Leaving Hawai’i

Aloha from Hilo International airport!

In 90 minutes I am going to leave Hawai'i. No, I'm not returning home just yet, I'm just flying to a different island - Oahu, where Honolulu is located.

But enough with the future, let me tell you what I did today. I woke up aftee 12 hours sleeep in our nice room in Patey's Place and went online to chat with friends and family (that's you!). Itai, in the meanwhile, tried to book a flight from Kona to Kauai (another Hawaiian island) and rent a car there. Finally, at around 7AM we drove the airport, where Itai booked and boarded the flight.

I came back to the hostel for more rest and Internet, and then at 10AM finally checked out and headed back towards the Hilo side of the island. I decided to take the south route through the Volcanos National Park, as I felt I didn't get my share of geology.

On the way toward the park, I stopped again at the black sand beach with sea turtles. This time I felt better, and chatted with a nice girl on the beach. Turns out she's from the SF bay area, so I'll keep in touch with her. I also added her to the list of people getting these reports (Hi Shira!).

I arrived at the park at around 1PM, saw a film about Hawaii's volcanos and took a short guided walk through a rainforest and to the caldera. The ranger guide explained about the native Hawaiian vegitation and animals, and how they adapted to living on barren volcanic rock.

After this tour, I decided to go again down chain of craters road, and take a 2.2km walk down to see some petroglyphs, that is ancient (900yr) graffiti in hardened lava. On my way back up chain of craters road, I stopped several times to look at the huge craters visible along the road. As I don't have a real camera, I took few photos, and these will not be available online soon.

From the park I headed back to the airport, returned the car with almost no gas, and checked in for my flight, which will depart in 73 minutes.

That's all for now, Alon