Zawadi's Pacific Adventure 14-31 Aug 2014 (19/20 Hawai'i, The Big Island)

[Zawadi]

Tuesday morning. Where are we? The port in Hilo on the Big Island.

Six days into the holiday already and with 4 days of the cruise left, we decided to take advantage of our free laundry offer since the laundry service had a 48 hour turn around. We filled the bag and card to be shocked that it should have cost us $113.

It was the the usual buffet breakfast and more Hawaiian pineapple before boarding a coach for the Volcano National Park. After leaving the port, we drove along Banyan Drive. This drive has a lot of hotels that have been converted to condos, after a collapse of the tourism industry. However, this drive is famous for trees that have been planted by people such as Amelia Earheart, Richard Nixon, and Cecil DeMille (remember "Ready when you are CB?" in the Great Movie Ride?).

We headed out of Hilo, not before passing a clock, which was hit by a tsunami in 1960 at 01:04, and has been frozen in time ever since. The buildings in downtown Hilo are old and some derelict since the is classed as high tsunami risk and new builds are denied.

We arrived at the Jaggar Museum and looked out over the Halemaʻumaʻu crater within the Kīlauea caldera. The current volcanic activity has forced the closure of the Crater Rim Drive. It's hard to comprehend that what you're looking at was once a lake of molten rock. The caldera itself is caused by the magma chamber emptying then it's roof falling in.

From there it was over to the Kīlauea Iki Overlook. In 1959, this pit crater came to life with fountains of lava reaching 1900 foot. Today, the floor of the crater is 600 foot higher than before the before the eruption and only the top 200 foot has cooled.

Next was the Nāhuku - Thurston Lava Tube. Lava tubes are formed by the flow cooling from the outside and forming a wall around the flowing core, which drained before it could solidify. It was a 20 minute walk across the now prehistoric looking tree fern lined crater to the tube's entrance.

Finally, it was to a lava flow that had cut off the road but which had since been remade. Seeing the cross section of the flow and how nature was colonising the flow was mind blowing.

We then returned to the ship, stopping off at Big Island Candies on they way. A small factory with shop. Here we had a free sample of Kona Coffee and a chocolate.

Back on board we returned to find a plate of pineapple pieces dipped in chocolate in our cabin, compliments of the Hotel Director. Yummy! One of the tenders was being tested before going into service tomorrow in Kona. It was then off to the Cadillac Diner (again) before going to the hot tubs. At the hot tub, we left our towels on a shaded sun lounger and walked barefoot across to one of the tubs. Blimey the deck was so hot! Note to self: Only remove footwear at the hot tub!

After dinner we watched illusionist Charles Bach performing some of his big stage illusions. Brilliant once again.

During the night, the ship relocated. We woke with the ship at anchor outside Kona. The tenders were deployed the ferry operation commenced transporting guests who were going on tours.. We had a relaxing morning, no tour! However, we still went ashore early, using another Latitudes perk of "priority tender" before it got too hot. Ashore we just explored the town. The Mokuaikaua Church, established in 1820, is the oldest Christian church on the Hawaiian Islands. Inside it is humble and tranquil. Further along the coast, behind Bubba Gump Restaurant (from the movie Forrest Gump) was a public lava rock beach. Great outlook looking back a the ship and we took this opportunity to add to the photo album.

On the way back, we stopped in the jewellers Maui Divers. An expensive stop as DW was treated to an "Aloha" heart pendant.

We returned to the ship for some lunch before returning ashore for short walk along the seafront in the opposite direction, where some fellow passengers had taken a beach opportunity. We found the "Del Sol" outlet to get some Disney shirts that change colour in sunlight (UV light to be more precise), which we would wear during our visit to Disneyland the following week.

Back on board we watched one of the tenders being recovered and secured in less than two minutes before having dinner.

Dinner was a strange experience. We he a brilliant waiter, but his assistant made a table for two feel like a table for three. He was so in our face that he almost insisted that we completed a comment card saying how attentive he was. The card he gave us had been partially completed by another guest! Needless to say it remained on the table untouched. I really thought about completing a card with constructive comments that he'd find hard to swallow but he hadn't provided a pen!

[faline]

The tsunami history of Hilo is quite impressive. When we were there, the area felt a bit deserted - where everywhere else on Hawaii, building extend to the shorefront -- in Hilo, all the buildings were quite distant from the shore. Volcanoes National park is just fascinating - would love to spend more time there. Kona is a lovely town. We were able to rent a car and drive up into the hills beyond Kona - where you find the coffee growing.

You're having a lovely cruise and I am enjoying revisiting places we visited long ago through your reports!!

[badkitty]

Wow! The Big Island sounds amazing. Thanks for all the wonderful locations to visit on my next trip to Hawaii. Great report!

[NJGIRL]

The volcano tour is right up my alley, That is on the top of our list. One thing I know I will have a hard time with is seeing the pineapple everyday. I love it, but became allergic as an adult and can't eat it anymore. I really crave it when I see it.