Our cruise experience--Hilo

[annecolorgreen]

Today, we raced out as soon as we could as we didn't want to waste a second! Off to VNP! Heading out of town, you could see the smoke (aka "VOG" or "Volcanic Smog") up ahead. First stop was the visitor's center--very helpful staff and good movie. The ranger talk was excellent worth the time. Unfortunately, they gave us the bad news that we would NOT be able to walk out to the live lava flow as it was too far away from the car area and we had the ship to catch. They DID say we would have the best view from the ship, so we were excited about that. :D

Next, we stopped at the Jagger Museum--completely cool inside and out. I definitely could have stayed longer and the views of the Kilauea Caldera and the "vog" coming from it were wonderful. Even though we did this "on our own", we ran into a tour guide from "Vavoom Volcano Tours" who really seemed like she knew what she was talking about. I have NO idea if they are all that interesting but just wanted to throw that out there. We were still happy not to be with a tour so we could do what we wanted on our own time table.

After a quick stop at the steam vents, were were off to Thurston's Lava Tube. WOW. You step into a rainforest environment and then into a "cave" that is quite big. It's lit but, at the end, you can continue on if you have a flashlight. BRING A FLASHLIGHT! ;) We were even able to get some pictures in there.

Back on the road, we stopped at "Devastation Trail" and it was so fascinating--a very dramatic difference between the line the former lava flow stopped and the rest. You can see signs of life coming back from the charred remains! We heard that over 90% of Hawaii's foliage is found no where else and we definitely saw some species we'd never seen before here!

Back to the car and then a trip to Chain of Craters Road. SO worth it if you are interested at all. Lots of evidence of old flows (and pathways they traveled), craters, beautiful views along the way, but the best thing to see was the dark lava (old) contrasted with the green with the blue sea. Gorgeous.

At the end of the road, we walked out to the most recent lava flow you could get to from that end to the area that covered the road. I got a great picture of a road sign sticking out of the lava that reads "Road Closed". :rolleyes: Really?? From here, you could really see the steam/vog coming from the area where the current lava was flowing into the ocean but it was too far away to get to unfortunately. We were able to walk to the edge to see the "Holei Sea Arch" and also some lava caves from remnant lava tubes along the edge. You really have to be careful as people have been killed when the ledges have collapsed.

Back on this road, we had a quick picnic stop with an amazing sea view then out of the park and back through Hilo to Akaka Falls--it looked like the falls from Jurassic Park and we felt like we were in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" land as all the foliage was HUGE! (there was even something that looked and smelled like honeysuckle that was as big as my hand!)

Back to the ship to eat dinner (MDR again--it was okay) and get ready for the lava flow show. We were ready with our "Lava Flow" drink in hand on our starboard balcony and got to view from there TWICE as they ship did a sail by and then turned around twice...yay! It was the most incredible thing!!!! Fortunately, we had some decent binoculars because that really added to the view. Afterward, we went to watch "Second City" perform--not so good. Wish we had gone to bed.

[kwbound]

Hey Anne - You mentioned in your pre-cruise report that you ran a 5K in Maui. We are runners too. Did you get to do any runs on the ship? If so, how was the jogging track? We are doing a half marathon in Nov and we are going to miss a couple of long runs during the cruise, but I at least want to get in a few shorter runs if I can.

 

Thanks!

[annecolorgreen]

Unfortunately, I didn't get any morning runs in which would probably have been better. I ended up running a couple of afternoons instead which meant that the outdoor seating for the Cadillac Diner was open and I felt a tad funny running by the people eating fried mozz sticks! :o It was on the 6th floor and had more of a "running track" surface although I don't know what it's called. I usually run on the road, so it was an improvement! I think it would have been great in the mornings as you pulled in to port!

 

On that note, most of the restaurants are on the 6th floor, so it was a good place to walk after an evening meal.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Hi Anne! I am really enjoying your reports - making me antsy to go and I still have to wait 7 months!:eek::(

 

A Lave Flow is my favorite cruise drink. It only seems appropriate to enjoy that while watching the real Lava flow.:D

 

We have a tour booked with Ricky in Hilo. Does anyone know if he provides flashlights or should we bring our own?

[annecolorgreen]

There were a couple of times during the trip that we were happy to have flashlights, just buy one or two small bright ones and keep them in your tote or backpack to always have with you :).

 

Do you know what surprised me? they didn't have molten lava cake for dessert that night! (it was thursday instead)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

There were a couple of times during the trip that we were happy to have flashlights, just buy one or two small bright ones and keep them in your tote or backpack to always have with you :).

 

Do you know what surprised me? they didn't have molten lava cake for dessert that night! (it was thursday instead)

Good idea about the flashlights! And the molten lave cake sounds delicious!:D

[Kcarp]

Thanks for the great info. Do you have any pictures to share?

[annecolorgreen]

hmmm...I could that if I knew how to do it. Is there a tool on here to show how to do that?? (sorry to be so tech-illiterate)

[riofriotex]

hmmm...I could that if I knew how to do it. Is there a tool on here to show how to do that?? (sorry to be so tech-illiterate)

 

When you hit reply, there is an icon in the toolbar above the message box that, when you hover your mouse over it, says "insert image." Another option, if you have uploaded your photos to a site like Flickr or Photobucket, is just to provide a link to that.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

hmmm...I could that if I knew how to do it. Is there a tool on here to show how to do that?? (sorry to be so tech-illiterate)

I like to upload pictures onto Webshots and then post them from there. Webshots is free Unless you have a huge amount of pictures on it (like me :o) and there is a link next to each picture so you can post the large picture right into your post. It really is very easy.:)