Sunday, February 12th, 2023 Queen Victoria, Hilo, The Big Island, Hawaii, USA
Updated: Jun 22, 2023
We’ve spent the last four days steaming southwest from San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean. These days were mostly quiet, though we did have a few good nights at the gin bar and also during this time the Covid situation improved enough for the captain to announce the elimination of the mask mandate. The actor Robert Powell has joined the ship as a guest speaker – I remember him best from his lead role in the movie The 39 Steps. Mr. Powell has given a couple of lectures over the past few days, the first on Charles Dickens and the second on Jane Austin – both given in monologue form and very well practiced. He was an excellent speaker and seemed to have an infinite number of voices to call upon when reading excerpts from the works of these great authors. I was up early this morning to watch Queen Victoria make the tricky turn around the mole at Hilo harbor and execute a reversing maneuver, under the watchful eyes of a couple of powerful tugs, to dock at the small wharf. The sky was overcast and there was a slight drizzle, nothing could be seen of the three magnificent volcanoes that dominate the landscape of this, the largest and southernmost island in the Hawaiian chain. We’ve not been to this island before, it’s actually called the Island of Hawaii but is commonly referred to as “the big island”. Our plan for the day was to pick up a rental car and drive up to Volcanoes National Park to see the active volcano, Kilauea. I had reserved the rental car through a company called Discount Hawaii Car Rental, but the car was actually provided by Avis. I’d been concerned about how to get from the port to the airport but needn’t have worried - as we exited the port the Avis van was sitting waiting for us and in about 10 minutes I was at the rental counter.
Soon we were heading west in our oversized SUV through torrential rain on our way to the national park. But our first stop was at the Discount Fabric Warehouse (of course) for “essential” supplies. I had expected the road up to the volcano to be small and winding, but it was a nice straight modern highway and after about 45 minutes were at the turn off. We were able to use Sandra’s National Park pass to avoid the $30 entry fee which was nice. Kilauea started erupting again in September of 2021, but the most recent activity was just on January 5 of 2023 – this volcano sits at about 4200ft whereas the other two on the island, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea both sit at about 13000ft and are not currently active. A small visitor center is located near the crater and has displays about the volcano and a small shop. A park ranger was on hand outside to field questions about the volcano and give direction to the various viewpoints. Across from the visitor center, and a short stroll through the woods, is the Volcano House, an accommodation lodge, restaurant, and shop situated close to the lip of the crater. Volcano House has a very rustic feel to it with creaking floors, a log fire burning in a communal sitting room and, on the side facing the crater, large picture windows offering sweeping views of the entire caldera. In the restaurant the views were magnificent but the food not so much; unrequested, the waiter removed one of our entrees from the bill – we hadn’t even complained, though we probably should have. A door on the backside of the structure led down to the crater viewing area – it was breath-taking. We could see the entire crater; steep cliffs at the outer extremes surround a flat plane which in turn surrounds the recessed active area from which we could see smoke rising. The smell of burning wood and Sulphur pervaded the air. From our viewpoint we could not see any active lave flows or flames; the park ranger had told us the best times for viewing were are dusk and dawn when the whole active crater areas glows bright. We ran into several of our shipmates who were on a ship’s excursion and posed for many photographs; everyone was excited, almost giddy to be in such a fantastic location and so close to such a powerful natural phenomenon. Back at the ship the clouds had cleared sufficiently for us to get our first of the snowcapped Mauna Loa volcano. During the sail away we also got a view into the town of Hilo and a fantastic view up the coast that was pieced with multiple small bays; as the ocean waves came crashing into the bays, they created clouds of spray that hung in the air to create veils of mist.
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