Day 3 – Hilo, Hawai’i
Location: Hilo, Hawai’i
Weather: Magnificent
As we approached port, we awoke to watch the sunrise and snap a few photos. We still weren’t exactly sure of what we were going to do this day. We had originally arranged for an excursion through NCL, but they moved the time from 8AM to 12PM (noon). We didn’t want to be kayaking in the middle of the day and get sunburned so we canceled the excursion completely.
We then got off the ship to figure out what to do, as we weren’t completely sure. We ran into a few buses that were giving tours for less than half the cost of the ones the NCL was offering. While looking at which one we wanted to do we were approached by a friendly couple to split the rental cost of a car! They ordered a compact, but the rental place ran out so we got a free upgrade to a Jeep!!! We had a brand new ’07 green 4 door JK!
They had plans to drive around to see craters, and see the active volcano spew
liquid hot magma into the ocean! We drove to Volcano National Park and were looking at craters in no time! Then, we continued to look at craters ALL FRIEKIN’ DAY! These people wanted to stop at every turnout to see the crater from every 5 feet. They were all named and dated, but who would remember all that? I can garuntee you they didn’t!
See? I told you we stopped everywhere!
The coolest part of seeing where the lava was going into the ocean, and where it went over a road that used to take you around the island!
The next cool sight was the lava tubes where lava burned through rock and made “tube” like caves you could walk through. Since the island is very wet and forest-like (where it’s not all lava-like) there was constant water dripping in the lava tubes. The next picture is right outside the tubes using the Gorillapod!
One of the activities on the ship was a PUB CRAWL!@!@! We had to be sure and be back at the ship in time to get our drink on! It was $20 for a fun trip around all of the bars and 6 drinks. It was much cheaper than getting drinks from the bar, and we also had TONS of fun! We had met our neighbors in the next cabin who were also our age, and on their honeymoon! We talked them into coming, which made it even more fun! We got to run around the ship hooting and hollering and yelling “PUB CRAWL” at the top of our lungs. When the trip from one bar to another involved the elevator, we were instructed to stop at every floor and when the door opens yell PUB CRAWL. This scared more than a few people!
One of the events was a spoon snake. There was a spoon connected to
a string that our boy-girl-boy-girl team had to over-under the string
through our clothes. Make sense? If not, look at the pictures!
Of course our team won! People also had rules to follow, like no sipping before the group all had their drinks and we had done a toast. When you broke one, (or the seal) you were embarrased like this:
Tonight we had a snake for our towel creation from the room steward. We ate at “Papa’s” the Italian restaurant on the ship with Dave and Katie, our honeymooning neighbors.
We had left port, and after dinner, the ship went by the lava flow and turned 180 degrees so both sides of the ship could see the hot lava.
