Shark Boy and Lava Girl

We spent Memorial weekend on the Big Island and it's true, it is a big island. The other Hawaiian islands can all fit in the big island with room to spare. It is even getting bigger all the time since an active volcano is regularly spewing lava and adding new territory.

We flew into Hilo on Thursday night and spent the first night there. Hilo is a lovely small city with limited tourist presence. Apparently cruise ships dock there but because it is on the rainy side of the island and the coastline is mostly rocky, most of the tourists stay on the west coast and only visit Hilo on circle drives. Luis and I liked the Hilo area because we had nice weather and if there's anything that fills us with more ennui, it's another beautiful white sand beach.

We drove up the coast the first day and saw the rugged cliffs and waterfalls then backtracked and headed to the volcano.






























We stayed at the Kilauea Military Camp which is located within Volcano National Park. The camp is yet another military only enclave and it was perfectly functional if a little spartan. It was originally built by Buffalo soldiers to intern Japanese citizens during World War II. Now I am benefiting from oppression layered upon more oppression, what next? At this rate, I'll be shopping at Wal-Mart and voting Republican by fall.

The volcano crater was continuously spewing forth clouds of sulfuric gases that added to the surreal lunar look of the place. We hiked around the craters, including the Thurston lava tube pictured below, then drove down the Chain of Craters road through the lava flows of years past.














































After getting our fill of volcano related activities, we spent Sunday on the Kona side where we snorkeled and spent some time at a beach. We snorkeled at a place Honaunau Bay which had some excellent coral and all sorts of fish. We even saw a shark. I have some issues about sharks ever since seeing Jaws as a kid. That movie scared me out of the ocean, pools, and baths. Even closing my eyes in the shower was scary after seeing that movie. I didn't freak out though since the shark, which was about 5 feet long and was probably a reef shark, was about 100 feet away and moving in the other direction.

As it turns out, Luis saw a shark while snorkeling with my brothers in November near where we live. It was a big one and he didn't tell me about it at the time because he assumed, correctly, that I wouldn't snorkel there if I knew. He was going to tell me on the plane trip back to Kansas City but I found out from my brother on the phone last week, thanks Doug. No more snorkeling at Electric Beach for me.

On Monday we went back to the Hilo area for the day since our flight left that evening. We visited the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden which is the absolute best botanical garden I have ever visited. It has waterfalls, giant plants, coastline, landscaped tropicals, everything. It has ruined me for any other kind of garden.