Hilo Hawaii

Wednesday March 9th.....  We reach Hilo Hawaii today....We’re supposed to dock at 11:00 and leave at 8 tonight....  We have a tour scheduled “Land of the Frozen Fire”.  We are to see the results of the last big eruption...  the lava flow said to be large enough to pave an 8 lane hiway once around the world.....  Those who were scheduled to go to the volcano national park were disappointed because it is closed due to the recent activity...  It did not vent today but they believe it is close to blowing.....

Yesterday we set up by the pool for a while and had lunch there at the taco bar, it tasted great and was just enough to get us by until dinner....  then we met up with one of the couples we’ve become acquainted with and set up in the
“crow’s nest” and visited for quite awhile...

last night was another formal night....dinner was good as usual, we chose to have another little filet and it was served with 2 huge prawns....I’ve been testing my tolerance for shell fish and found I still have reason to stay away from them....My insides just do not get along as well when I eat them, so no more shell fish for me.    After dinner we went to the casino and was back in the cabin by 10:00...

As for today..... Wow!  We started the day with a late breakfast on the patio, the ship was about two hours late arriving and it was nearly 1:00 this afternoon before we docked.....  

We got off the ship, located “our tour”, boarded an air conditioned 15 passenger mini van and off we went....  our tour director’s name was Daniel - he was fun and gave us a really good history of the island and took us around to view all the highlights on the island....  We started off at the macadamian nut factory..   they are so good.......

We got a good view of the rain forests on this island so I was able to see many beautiful trees, flowers, & fauna...and he was good about stopping to let us take lots of pictures and we were able to walk around as much as we wanted...   I only took 153 pictures of foliage and trees...  The waves were awesome as much of the island are high cliffs against the ocean, creating several “blow holes” where the water shoots 75 ft. high or more....

I was amazed to learn that “lava” is full of the richest in nutrients of any natural made base in the world....  we went to areas where the volcano eruption in 1983 is already being covered with growth..   I had no idea and just assumed that it was dead rock. 

We also went to “rainbow falls”... and had a short tour of downtown...   We got back to the ship about 7:00 this evening and we’re pooped so we’re going to order room service for supper and skip going to the dining room tonight....

When returning back to the ship I was presented with a real flower lei....  so beautiful and very fragrant...  they say if it's kept in the fridge it will last for 4 days....  I hope so.

Tomorrow is Lahina, Maui.....  Sad to say we canceled the rain forest hike, just decided my back/hip/leg couldn’t take it, but we may do a whale watching, or something different.....  will check in with you then.......