Day 9 Wednesday 5 November

Kona, a port on the other side of the island of Hawaii was this morning’s arrival destination & again we watched the ship anchor off Kona before breakfast then departing the ship on a lifeboat tender for our Big Island Spectacular helicopter tour. We left the ship at 9.45am but didn’t get picked up by our helicopter bus until after 11am. The drive out to the Blue Hawaiian Helicopters field was very interesting as it seems that most of the Kona side of the island consists of fresh lava fields with mile after mile of jumbled lava flows everywhere, most of them flowing all the way to the sea from the massive Mauna Loa volcano. Mauna Loa is the largest volcano in the Hawaiian Islands at over 13,000 feet. The driver told us the volcano was long overdue for an eruption & he was living as far from the volcanoes as he could. The helicopter field is in a lava flow field with an area cleared to make room for the fleet of helicopters & the fuel truck & briefing room. There were helicopters flying in & out constantly.

After our weigh-in & safety briefing we boarded one of the new blue “Blue Hawaiian” Eco-Copters with an enclosed tail rotor & piloted by Kane who turned out to be a very competent pilot with a very interesting commentary. Our 2 hour flight started over some old lava flows, past many old cinder cones, past some old dormant volcanoes & then to the active Kilauea volcano that we visited by bus yesterday. This time we were flying at 8,100 feet, 4,000 feet above the ground & Kane flew us over & around the active crater a number of times so that all seven of us on board could get a good look inside the crater. It was fairly exciting being able to look directly at the lava pool & see orange glows along cracks in the surface of the lava.

We then descended & followed the current lava flow down along the rift line & stopped very close to a hole in the active lava tube & saw the flowing hot lava glowing orange through the large hole. There were some scientific instruments pointed into the lava to measure things like temperature & rate of flow. We saw in the distance some smoke & flew down to that & it turned out to be the current lava flowing out & burning some trees in its path, so there was smoke, fire & more orange lava. We were not allowed to fly near the town that is currently threatened by the lava flow so saw that from a distance. From there we flew on to Hilo, our port from yesterday & refuelled the helicopter after about an hour of flying.

After refuelling we flew off from Hilo along the stunning coastline, a little out to sea to enable us to see the full beauty of the sheer cliffs dropping straight into the sea. Now & again there was a break in the cliffs where a small river ran into the sea. We passed a low spot where a small school used to be that was hit by a tsunami & all but 15 kids & teachers killed. Kane told us that this was the trigger that started the introduction of the tsunami early warning system. We then flew up one of the river valleys to the wet side of Hawaii & the rugged steep mountains with lots of waterfalls. It is certainly absolutely beautiful & very spectacular with sheer drops of more than 1,000 feet. The spectacular beauty of this part of the island of Hawaii is amazing & the photos do not come anywhere close to doing it justice.

We turned back & flew over the top of the Parker cattle ranch, than reached the dry side of the island. It is like turning a switch, turning from a lush green to dry yellow & brown in what seemed a defined line. We flew back over cinder cones & more blankets of lava fields, now able to pick out easily the two types of lava flows, before reaching the Blue Hawaiian Heliport all too soon. Two hours of flying well worth it. The drive back to the ship in the pretty port of Kona was even more interesting now we understood more about the lava flows & how it worked with lava tubes. On the way back to Kona we passed a lava tube by the side of the road with an entry the size of a large bus that our driver told us went uphill for more than 1,000 feet & was easy to walk. The imagination can run wild with scenery of lava flows, jumbled up lava rocks & looking into these huge craters seeing the flows, holes, orange glows & cinder cones this could all be on the moon or some distant planet.

Back in Kona we indulged in a pineapple ice cream & a short walk along the waterfront before catching the lifeboat tender back to the ship. A couple of small girls at the front thoroughly enjoyed the ride back as the boat hit swells & splashed water through the open front window onto them, laughing joyfully each time it happened, it was music to our ears. Back in our cabin we shared the treats left by our butler & I indulged in another coffee from the machine in our cabin. It is really good coffee. We watched as the ship pulled up anchor & departed Kona. That night the ship put on some speed, traveling between 18-20 knots to reach our next destination by 8am. Dinner was at the Skyline restaurant again followed by some more of Tim Dion on Guitar until 10pm then bed. A great day again.