15 August 2013 Hilo, Hawaii

We docked in Hilo this morning.  As we had not been in any other country since LA we did not have to do the immigration thing.  Sam and I had a tour of the waterfalls booked for the afternoon.  We had a bit of a relax on board in the morning and then took our tour in the afternoon. 

Hilo is the biggest city on the big island of Hawaii.  Polynesian boatmen arrived in Hilo around 1100 and James Cook moored in Hilo Bay in 1778, it takes up 58 square miles on the eastern side of the big island of Hawaii. The population is 43,260 (US Census 2010).  They have 127 inches of rain a year (more than 200 in other spots) it is one of the wettest cities in the world.  Benefitting from the Trade Winds, Hilo is blessed with a most pleasant tropical rainforest climate year round, with temps ranging from the low 60s to high 80s (F). 

Our tour guide met us at the ship, instead of 1000 of our nearest and dearest there was only 8 of us a very intimate group.  We went to see the waterfalls etc. very lovely place.  We went to the Akaka Falls 442 feet and Rainbow Falls 82 feet, we also saw Kahuna Falls 400 feet.  We had a beautiful coastal drive, a little look around the port,  very tropical, they had a huge tsunami in 1946 and then 1960, it looked prosperous. We were delivered safely back to the ship and we then set sail for Honolulu. 

All the best Sabine and Sam  XXX