Explorers For Life: Day 8: Hilo, Hawaii

Today at the big island of Hawaii was our first port day, since Maui had to be cancelled yesterday due to high waves. We arrived at Hilo, on the east side of the island. This side is known for its annual rainfall - averaging 120 inches. Our full-day excursion took us to Rainbow Falls, lunch at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, the Mauna Loa Macadamia plant, the Akatsuka Orchid Gardens, and Volcanoes National Park.

Our first stop was Kuhio Bay, where we walked down the beach and gazed out across the bay.

It was amazing to see such black, abrasive sand. We hadn't seen that kind of sand since we were in Nevis on one of our Caribbean cruises. And the rocks strewn over the beach. Black and very porous lava rocks. Dona picked one up and put it in her day pack. More on this later.

Next stop was Rainbow Falls. Notice the big hole at the bottom behind the falling water. That's a lava tube, and unlike similar formations in North America, it wasn't formed by water.

Next stop was the Mauna Loa Macadamia farm, where those famous nuts are grown and packaged. The factory was closed today (Sunday), but their visitor's centre was open. We bought several packs of macadamia nuts of various flavors, then went for a walk around the nature garden. This is a breadfruit tree:

And a sugar cane:

Oh, Dona is holding a bowl of coconut macadamia ice cream. There is an ice cream stand behind the visitor's centre. I had a chocolate macadamia. Both were sinfully delicious!

Further down Highway 11 on the way to the volcano we stopped at the Akatsuka Orchid Gardens. It's a greenhouse filled with all different variants of Orchid flowers. The smell of all those flowers was amazing.

Hawaii is a unique island in many respects. Of all the 13 climate zones in the world, Hawaii has 11 of them. What it doesn't have is blowing sand and blowing snow. The others, including rain forest and snow (at the top of Mauna Loa) are all over the island. The tallest peak is the volcano Mauna Kea ("White Mountain") at13,796 ft. Now they boast it is the tallest mountain in the world - once you measure it from the sea floor, from base to peak it is 50,000 feet tall. There are five ski runs at the top.

We then arrived at Volcanos National Park. We got up as close as they let anyone get to Kilauea. It is an active volcano, as you can see hub the steam and ash plume here:

We were on the world's largest volcano. h ttp://maps.google.com/maps?q=19.419825,-155.287901&z=8

Rain was closing in, so this was the best shot we could get during our brief time there.

Then we walked through a lava tube. This was amazing when you consider that lava flowing at 2,000 degrees F formed it:

It is awe-inspiring when you realize how this island was formed, and is still being formed. The forces that are just a few hundred feet below you make you stop and think. In fact, Hawaii is actually growing bit by bit each year as lava flows down the mountain, is cooled by the sea, and forms more land.

You would think you'd see trinkets made from lava rock at the various souvenir shops around the island. Well, no. There are no souvenirs made from lava rock. It's not because of any law or local statute. Hawaiian legends holds that Pele, the goddess of fire, places a curse on anyone who removes a lava rock from the island. It is after all an embodiment of her. Scoff at that or believe it, the choice is yours. But the fact is that thousands of rocks are shipped back to the island every year. The U.S. Geological Survey, the police, hotel mangers, all have thousands of these rocks shipped to them by visitors who have returned home.

This is Pele: