Hilo

Saturday April 9, 2016; Hilo, Hawaii

Got off the boat just after 9:00am and caught a taxi to the airport to pick up our car for the day. Out taxi driver, like all taxi drivers in Hilo, was a registered tour guide and told us the how to get to where we were planning to go and the best stops there and along the way, well worth the $20 ride! We had a nice surprise with our car for the day a 5.0 litre White Mustang! Unfortunately, the roads on Hawai’i aren’t really conducive to stretching the legs of that beast.

We drove up to the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and stopped at the Visitor Center to orient ourselves for the visit. A helpful ranger told us the best spots to go in the time we had and so off we went!

Our first stop was the Steam Vents; rain seeps down into the volcano, is heated by the hot rock and then escapes as steam. It just pours out of the ground, so much that you could easily steam clean your clothes there!

Then onto the Jagger Museum that sits right on the edge of the Kilauea Caldera with views to the Halema’uma’u Crater where there is an ongoing eruption that is sending lots of noxious gases into the air that has caused some of the roads in the park to be closed.

Although we were only at 4,000 ft above sea level is was surprisingly cool, one can only imagine how cold it must be on the peak of Mauna Kea at 13, 796 ft!

Then we made our way to the Thurston Lava Tube. The tubes are formed during lava flows as the lava starts to solidify at the edges molten lava continues to flow through the tubes formed and when the eruption stops the tube empties and only an empty tube remains! The walk to the tube was great as there were many interesting ferns along the way with their interesting fiddleheads.

We next explored a recent lava flow as we drove down the Chain of Craters Road. It is amazing to see such colourful plant life take hold on the barren expanses of lava. Eventually, the lava gets broken down by the elements into a soil that sustains a forest.

Then onto see the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs; these petroglyphs are a family tradition and are surrounded by small holes where the umbilical cords of each child is placed. If the cord has not been disturbed by the following day then the child will have a long and prosperous life. The walk out to the Petroglyphs was quite strenuous, about a 1.4 mile round trip hike over an ancient lava flow. The rangers estimate that the Petroglyphs are at least 500 years old as they don’t believe that there has been a lava flow in that area for at least that period of time.

We continued on the road to the Holei Sea Arch, where the sea has eroded the lava to create a picturesque scene. The road beyond this point is closed due to the eruption in the East Rift Zone at Pu’u O’o that has been underway since 1983.

On the drive back to the park exit we stopped at an old crater, a very impressive sight.

Once out of the park we drove down to Hilo to see the Rainbow Falls, but unfortunately we didn’t see the rainbow as the sun was in the wrong place! We drove through downtown Hilo on our way back to the airport to drop off the car. Finding gas in Hilo was much easier than doing the same thing in Honolulu! Budget provided us with a complimentary shuttle back to the boat, a very enjoyable end to a great day of sightseeing.