Our Last Stop - Hawaii

Wed April 25 - Hilo, Hawaii

We have 18 days at sea from Japan until we reach San Diego with only one – one day stop in Hilo, Hawaii. Because of all the stops in China and Japan, we had a lot of school papers and reports that were due. We were all really looking forward to our stop in Hilo. We also had full cell phone service because Hawaii is part of our cell phone plan-no restrictions or surcharges. We were able to call family and friends.

Everett and I were signed up for a trip to the National Volcano Park and Hike. We drove out to the park while our driver talked about what life is like on the islands.

We first walked through a volcano tube which was a tunnel created by the lava. The plants were all a beautiful green. There was a strange plant that looks really curled up when it is growing, which was amusing to see it everywhere.

We walked along the edge of the volcano and then on to the lava bed which was a dried up lake of lava. The rocks formed were frail and could break easily with little pressure. Lifelike surprisingly sprung up around us as we jumped over cracks in the bed and looked under the rocks where steam came from. The black rock attracted the heat to the back of our necks; yet Mother Nature cooled us as we walked out with a sprinkling of rain.

Following the hike around the edge of the volcano, we stopped and ate our first bagged chips in weeks along with sandwiches filled with lettuce and carrots. We then hiked to the biggest and tallest volcano and from the huge bed of steam streamed into the sky making it hard to distinguish the steam from the clouds. We looked around at the formation of the rocks and lava and soaked it all in.

We were then left at Hilo Hadie’s near the center of town to shop in any of the nearby stores in the plaza. Ev and I picked up snacks in Walmart and met Chelsea and Steven at Starbucks. After grabbing a quick meal at KFC, we grabbed a van heading back to the ship and embarked on the MV Explorer for the last time.