Hilo-Big Island

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November 30th

Sarah’s Entry

    Up at 6:10 this morning in extreme pain.  Went up to the gym and warmed up for 30 mins before doing another 30 min of stretches.

    Down for breakfast at the skyline dining room.  Was much better than the Cadilac.  Bigger menu but faster service, everything tasted great!

    Down off the ship to meet Safari helicopters in the Aloha room which was at the end of the terminal building.  It was a nice room with chairs, cool air and things to look at on the walls.  Driver arrived right on time and gave us current updates on volcano activity and info on our pilot.

    Weigh-in went ok.  I weighed in 232.6 with camera and Derek was 213.3 with the big camera.  4.1 pounds to spare!  Job well done.

    The helicopter ride itself was an amazing way to see the volcano.  To be able fly right around the crater and see the sides glow and watch the lava inside shimmer.  Followed the stream to follow the lava tube, we did see active flow albeit slow, and an open hole.  Once back at the terminal we asked the driver to drop us at the car rental place at the airpad and he did so it was a painless segue into our ford fusion.  30 min later we entered volcano national park at 12:30.

     We turned right and stopped at the steam vents and the Jagger museum.  The road closed after the museum so out we went back the other way to stop at Kilauea Iki  crater to get some more cools shots of the plume.  Then off to Thurston lava tubes which was every bit as fun as I had hoped.  We took our flash light and walked quite far into the part of the tube that hasn’t been lit up.  Next we are off on Chain of Craters Road descending 3,200 ft over 18 miles to the ocean.  No cellphone signals and no radio stations come in seeing Holei Arch was worth the drive.  Then we spent a good half hour climbing on the lava that cut across the road in 1986 and continued through 2006.  It was quite a walk from the parking lot to the end of the road.   We had a beautiful day today considering Hilo is the second wettest city in the U.S.

    Back on the ship to get changed to go to the murder mystery dinner at the Jefferson’s Bistro featuring Second City.  It was a funny show and our tablemate’s were interesting to talk to.  After they had a special at the bar outside and you could chat with the performers. 

    We went back to the room to work on picture and wait for the sail bye.  I have no pictures of the lava sail bye but may buy some from the ship photographer.  Looking through the binoculers we could see some cool flow in.  We walked back in to hurry to the martini happy hour and found out we narrowly missed getting drenched.  Had a nice relaxing chat with a couple from B.C. Canada.




Derek's entry

    Can I sleep in just one day?  Up early again to head off to a helicopter ride.  Got off the ship no problem and got picked up at the pier by Safari Helicopter.  They took us right to the helipad and gave us a quick briefing to get us ready to go.  The helicopter ride was amazing.  We saw several waterfalls from the sky.  My favorite part though was the flowing lava, and watching some lava spill into the ocean.  So cool!!  After landing the drive dropped us off at the Thrifty rental desk so we could pick up our car.

    Next up was a drive to Volcano National Park.  There we saw some steam vents and got a good view of the cone.  We also got to do one of the things I looked most forward to in the trip….Walking through a lava tube.  It was great, especially walking into the tube that didn’t have lights put in it.  There just is no good way to describe how dark it was.  We had a flashlight that lights up the bathroom really well, but didn’t do much to help out there.  Kinda creepy.

    From there we headed down Chain of Craters road, more windy curvy downhill driving for me.  Yippee!!  It was actually a very scenic drive, got to see lots of different lava flows throughout the years.  The greatest part was getting to the end of what was drivable because lava had flown across the road.  After spending some time there it was back to the ship.

    Tonight we opted for the Murder mystery at Le bistro.  First time we had done one.  It was pretty funny, though I think it would have been better with a more active audience.  Had fun meeting a few of the cast members after the show at the coffee bar.  I had myself a Couvasier after the show since it was on special and I like it on the rocks.  Then onto the starboard side for the lava sail by.

    The lava sail by wasn’t very good because of some more active lava flow higher up the mountain.  There aren’t any pictures because it was a small dot of red on the horizon to the naked eye.  So glad I bought some binoculars for this though.  It provided a decent view of lava spilling into the ocean.  I would have been really disappointed in this if it hadn’t been for the helicopter and the binoculars.  Just as we decided to head back in to catch happy hour at Lanai Bar(ends at 10, we walked in at 9:58) it started to rain.  Had a nice chat with a couple who got soaked that came in 3 minutes behind us.  Then off to bed.