we wandered through the gift store and strolled outside to the large patio which has a marvelous view of the crater as well.

We enjoyed a leisurely meal; however, right after we ordered dessert, the fire alarm went off. It was VERY loud, cover your ears loud, with a flashing strobe light. The serving staff assured us it was a false alarm. There was no smoke in the restaurant, but I know that fire alarms will go off if they sense a sudden increase in temperature as well, so I was starting to worry about the lava lake that was underground right out the window. We were served our dessert when it went off a second time. I was keeping my eye on the crater, which was doing nothing different than it had been doing when we arrived, so now it was just starting to get annoying. As we were eating our dessert it went off a third time, which we decided meant it was time to leave. I do think the restaurant should have comped our dessert for having to deal with the alarm going off three times while we were there, but we wanted to leave before it went off a fourth and decided not to ask for them to reduce our bill and have to wait for a new receipt.

We decided to head back to the Thomas Jaggar Observation deck to see the crater glowing.

Gazing at Halemu’uma’u Crater, one of my all time favorite pictures of my kids!

It was absolutely mesmerizing. Although it looks like you are seeing lava, what we were actually seeing was the lava being reflected in all of the steam and mist coming out of the crater.  I didn’t have my tripod with me, so I had to hold still as best as I could while taking this very long exposure picture. My daughter came out a little blurry, but I thought it was pretty good for how long I had to try and hold still. For the next photo I sat the camera down on the stone wall and tried not to shake it as I was pressing the button.

Halemu’uma’u Crater

I could have stayed there for hours; however, we were all still in shorts and eventually the cold got the better of us. I didn’t think I would have to say that we left the volcano because we were too cold! I convinced everyone that we should stop by again tomorrow after dinner since we would most likely never be back for another visit, and who knows if we would ever get another chance to view an active volcano. We headed back to the treehouse for our first night’s stay and then up early to head off to the Green Sand Beach.

I would say that dining at The Rim on the ‘edge’ of a volcano’s caldera was the most unique place we have even eaten at, what is your most unique/unusual dining experience?

As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available as Fine Art Prints or Digital Downloads for purchase at full resolution through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure the image is available.)

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The Best Location to View Halema’uma’u Crater