Yesterday we visited Spouting Horn which is one of the items on the list of 101 things to do on Kauai. This is an area where water rushing under a lava shelf is forced into a lava tube. When the water bursts through a small opening at the surface it makes an eerie hissing noise.

Spouting Horn frequently spurts salt water 50 feet into the air. This particular blowhole is different from others found throughout the state as another hole nearby only blows air, making a loud groaning sound. If you look at the left side of this picture you can see an area of white water inside the lava area. This is a large blowhole which seemed to make the really loud hissing noise while the water was spouting through the smaller hole in the center of the picture.
Here is a closer look at the bigger hole which never spouted very much water, but when it growled it was a deep sounding hiss. Here there is nothing.

Then you could see a little bit of water coming up through the large opening that goes down into a lava tube.

This is about as high as we saw the large one spout while we were there.

Legend states that this coast was guarded by a large mo’o (lizard) who ate everyone who tried to fish or swim here. One day, a man named Liko entered the water. When the mo’o went to attack him, he swam under the lava shelf and escaped through the hole. The mo’o became stuck and was never able to get out. The groaning is the cry of hunger and pain from the lizard still trapped under the rocks. The picture below is to the right of the spouting horn shown above.

Here is a few seconds of video I took at Spouting Horn so you can hear the hissing.