A late highlight of yesterday was the visibility of the Kilauea lava flow from the ship, at night, as the cruise ship headed from Hilo around the south end of the island toward Kona. Though the lava isn’t currently flowing into the sea, the lava field is still clearly visible from a distance of several miles, at night, where it looked like nothing so much as the southern California wildfires, burning in constellations of hotspots over the hillsides from afar.
Today we took a submarine tour of the depths of Kailua Bay at Kona, on the west shore of the Big Island of Hawaii. Which is to say, down to just past 100 feet, to see the coral beds, assorted small fish, and a couple odd shipwrecks. It was interesting enough, not spectacular, though according to the ride operators the experience earned us admission into some sort of 100 plus club.
Not much else here today; we didn’t buy an excursion or even rent a car. We strolled the shops, bought t-shirts and gifts for folks back home. Tomorrow is an island I’ve never visited before.
