ON THE ROAD: visiting Hilo, on the Big Island

People sometimes get confused  with the island names so I thought I’d explain.  The state is called Hawaii, consisting of several islands. Oahu is the main island, which is where Honolulu is located. Honolulu is the biggest city, which is where my sister, brother-in-law and nephew live, not far from Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head..  The neighbor islands are a plane ride away.  On this trip we are visiting Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.

The Big Island of Hawaii, known as The Big Island,   IS the biggest of the islands and is a fascinating place to visit because of the diversity of its geography. Measuring 93 miles long and 76 miles wide, it is more than twice the size of all the other islands put together.  Hawaii is also the youngest, geologically speaking, and it continues to grow.  Five volcanoes originally created its land mass.  The two largest volcanoes are Mauna Loa, at 13,678 feet and Mauna Kea, at 13,800 feet.  Together these two volcanoes comprise almost 3/4 of the island’s surface.  Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano, is the highest mountain in the Pacific Basin.  Add that to its enormous mass underwater, and it becomes the highest mountain in the world.  Mauna Kea has been inactive for thousands of years but Mauna Loa still erupts from time to time,.  Kilauea, one of Mauna Loa’s neighboring volcanoes, is among the most active in the world, creating “ vog,” or volcanic ash throughout the area.  My sister will say it’s a voggy day when this happens and inhabitants are warned not to venture outdoors   When the volcano is erupting  it is said that Madame Pele, the goddess of fire, creator – and destroyer – of the islands  is angry again!

Other claims to fame on the Big Island: there is skiing on the top of Mauna Kea.   On the Kona side, the Parker ranch is the largest cattle ranch in the United States.

The Big Island has two major cities: Hilo, on the rainy side, and Kona, on the dry side.  We were on the Hilo side today and would be on the Kona side tomorrow.  Kona is where all the big hotels are located.

Craig and I had a tour at noon of Volcanoes National Park so we ventured to his parents’ stateroom after breakfast to see what was happening.  Ed was on duty on the balcony, all excited because a Japanese training vessel was about to leave its dock.

It was fascinating to see the sailors climbing the masts. I’ll try uploading a video but I don’t know if it will work. I flipped it but I wanted you to hear the sounds of the sailors.    Just click on the link.

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Craig and I took the tender – his first experience in tendering – to shore and caught the excursion bus to the park, where we saw craters and walked inside a lava tube.  Imagine lava flowing out from these caverns! I also had the opportunity  to get a steam facial, thanks to the steam coming from the volcano.

Back on the ship, I practiced taking photos of the Photogenic Couple for the yearly Christmas card. We are not together all that often, so it’s a good opportunity to get a shot of the two of them.  You may see one of these photos if you’re on their Christmas card list.

Tonight we sail off again, and tomorrow we go to Kona.