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We arrived at the Big Island today, the eponymous Hawai’i. Had a quick breakfast up at the buffet, then jammed into the line to disembark. We quickly found our tour for the day, and once everyone was gathered, we set out for the vans that would take us up to Volcano National Park for our tour.

It was about a half hour drive up to the park, during which time we all talked with our driver/guide, and I began to realize how much has changed since I had last been to the island. For starters, the sugar cane industry has pretty much collapsed, due to competition with South America, and the sugar beet. There are many more houses now; Hilo and Kona are the fastest growing areas in Hawaii. Everyone is driving new cars instead of old, rusty trucks.

I didn’t have a watch on, but it must have been about eight when we arrived at the park’s visitor center, and it was cold. I guess the four thousand foot elevation difference from where we had docked probably has something to do with that. We had both failed to read the part of the tour description that suggested we dress in layers, so we jogged around the visitor center and the art gallery to try to warm up a bit while the bikes were unloaded.

Soon enough, we donned helmets and gloves and chose bikes. Now, I had not been on a bike for close to ten years, so I was a little concerned about my ability to keep up with the tour, a fear that was compounded by my chosen bike’s slipped and bent chain. But after some quick adjustments by our guide, I was ready to go, and go I did.

We biked down out of the parking lot, heading southeast around the crater of Kiluea, one of the Big Island’s three massive shield volcanoes. Our path took us the opposite direction of most tours, thereby minimizing the amount of traffic we would have to contend with. The first bit was mostly downhill, and gave me some time to get used to being on a bike again. We hung to the back of the pack, and Liz rode behind me to make sure I was doing okay.

The second stretch was a pretty steep hill, after which we snacked on fruits and had some water. From there, we walked down a trail to the Thurston Lava Tube, one of many lava tubes formed by uneven cooling processes. The trail lead through a section of the tube, then back above ground, and looped back to where we had started.

Back on bikes, the next stretch was a nice long serpentine downhill. We stopped at a lookout spot to observe where the shield had collapsed in the 1920’s, forming the large crater of Kiluea. Up where we were was lush forest; down there it looked like hell, all barren, blasted, rocky, and belching sulfurous fumes.

Saying goodbye to the forests, we pressed on, continuing downhill and transitioning suddenly into barren desert. We stopped at another overlook to take pictures and hear more chatter from our guides. From there, we coasted downhill to Haleu’ma’u'ma’u, passing through the rocky moonscape . The observation deck there overlooks a secondary crater, caked with sulphur deposited by the deep innards of the volcano, and the rocky path to the deck winds its way past smelly fumaroles. The heat and the stench from the fumes is strong, nearly overwhelming.

From there, we just had one section of biking to go, though it was mostly uphill. It wasn’t excruciatingly steep, but it was long, and at this point my legs were at the last of their stamina. I let Liz ride on past me, since she is a much stronger biker than I am. I dismounted and walked for a bit up the hill, happy that I had at least made it this far (a couple of people had gotten back on the van at Haleu’ma’u'ma’u). Before too long, I got back on my bike, and rode the rest of the way to where the vans were waiting to pick us up. The sunshine had more than made up for the elevation, and it was now quite warm.

While our guides racked up the bikes, we all snacked and rested, drained from our ride. Well, everyone except for Liz, who is nuts. She grabbed a fresh bottle of water, then rode off down the road, up the long, steep hill to the Jaggar Museum, the last stop on our tour. Someone’s husband, a runner usually, also decided to be insane, and followed her a minute later. Everyone else just stared in amazement as my wife disappeared down the highway. I kept expecting to catch up to her on the hill, but she surprised everyone by beating the vans up the hill.

We got everyone loaded up again after a few minutes at the museum, and then it was time to return us to the ship. We again got the strict security treatment — our backpack was searched, and we were given a good going over with the wand. It’s interesting how completely different it is to reboard the ship in comparison to the fairly lax, pre-9/11 Alaskan cruise that we took last year.

Liz and I ate lunch in Versailles, the main dining room aboard the Star, just as we were pulling away from the port in Hilo. We rested for awhile, then sent Liz off to a body treatment at the spa. I hung out with my dad, downloading photos off of his camera, and showing him the photos we had taken so far. We chatted for a bit, then he went back to rejoin Mom. When Liz got back from her treatment, she was starved and not feeling great, so we headed down to dinner.

The seas were getting pretty active again by dinner time, and everyone was feeling it, though some of us more than others. My parents are down on deck five, and the waves regularly lap at their porthole. To my surprise, it was Liz, who didn’t have any troubles in Alaska, who needed to get up in the middle of her appetizer for a hurried trip to the bathroom, and then a journey back to our stateroom for Dramamine. Anne took care of the Liz escort duties, while the rest of us ordered dinner. Of all the people to have troubles, I was expecting my mother (of the chronic motion sickness problems) and myself to be having the worst time with the rolling seas, but Dad is much more affected, not wanting to look out the windows during meal time, and I am a little unsteady on my feet and a little dizzy, but otherwise managing to not turn interesting colors. I was therefore the only one of us to order a full dinner, which was delicious, but felt weird given everyone else’s minimalist sustenance.

After dinner, we sent Liz up to our room to get some rest, then I walked the parents through the shops. We bought Sea Band anti-nausea wristbands for all of us, which will hopefully help us, since we have another whole day at sea before we reach Fanning Island, and another day and a half back to Maui. We also stopped by the photo gallery to show my parents the picture of them boarding the ship. We made sure to laugh at the semi-transparent people who had been wearing green.

When I got back to our stateroom, Liz was fast asleep, and had beaten the cleaning staff to the room, so I had to “turn down” the bed by stuffing the comforters on a shelf above the TV. I couldn’t wake her, even to check to see how she was doing, so I figured it was best to let her sleep.

Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow; it will be, after all, her twenty-fifth birthday.

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