HAWAII - PART 2 - THE BIG ISLAND..........



The fire-boat welcome

 Our first day on Hawaii, was Hawaii - the Big Island.  Our port of call was Hilo, Hawaii's largest small town.    We were welcomed by a fire-boat circling our cruise ship, water, and rainbows, telling us hello.  Look closely - see the rainbow?

We had a bus tour of that part of Hawaii, complete with picnic lunch.
At the campsite where we lunched there was a Hawaiian family camping.  Vicki and Brenda had their picture taken at the base of one of Hawaii's majestic trees.

Picnic lunch - bus driver and tour guide





Hawaiian Grandmother at campsite














We visited Volcanoes National park, walked on the lava beds, hiked through the Thurston Lava Tube, walked on the ground that actually had the molten lava deep underground, watching the steam rising through many crevices. 


Brenda, Vicki, and tree



At the volcano



On the lava bed




The lava was very very sharp.  No open toed shoes


The lava tube is formed when  the molten lava cools, and the condensation dissipates, leaving hollow tunnel-like tubes.  As we walked through the tube, we could see the roots of the trees, which were growing on top of the tube, that had worked their way through the rock, and were hanging down over our heads. 

Entering the lava tube

Hilo had at one time been a cane field town, but was destroyed by the tsunami of 1960.  It has since been rebuilt further in-land, and many of the buildings are on stilts.

All of the Hawaiian Islands are basically hardened lava.  There was very little natural vegetation, animal or bird life.  Almost everything on Hawaii has been brought in by the original Polynesians who first landed on the islands.  All of the "soil" is actually  mulch, formed from the natural materials landing and becoming the soil.

I guess you are wondering how I kept my pictures straight, which were Saturday, which Sunday etc.  Well, you could say I cheated.  Each morning I photographed the mat in the elevator telling me which day it was.  Then I knew all the pictures I took that day were where we were that day, if you can sort that all out.  So far our trip is all we wanted and more.  I learned so much in the five days on the islands, things you never learn in school, about the history, the settling, life in general. 

Unless something really exciting happens between now and tomorrow, I will share Sunday, day 2, on the islands with you.  I hope you enjoy your thumbnail tour of Hawaii, and God Bless.