The island of Hawaii is the largest of the Hawaiian Islands. With 4,028 square miles, it is larger than all of the other islands combined. The population is 173,057 people, who must like rain, since the average is 130 inches a year. This island also houses 5 major volcanoes. However, not the biggest, Kilauea Volcano gets the most attention, because it has been spewing since 1983 and continues to this day. It is considered the most active volcanoes in the world. Two other volcanoes are Mauna Kea, now dormant, at 13,796 feet high, and Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. However, if you measure Mauna Loa from the floor of the Pacific, the total elevation becomes 56,000 feet, the most massive mountain on the planet. All of these are considered shield volcanoes, massive and broad mounds.
Hawaii offers many activities which include surfing, diving, kayaking, fishing, and hiking. The majority of these activities can be found on the Kona side (west) of the island. Some of the products produced in the state are Kona coffee, fruit, veggies, cattle, chocolate, vanilla, and honey. Macadamia nuts, papayas, orchids, and bananas are the specialties here.
The city we docked in was Hilo, the capital of the island. The population is 43,263 people that live in this “city of flowers”. This town never really became a tourist haven with all of the trappings, mostly because of the rain. Most visitors opt to go to Kona on the dryer side of the island. And on this coming Saturday, the 13th, the 40th annual Ironman Triathlon will take plan in Kona, which draws a big crowd. Trips to Kilauea can be accessed from there as well. There are some resorts and hotels on Hilo Bay, but they have remained much the same as they looked back in the 50’s.
Shore excursions included 2 helicopter trips over the volcano. One was $330 and the other was $460. Good way to see Kilauea and the volcanoes park, without the long bus ride. Several bus trips went there too. Sight-seeing had several tours from $100 to $180, some with a bag lunch. Lastly there was a zip line for $210 to $300, or snorkel tour for $270.
A strange thing happened this morning after a number of guests had left the ship after we docked at 8am. Someone had made a mistake by printing the all aboard time at 5:30pm, when it should have been 4:30pm. By the time it was announced, our head waiter buddy said 690 people had already left. Oops….We assume that the majority of these folks were on ship tours, so they would be able to contact the operators. Technically, we were scheduled to leave the port at 5pm, but we suspect it will be later than that. The Captain certainly does not want to leave anyone behind again.
Once again, we had a light breakfast, resisting the blueberry muffin, although they have been very good on this ship. After attempting emailing, we left the ship around 11am. The internet can be tricky at times. With the three plans that people have bought, it allows them to have from 200 to 500 megabytes per day. We are suspecting that these folks are going online and staying on, limiting the rest of the passenger’s access to the sights. The package prices have been adjusting by the day, with the Social plan costing $10 a day. The Surf plan runs $15 a day, and the Premium package runs $20 a day. All three plans are priced for the next 6 days until we debark in Vancouver. There have been times when we cannot even log in because of the traffic.
Our first project of the day was a trip to Walmart. Not that we needed much, but one of us likes to check out the fabric department. Anyway, that was the longest line once we went through the cruise terminal. It was about a 20 minute wait, but we did make the cut. It can be done, but you can walk there. With the heat and humidity, we chose not to. With the ride there, a quick stroll through the store, and the ride back, it took a little over an hour. Two big buses were running today.
We unloaded our purchases, and went right back out to begin our walk towards the restaurant for lunch. The place we like is The Pond, and is located within a mile or so from the ship. It is a small mom and pop operation, but what makes it unique is that it sits over what is called Ice Pond, part of the harbor where fresh water streams into the ocean. And the food is good. We were seated right at an opened window, where we could watch the kids jump off the fence into the water off of the road. Crazy boys and some girls too. Their favorite trick is to jump with the purpose of drowning passer-bys. Trust us, it was so warm and sticky today, we doubt we would have objected. With the threat of rain in the forecast, we had packed the umbrellas, assuring us that NO rain would fall. And it did not.
