HualālaiThe mountain above Kona
Hualālai rises behind Kailua-Kona to 2,521 metres, the third-highest volcano on the Big Island and the third most active, after Kīlauea and Mauna Loa. Its slopes are dotted with cinder and spatter cones, and its lava flows form much of the Kona coast.
It last erupted around 1800–1801, when lava from vents on its northwest flank poured down to the sea. One of those flows lies beneath the runway of Kona International Airport, and the black lava fields you cross on the drive north from the airport are among its youngest.
The next eruptionA volcano worth watching
Hualālai is very much alive. In 1929 a swarm of earthquakes shook the volcano for weeks, probably as magma moved beneath it, though no lava reached the surface. Geologists expect it to erupt again, and because its flows could reach the sea in hours, it is one of the most closely watched volcanoes for the Kona coast.
For visitors there is no immediate concern, and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory monitors it continuously. Its slopes are mostly private land, but the Kona coast below, from Kekaha Kai to Kaloko-Honokōhau, shows its handiwork everywhere: fresh lava meeting turquoise water.
