Hawaiian Islands Cruise "The Big Island" Hawaii Ports of Hilo and Kona

Our next port of call was Hilo on the "Big Island.”  Our second tour of the cruise was to Volcanoes National Park where we saw hot molten lava.  It reminded me once again of the nachos with jalapenos I had in Waikiki.  The lava was bubbling up out of ground about a quarter of a mile from where we were standing and a light mist was falling.  We saw either some hot lava or an Arizona Cardinals football game.  In either case, we were in the cheap seats and we saw some red.

Lava and Steam Eruptions From Halemaʻumaʻu Crater at Volcanoes NP, Oct. 18, 2016

This is what it looks like on a clear day October 15, 2016 (photo courtesy of NPS)

 

National Parks Service Video 3 days before our visit

Later that night after our departure from Hilo, we passed by the south side of Hawaii (big island) and saw the lava flowing into the sea.  Photography was difficult in the darkness and a very high ISO (102,400) was needed.

Lava Flowing Into the Sea

We went to bed and woke up in Kona, Hawaii, also on the Big Island.  We did the Kona by Land and Sea tour.  The land tour was by bus and our driver was not Damien so we considered ourselves lucky. We went to a beautiful National Park I can't pronounce.  The park was called Kaloko-Honokōhau and any way you want to pronounce it is fine with me.  In fact, I have difficulty pronouncing most places here.  They only use twelve letters from our alphabet.  They use the 5 vowels, KLMNPW and H.  You would think it would be easy.  If you find its native name difficult just call it Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, much easier, right?

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park

Sue and I Overlooking a Lagoon

Eventually the Land and Sea tour, as the title would suggest, took us to see, er, SEA.  What better way to take a break from cruising on the ocean but to take another cruise on the ocean.  But this was different, same ocean..., smaller boat.  It was a double-decker catamaran.  We had a native historian who narrated our trip down the Kona coast.  There was a live band playing below and we had nice views from above.  Someone at the stern was fishing and hooked a nice wahoo.  A short time later we saw a pod of dolphins.  I counted at least 16 at one time near the surface.

The judges gave him an 8, as there was too much splash.

The end of the Sea portion of our Land and Sea tour brought us back close to our ship where we could take a few pictures.

Pride of America (POA is the only US flagged cruise ship)

After our Kona by Land and Sea tour brought us back to the dock we had to get on board our ship's launch (lifeboat) for our return to the ship. 

POA Lifeboat doing double duty as a launch

Tonight we sail to the Kauai Port of Nawiliwili.