Hawaii Day Eight

We went to breakfast at 8:30 down at the Skyline restaurant. I had the same things as yesterday (croissant, hot chocolate with a kettle to refill, sausage, watermelon, cantaloupe and an egg omelet). I was bummed about the omelet because they put green onions on it when I specifically asked for cheese only. I hate onions, so I didn't eat much of the omelet. Mom had oj, watermelon, cantaloupe, half a waffle and a croissant. After breakfast Sue, Andy and Jeff went off on a bike riding excursion. We sat up on the sun deck/ pool deck and read and watched the crew's emergency drills. It was very interesting. Then we changed clothes and went up to the lunch buffet and made a sandwich, cheese chunks and fruit to go. We took our lunch with us on our tour of the volcanoes. I forgot to mention that today we are visiting the big island of Hawaii and the city of Hilo. We first went to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plantation. I tried one of the nuts, but I'm not a big fan. We were able to see how they processed the nuts and we drove through several groves of Macadamia trees.

Then we drove up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We were able to see the Kilauea volcano and the steam that was erupting from it. It was fascinating. I've never seen a volcano in real life. We went into the volcano museum where we saw a neat picture. From one side it looked like the people in the boat were heading away from the volcano and from the other side it looked like they were heading right for it. I know it has something to do with perspective, but what, I do not know. Then we visited the Thurston Lava Tube. This was probably my favorite part of the excursion. We hiked down, a very steep grade, for about 5 minutes into some rain forest that had very different plants. Then we came to this cave that was really a tunnel that lava flowed through 400 years ago. It was damp and dark and wonderful! On our way back to the ship we stopped at some of the volcano's steam vents. The steam can cook a pig in three hours. Amazing!

I also learned the history/ folktale about the Ohia Lenua tree. It was said that one of the princesses asked a certain man to marry her. When he refused her she turned him into a knarly tree (mostly seen in sparse areas – like the top of the volcano). The man had turned the princess down because he was in love with someone else. When his love found out what had happened she went to the priests and asked what they could do to turn him back. They said there was nothing they could do to bring him back. But they could turn her into a flower to live with him forever. That's what happened and to this day the tree and the flower grow together. It's said that if you pick the flower it will rain because the Gods are sad that you separated the two lovers. I have really enjoyed listening to the history and folktales that they have here.

For dinner we went to the Aloha Cafe, which rhymes with buffet, and there you go! It was a pretty large buffet, with a little bit of everything. I had some prime rib, green beans, a couple of sourdough and sweet white rolls, vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit. Mom had a chef's salad, prime rib, a roll and ice cream. We stopped in the Gold Rush Saloon for some popcorn. (Jeff and Andy found the popcorn machine yesterday and it seems like we just can't get enough. We took the popcorn down to the magic show. The magician was very entertaining and funny. I wish he'd done more tricks, but overall it was very good. We hurried from there to the Mardis Gras Cabaret Lounge to listen to a comedian. It was the same comedian we heard a couple of days ago. He was pretty funny as well. Then we went back up to the Saloon and buffet and got popcorn and ice cream cones. We took all of the food down to our balconies and waited for the lava flow. Around 10 pm we sailed about ½ a mile away from an active lava flow. It was amazing! I mean, you read about these things in books and such but to actually see it in real life is something else. It's almost indescribable. It was definitely worth waiting up for.

Mom and I sitting in front of the Kilauea volcano.


Hiking down to the lava tube. It was so beautiful down there.


The entrance to the lava tube




Inside the lava tube




Mom at the end of the lava tube and going up the stairs.


The Ohea Lenua flower. I think this is one of my favorite pictures.




Both of us in front of the steam vents


Popcorn, Popcorn and more Popcorn!


This is the lava flow from the Kilauea volcano. This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice. It was amazing!!!