Adventures of Beth and Dan: Black sand beaches, tropical rainforests and volcanic mountains!

December 27th found us docked at Hilo on the big island of Hawaii from 8-4:30. We had a ships excursion scheduled here for Maunakea to venture up to the Keck Observatory at 13,796 ft! We were dressed for the cold and ready for our excursion at 7:45. Once we disembarked the ship they herded us into a few small groups and told us that it had snowed the night before onthe observatory road so we might not be able to get to the summit!! They gave folks the opportunity to opt out if the tour but did say it might open up by the time we got to the visitor center. Half the folks opted out but we stayed with it since we knew it would be too late to book anything else. It was advertised as a four wheel drive trek but it was really a 12 passenger van with four wheel drive... not what we expected. The day was cool and cloudy and looked like it would rain on us and snow at higher elevation. Our guide was a 12 year transplant to Hawaii and a carpenter. He pretty much talked non stop all the way up and back and took few questions. He told us about the astronomy center and how controversial it is for the natives... we learned about the economy, the volcano, the history, flora and fauna and just about all you ever wanted to know and then some! By about 10 we were at the visitor center which was very small and rather nondescript. It did have bathrooms and a few picnic tables set up. The view at 9000 ft was foggy. The ride up the mountain held little vegetation but was more rocky and rough. I think several folks were asleep. We were fortunate to be almost first on line to board so we chose seats right behind the first big window. The road up to the observatory was blocked with police when we turned into the center. Our drive/guide told us we would be here about 30 minutes to see if it warmed up enough to open the road. Fortunately for ya and many others about 10:40 they removed the block so we piled in and started the gravelly four wheel portion of the drive. It was extremely bumped and washboarded. He said their vans need shocks and tires way more often then regular drivers and rigs need them andxwe could tell why. When we got to the top (which took about 45 minutes for the 10 miles!) it was very very cold and windy. The guide told us to get out cautiously because we might be affected by the altitude which was almost 14,000 ft! Neither of us have ever had those issues but immediately open getting out I felt light headed and almost sick. Dan too felt the affects. We kind of held on to each other and walked to all the vista points. There are several telescopes there but they wouldn’t let us enter any! That was a big part of the tour so another disappointment :(. We stayed about 30 minutes and then the fog rolled in and the driver said it was time to go. I slept most of the way down the hill and we both felt odd. At the visitor center we stopped for a boxed lunch of stake chips, cookies and a small wrap. When we finally got back to Hilo the group asked the driver if he would take us one of the black sand beaches and he agreed. They are close to town but as you can imagine over Christmas break, they were overfilled to capacity. He dropped us off for about 30 minutes and then we piled back in to get hauled off to the ship. Much of Hilo is an old sleepy city and since the volcano eruptions many have left and lost jobs. They get 127 inches of rain a year which makes Hilo one of the wettest cities on the world. It’s temps range constantly from 60-80 degrees. More birds have become extinct in Hawaii than in any other part of the world due to changes in habitat, forest destruction, rats, mongooses and man. 26 species have disappeared and 27 more are endangered. Kilauea Volcano is one of the most active in the world- it’s also the longest continuously erupting volcano on the planet. There are lots of other things to do here like the botanical gardens, Volcano National Park, a one of a kind zip line that traverses rainforests, river gorges, rapids and waterfalls on a dual track zip! You can bike ride here, snorkel, dive, paddle board, look for dolphins in a zodiac , hike or just hang out on a beach.

It was all aboard at 4:30 and we were there. We said good by to cell service as we would be at sea for five days with our next stop being Ensenada on January 2nd. We celebrated our 47th anniversary on New Year’s Eve and helped bring in the new year with a little fan fare. We enjoyed reading, visiting new friends, cards, me reading two selections of the Princess book club, and practicing my Uke for the little concert to be held on our last sea day. There were lots of movies and activities. They have the Voice of the Ocean that is like The Voice on TV with chairs that swivel for the judges and buttons for the audience to weigh in on their favorite performer. So there was a lot to keep us busy along with working out at the gym every day for at least 45 minutes. We had a lot of stair climbing too to keep us in shape!!