Aloha!

We touched ground in Hilo, Hawaii Monday January 25^th as the first port on Semester at Sea. The journey that has brought us to this point has been an exciting myriad of events. The Pacific Ocean is vast, as all seven continents can fit into it, and seeing the island in the distance as the sun set was beautiful.

The first day, we got off the ship after an early wakeup call of 5:30 for customs. We were greeted by humpback whales in the distance while we ate our breakfast. The general idea of the day was to head to the Volcano, and we stumbled on a group of friends getting into a small van with a local named Frank. It was a great group of people, with a fellow couple from San Diego, our La Jollan buddy Jose, and two other cool guys.

Hilo is a modest town, not resort filled and is often hit with Tsunamis, which adds to the small down home quiet feel. The guide was full of information being born and raised in Hilo, and took us to our first stop called Rainbow Falls. Gigantic Banyon trees, lush tropical flora, and a nice waterfall was a great first stop. We explored while he told us about Hilo, and we even tasted an interesting plant that numbed our mouths. Frank the guide, brought out his u’kelele and sang us a song that he wrote while we video’d him and danced along. We proceeded past Mauna Loa into a volcanic site. He told us that it was the best spot to see the Volcanic rock, and we got out, passed the “no trespassing” sign to a huge plain stretching miles of hardened lava. We walked across it, explored as the magma from an eruption in 1995 crumpled magma beneath our foot. There were grooves, and ravines that you could just see how the lava had flown and we even took some samples: something you can’t do in the national park ;). Next we headed to a local food joint in the middle of the island’s tropical forest where we got delectable burgers. One of the girls purchased a platter filled with oranges, papayas, and plantains from a local vendor that was more than enough for the group for only 5 dollars. The fruit was luscious and I have never tasted a better papaya. We continued on the beautiful coastline and from the cliffs we saw a black sand beach that happened to be a nude beach. We decided that this was one of the few times on this trip that the saying “When in Rome” was not something we wanted to follow, so we left the beach quickly. The Hot Springs were next, which essentially was a pool signed inlet connected to the ocean. The lava flowing deep beneath the soil made the it like a hot tub and we stayed there for the majority of our time. After a long day with Frank, we said goodbye and returned to the ship. Talking to other people, we had made a great deal, $25 a person for the whole day hitting up only the local spots, and getting the culture of real Hawaii.

That night along with the majority of the Semester at Sea students, we went to a Luau sponsored by the University of Hawaii-Hilo. We sampled the questionable squid and lau lau, loma loma salmon, and the goopy poi. The performances were entertaining and we retired back to the ship satisfied after our first port day.

Today we left the port at 8 for our 2 and half hour bus ride through the volcanoes across the big island to Kona. Kona is the more resort-like, sunny side with its history rooted in being the first place where Captain Cook landed, and of course famous for its coffee. We headed into our zodiacs (essentially inflatable speedboats) and teared off with 10 others chasing after humpback whales in the sun. It was a gorgeous day, and we followed a mother humpback and her baby. We then went to a bay where cook actually first landed and jumped in for snorkeling. It was warm and beautifully clear, we saw yellow tangs, trumpetfish, breathtaking reefs, a pufferfish, and a large object, that to my dismay was not a shark. Upon leaving, we saw an endangered monk seal, native to Hawaii with only 800 left in the world. We zoomed in and out of the coast, while our guide gave us history of the island, and we saw volcanic lava tubes, and the rock that has been created to form this island over thousands of years. Truly a perfect day as we drove back through high bridges under gorgeous waterfalls. We returned exhausted to the ship, and left en route overnight to Honolulu.

Till next port,

Trevor