Big Island is big

Today we did a big explore of BIG Island. It's actually not that big, just the roads are all one line and max speed is about 50MPH. Which is fine because there is lots to see and the vegetation is ever changing from moderately dry with palm trees to wet with bamboo in the space of a few hours. We wanted to go to Hilo and then visit Volcanoes National Park at dusk in the hopes of seeing lava flowing.

We went from our hotel in Kailua south along the Kailua coast, then around the southernmost spot in the USA. We chose not to stop since Cat was napping and lots of tour busses pulled in. She woke up as we made our way to (CHeck name) Black Sands Beach. A gorgeous BLACK sand beach. The real highlight was we could see turtles feeding on the algae growing on the lava rocks from shore. We dipped our toes in the water and found it a bit refreshing.



Almost lunch time so carried on to Hilo, where we stopped in at the farmer's market. Cat charmed the veggie and fruit sellers, and we picked up some banana, papaya and avocado for her. It was free entertainment watching them choose the best one, one that would be ripe in a day or two. And one vendor would recommend us to another as we moved through the market, but they also didn't stop taking orders or talking to their friends. Our pineapple was cut up into spears by a lady who used to work at Dole and Del Monte.

We stopped in at a marine discovery centre, all about the NorthWestern Hawaiian Islands. Cat loved the aquarium, watching all the fish. But when two other little kids showed up, that's all she could look at. We were hoping to see the Pisces V replica sub in action as my husband's buddy is the director of Hawaii Undersea Research Labs. Alas, it was under construction but we did get to see a few of his watercolours in the display.

Then it was back up the mountain to Volcanoes National Park. It was pretty neat seeing all the lava fields and the caldera. In fact, while we were there, the Kiluaeua Caldera blew some ash.


And the ranger gave a great quick talk on the history and formation of the volcanoes - comparing them to an ohana or family. The youngest is being formed in the ocean as we speak, and the oldest is Maui. Mauna Kea is the biggest mountain on earth - almost 14 000 feet up from the ocean, and another 20 000 below the sea. Making it higher than Everest by some 5000 feet.

A quick drive down to the sea in the hopes of seeing some lava hit the ocean. Out of luck there but did see some glowing up on the hillside.


By that time poor miss Cat had had enough so we drove back to the hotel and put her straight to bed.