Hilo, Hawaii

Every day since Leaving L.A. the weather warmed up until it seemed to be stuck on 78 degrees. After 5 days and 4,000 miles the Rotterdam entered Hilo Harbor on the big Island of Hawaii. We really enjoyed the crossing from L.A. and have been very busy with a series of lectures on the Ports of Call, dance lessons (very basic), Watercolor (Tom), Cooking classes by Mr. Recipe (more on him later), cruise shows and the all favorite evening Happy hour in the Jacuzzi.
Saturday we rented a car and were off to explore the Island. Hilo is the wettest city in the U.S. with average rainfall of 128 inches. And the town has also had its share of Tsunami's, with the last in 1960 pretty much devastating the Ocean front town. It has since been rebuilt.

Our first destination was the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see the Kilaue Crater. The road from Hilo climbs sharply through thick wet Rainforests to Park Headquarters. The Summit is 4,000 feet above Sea Level and has been bursting Hot Lava continuously for 14 years. The surrounding area is Black Lava fields and as our pictures show there is a constant Gas escaping from the Crater.

We drove the Crater Rim drive halfway and were turned back because of some Toxic Gases blowing in our direction—didn't need that. We drove to the Thurston Lava tubes which is a 500 foot tunnel of Lava which you can walk through before emerging back into a Rainforest.

Lunch time in Hilo found lots of Hippie throwbacks (kind of Super Surfer Dude types) and native Hawaiians making up the town. Much of Hilo's focus on this Saturday was at the beach where Canoe Races were in full swing. These are the large 8 and 10 passenger Canoes. Hilo is not so much a tourist town as it is authentic Hawaii. The Sunday Farmers Market was also in full swing and you could buy almost everything that grows or is made on the Island. Lots of fun but we wanted to visit a few of the many Waterfalls on the Island. Our first stop was Akaka Falls. You have to work to get to this one with a pretty strenuous climb up a series of winding steps and paths. However, the view of the Falls which drops 442 feet is impressive. If the Video works it will give you an idea of its size.

Rainbow Falls was next. It's a beautiful view which is surrounded by Lava Pools creating a Rainbow in the early morning. For us it was afternoon and getting close to happy hour which we did not intend to miss. So, it was back to the ship to close out a great day.
Our next Port of Call is Oahu for a visit to Pearl Harbor and Waikiki. We'll post that tomorrow.