What a great day on the Big Island, Hawaii! We arrived in Hilo, the main port, to bright blue skies which was a bit of a surprise as it is renowned as being one of the wettest places in the Pacific. Had some breakfast and then were pretty much the first off the ship at 0815. We got a cab to the airport which was about 10 minutes drive away to pick up our rental car for the day. A nice little white Verso, very low mileage and not bad at $80 all in.

We drove up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park first where we planned to spend the morning. There are two massive volcanoes on the island Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Its difficult to describe how massive they are. In terms of height, they are both a shade under 14000 feet and Mauna Kea is snow capped. In terms of width, it's just staggering…. 60 miles and more. The craters are gigantic too with more than one on Mauna Loa and they're all still erupting, pouring lava out in places down towards the sea.

We were lucky enough to get to the park early, certainly before any tour buses which meant we saw lots of it totally alone. The rangers were very helpful and informative. Americans are brilliant at parks, I've probably said this before. We're good at parades and palaces. They're great at parks and the outdoors. Great access roads, and walkways, trails. Plenty of seats and lookouts. All very harmonious. Anyway, we went to the Visitors Centre and picked up some maps and some short hike suggestions and then went on to the Jagger Museum and to look at one of the main craters of Mauna Loa. Just huge. Easily the largest I have ever seen and still full of bubbling lava at the bottom. We watched the seismographic machines they use to monitor it. There are tremors and earthquakes all the time but the last big eruption of Mauna Loa was in 1959, and it was a BIG one….. Mauna Koa erupted in a big way in 1984 and more recently. In fact there was a road all the way around the rim of Mauna Loa but at least half of it is now closed because of lava and gas action in the last few years.

After we had marvelled at the crater, we drove around to another interesting visitor site which was a lava tube. This is like a massive cave tube but caused by flowing lava where the outside cools and solidifies and the hot inner part keeps going and then leaves and empty core behind. This one goes on for 30 miles (the scale of everything is just extraordinary) but we walked through a small section, reached by a lovely rainforest walk. One of the very marked and intriguing things about the park is the difference between the land caused by ancient eruptions and that hit by more recent ones. The land thrown up say 500 years ago is now lush verdant soil covered in green plants. That which was left behind by eruptions is just barren gravel and rock. The Desolation of Smaug brought to life!

We were sooooo lucky here that we had the tube to ourselves throughout. It was so atmospheric and beautiful in there. We were going to go through again but by the time we had completed the jungle walk, about 200 cruise tourers were heading down there so we turned away.

We then took a short hike called Desolation Walk which follows a path along the edge of the 1959 eruption. It was fascinating. One side of the path was still rainforest jungle. The other side was bare lava rock emptiness. Although not emptiness….. here and there alpine plants are springing up and beginning to take route. Nature is slowly slowly coming back. Just as we crossed the empty part and approached a wooded area again I saw a large bird cross the path ahead of us. It was a Ne-ne, the endangered Hawaiian goose which is protected in the park. This one was completely unafraid. I stood really still and she came right past me in search of the red berries she loves to eat. Her husband was there too but he hid in the bushes!

We walked to the end of the trail at the second crater and looked down. Another massive one and with hikers crossing it in the bottom. They looked so tiny which put the whole thing into perspective.

Well, by then we had worked up quite a thirst so we retreated to the Volcano House Lodge which is one of the wonderful NPS lodges. Unfortunately their restaurant was closed but we managed coffee in front of the sublime view of the crater and made use of their excellent free wifi to Facetime video call with Daisy. She was in bed at Lucy's flat totally and utterly exhausted after her assessment centre day (which went well). Had a very long chat with her which was lovely. Lucy of course is in St Andrews and we had to content ourselves with some FB messaging as she was stuffing her face at The Peat Inn, a Michelin star place nearby. LOL. So lovely to catch up with them both and to know that all is well. We managed to show Daisy the crater on the Ipad. Isn't technology just extraordinary!!!!???

Off we set again and this time to a more manmade delight. A macadamia nut and chocolates factory. An amazing place on a huge 2500 acre plantation. The nuts grow in huge clumps on the trees and they were introduced from Australia by Macadam, the tarmac fella….. In the factory, you self tour and also there is a major tasting room and shop….. They either have the nuts natural or seasalted or flavoured or covered in various chocolates or glazes. YIKES!!! We tasted quite a few types and then became bewildered by the different flavours and purchasing options… Major multiple boxed sets or multiple tins or packets or small jars or….. there were so many varieties. In the end we bought quite a few boxes. They were utterly delicious.

After that, we drove a long circular route around the slopes of Mauna Kea and turned towards the top when…… the clouds came down…… and it all disappeared. We'd got quite high by then and the temperature had dropped from about 85 to about 55 and we still had something like 14 miles to go. But….. it was impenetrable, so reluctantly we turned around and headed back towards Hilo.

Then…. I confess…… we encountered a Walmart SuperCentre……. And not only did WE encounter it! There was a ruddy free shuttle from the ship to it and half the crew were in there stocking up. I bought some new cozzies as mine are getting a bit long in the tooth. May have got the girls an offering each for this summer….. we also stocked up on some Seagrams Dry Gin. 1.75 litres for $19, that's about a tenner. Unbelievable. The Tanqueray was 1.75l for $28 i.e. about £16. Probably should have got the Tanqueray so may revisit that decision in San Francisco. LOL. Also bought 18 cans of diet tonic (hahaha, why? Why?) for a pittance. Plus some other stuff…. As you do in Walmart. I didn't dare go into the food section.

Sadly it was then about 430 so time to head back to the airport. This time Hertz drove us and our carrier bags back to the ship. Slightly concerned now that at the end, our cases may be too full with "stuff" for any of our clothes to go in.

Loved the Hawaiian Islands on the whole and look forward to another visit, another time for a much longer stay. We have only seen a snapshot of the two largest. I would like to visit Maui and Kaui definitely and the smaller ones. The ones we have seen are not as exotic as French Polynesia or Samoa but they are an intriguing mix of the exotic with the familiar. A definite mixture of Polynesia with the good old U.S.A. Somewhat reminiscent of Florida….. but then there's the volcanoes….. Hawaiian exploration definitely needs more work!