Tuesday, April 30 Hilo

April 30, Hilo

Our tour guide today was Todd.  Todd is a native Hawaiian who grew up on a farm on the big island.  He was very knowledgeable about the island from a very different view than Dawn from Maui as he was not quite as political.

Todd

Our first stop was at Rainbow Falls another pretty small waterfall but the largest that we have seen so far.  A short walk up the hill took us to the top of the falls to look down from the top.  All of the stops that we made today were all Hawaii State Parks.

Our next stops were a couple of beaches where we saw the first of the lava rocks.  The cliffs and views were spectacular!

Lava Tree Park is where the lava flowed down but since it was farther away from the volcano only part of the jungle was destroyed.  If you look carefully at the pictures you can see that the tree trunks are coated in lava but the tree is still trying to grow.  It is hard to believe that trees would still grow after being bathed in hot lava.  The park is still part of the rain forest so very much so still a jungle.

See The Tree Still Growing

Kilauea is the volcano that erupted in 1991.  The lava flow covers just a massive part of the island.  We walked for about a quarter of a mile to the ocean on top of the lava fields.  We were not able to get close to the volcano as it is still active and there are no longer roads that go up as the roads were destroyed by the lava flow.  We did finally get to the “black sand” beach.  The sand is a result of the breakdown of the lava flow due to wind and human traffic.  You are able to drive on the lava field with 4-wheel drive vehicles.  I imagine the ride is very rough but we did see trucks on the field.  Hawaiians are very superstitious, so there is a legend or story for almost everything.  The story goes that you cannot take any of the black sand with you or you will have many years of bad luck.  Todd encouraged us to respect the Gods and legends and they have proven to be true. 

Black Sand Beach

After a few more tops to look at overlooks, we headed back to the ship for dinner and volcano watching at night.  We passed by the volcano about 10 p.m.   All the lights on the ship were turned off so everyone could get pictures and a better view of the hot lava flowing into the ocean.  Amazing! 

Lava Flow Taken From Ship