The BIG Island

The next morning our ship sailed to Hilo, on the Big Island.  This is home to a place called Volcanic National Park, which we definitely wanted to explore!  We booked an excursion and ended up with the friendliest, funniest, nicest tour guide in the world.  

First, we were taken to a lantern-lit lava tube.

 Then we went to Volcanic National Park.  It was a four mile hike to explore this crater.

 There were vents all throughout the crater bursting with hot steam.  (It seriously felt just like a being in a steam room. )

 All of the cracks and crevices in this landscape were amazing to see...

 ...and fun to jump over!

 Hey, no scaring your wife by pretending to fall!

 Looking back on the crater from afar.

 This is the crater of Kilauea, home to the legendary goddess Pele.  (Fascinating to me in particular because I read a story about her to my first graders each year.  ;)

The final stops of the excursion took us to a brewery, the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory, and two gorgeous waterfalls.  What a fun-filled day!

 That night, our ship sailed past the active volcanic crater.  It was difficult to get a picture, but amazing to see the hot lava flowing freely.  Almost as amazing was the beautiful star-lit sky from the top deck of the ship.  :)

 During the night, the ship sailed around to the other side of the Big Island.  I might be a little bias, but Kona was one of my favorite places because the weather was so gorgeous.

 It was fun to take pictures of all the beautiful scenery with our ship in the background!

 We found a farmer's market nearby where we bought little gifts for our boys.  This man was cutting the tops of fresh coconut for us to sample.

 Mmmmmmm....

Can water be any more aqua than this?

 Our excursion in Kona was a Zodiac Snorkel tour.  The tour guide took us on a bumpy ride to the seventh best place to snorkel in the world.

 After seeing all of the exotic fish, he steered us by several caves and other fun places.

 Can you see Pele's face carved into this lava rock?

 We saw the home of Tiger Woods

 and Oprah Winfrey.

 This particular humpback was breaching over and over again.  Our tour guide appeared shocked... but then again, maybe he was just hoping for a big tip.  ;) 

 The zodiac went right by our ship.  :)

 We also got to see dolphins galore... leaping and spinning right before our very eyes!  I think we definitely got our money's worth out of this tour.  ;)