Spelunking Hawaii

"We're not doing big numbers, but we saw huge potential,'' Elhard said. "We want to be more of an educational tour. We want people to learn and understand about the archaeological aspects of caves.''

He and other guides lead small groups, even children as young as 5, through parts of the caves on tours that last from easy half-hour strolls to more challenging half-day explorations. When my husband and I were there, it was just the two of us, following Richardson into a braided maze she knew by heart and getting a taste of massive chambers and small spaces formed 1,000 years ago by volcanic gases rising through cooling magma.

A National Park tour it is not. It's a fledgling operation that's loosely organized, and sometimes the battery-powered lights on the well-used equipment go out. But it's definitely an adventure tour.

We broke a sweat, despite the 68 degree temperature inside the cave, and had to watch our footing navigating craggy rocks that seemed to grow out from above and below. One of the most interesting parts was when we turned off our head lamps and sat in the dark, listening closely to dripping water and the sound of ourselves breathing.

I'll admit I liked climbing and scrambling over loose rocks much better than belly-crawling through the tight spots. The crawling part made me think about being swallowed by hot lava as I tried to untangle myself from its pointy fingers.

But squirming around on my hands and knees gave me a feeling not just for overcoming claustrophobia but for looking at a volcanic island from a different perspective.

I thought about the cave dwellers who must have used the spaces for shelter.

I wondered how long the kukui nuts, which contained oil that Hawaiians used to light like candles, had been left on the rock shelves that we passed. I pictured the lava flowing through the walls I could now touch.

The tour captured my imagination. Yes, I could have spent the day relaxing on the beach. What I did instead made me feel like an explorer. And to me, discovering a world I'd never seen before made the vacation feel complete.

On the Net: http://www.kulakaicaverns.com

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