July 17th

Hi folks! Still on the Big Island. We've got a couple of days to catch up on.

Karen's last post was just before our Mauna Kea tour. It was a spectacular adventure, lasting about eight hours. Our guide was excellent and had all kinds of information about the natural history of the island. The climb up Mauna Kea is pretty intense (from near sea level to over 13,500 feet!) so we stopped at about 9000 feet for dinner and to get partially acclimated.

We saw interesting volcanic features all the way up, but it was truly amazing to be at the top, well above the clouds. This is the largest mountain in the world. It was cold and very windy, but the views of the observatories and the setting sun were unbelievable! We watched the sun set behind the clouds in the west, and then we watched a nearly full moon rise in the east. I was really pleased that my asthma didn't act up at the top, and neither of us was headache-y, dizzy or nauseous from the altitude. We then descended partway down the mountain where the guide set up a telescope and gave us a bit of a star show. The very bright moon made it difficult to see some celestial objects, but we were able to see some cool stuff, including Saturn with two of its moons.

Yesterday we drove up to the north of the island and down the eastern coast to Hilo, the biggest town on the island. Along the way we saw spectacular deep coastal valleys, scenic drives and lots of waterfalls. Hilo is a really nice town, and we had a good seafood dinner before heading back across the island to our B&B.

This morning we headed off early to a nearby beach to do some more snorkelling. It was bright but cloudy, which meant that it wasn't nearly as hot as the last time we were at the beach. We saw lots of fish; some of the same ones we saw last time, but some new ones as well. There were some neat sea urchins at this beach, including orange pencil urchins with thick, blunt spines.

When we were tired of swimming, we walked down into Kailua-Kona where they block off part of the main drag to make a street fair. On the way I stopped to try a couple of regional specialities: kava (a mild intoxicant) and poi (fermented taro paste). Kava tastes kind of muddy and it didn't give me much of a buzz - single-malt Scotch has it beat all hollow! Poi wasn't very pleasant either, so I struck out on both my treats! Karen did better with a sugar-free shave ice. It's vaguely reminiscent of a sno-cone, but much bigger, with finer ice (shaved off a block, so it's fluffy rather than grainy) and industrial-strength syrups in exotic flavours. We spent a long time talking with a photographer who has hiked into areas of volcanic activity and taken some amazing photographs. We were trying to decide how we could bring one home, but it turns out that we can order a print online after we get home.

Tomorrow we drive over to Hilo again, and then stay overnight in Volcano which, strangely enough is right outside the Volcanos National Park. That will set us up to have a full day in the park on Tuesday.