The hike to Ponds Hilo did not take as long as we had recalled. This local restaurant is more what you would call a mom and pop operation….not a chain. It is built partially over Ice Pond, where a natural spring dumps 50 degree fresh water into Reeds Bay. Directly below the restaurant is a rocked off pond filled with massive koi carp and a couple of sea turtles. Getting a prime table at a window was lucky, because we could watch the fish, as well as the kids that were jumping off of the roadside fencing into the brackish cool waters. Their point is mostly having fun trying to get anyone who passes by soaked, by accident, of course. Kids will be kids. By the way, the students are on fall break now, so families were out and about in the parks enjoying the day like we were.
Lunch was a Caesar salad, taquitos, and one sweet dessert of brownies with vanilla bean ice cream. All good. After we finished, there was just enough time to make our way around the bay. Passing Reeds Bay Park and Resort, the Bayview Banyan, and the Grand Naniloa Hotel, we headed towards the park. This walk was on Banyan Drive where 50 banyan trees had been planted back in the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Famous people actually planted these such as Cecil B. DeMille, Louis Armstrong, Amelia Earhart, Franklin Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, and Richard Nixon among others. Continuing on, we walked by Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel and the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, as well as the Banyan Golf Course.
At this point, we entered Queen Liliuokalani Gardens, a 30 acre Japanese garden with ponds, pagodas, and stone lanterns. While cutting through the center, we saw one mongoose briefly before it ducked into the volcanic rocks. In Hilo Bay we could see some of the downed trees that washed up during the last hurricane that went through here. The official hurricane season in Hawaii is June 1st to November 30th. A foot bridge leads from the gardens to little Coconut Island, where families picnic and swim in the bay. There are public restrooms there, and what is left of an old bridge. Kids climb this rock to jump off into the water below, all trying to out-do each other. We did not have time to take the walk there today.
If we did have the time we could have kept going and followed the bay to downtown Hilo, as we were halfway there. Must history is displayed in town, especially the details of the horrible tsunami that hit here in 1946 and 1960, whipping out most of the downtown area near the water. These days there are warning systems in place, as well as a well-built bulkhead to break the effects of a tsunami.
We made it back to the ship with time to spare. There was a final sail away party on the aft deck, but we found it much more comfortable watching from our veranda. Located on the port side, the sail out of the harbor was in full view. Everyone had made it back on time, we assume, so the departure time was about 5:15pm. We snacked on pizza-flavored Cheezits while we slowly left Hilo Bay. The only wildlife we saw was a flock of egrets, and some smaller black birds. Although there were dark and heavy clouds all around us, we did not get any rain. The bad thing was that both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes were covered in clouds and fog, so we never saw them.
What we did see with the help of the powerful camera lens were orchards of pineapples and bananas on the outskirts of town. Also viewed was the Singing Bridge where the Wailuki River dumps into the bay. We know there is a story to this, but it’s been a long time since we heard it. So for the final time, we say aloha to this beautiful state. Good time to add the meaning of the word: ALOHA. “A” stands for akahai or kindness, expressed with tenderness. “L” stands for lokahi, meaning unity, expressed for harmony. “O” is oluolu, or agreeable expressed with pleasantness. “H” is haahaa for humility expressed with modesty. Finally, “A” is ahonui , patience with perserverance. Someone on a nearby veranda was playing his ukulele as we left the port….quite appropriate.
Dinner for us was back the dining room. Surprisingly, the area around us was full of guests. There was little that was appealing on the menu, but we did score with some newer items. One of those was crispy fried meatballs and one pho soup. The everyday-available chicken was prepared differently without the bone and roasted skin. Still good, just different.
The clocks had to be set forward this evening, something neither the guests or crew like to do. We will have 2 more to go before we are back on Pacific time.
Five days at sea now, and we will be back to Vancouver on Wednesday.
Bill & Mary Ann
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Friday, October 12, 2018
Report #21 Hilo, Hawaii October 11, 2018 Thursday Partly cloudy & 80 degrees
