Hawaii--the Big Island

Today was a full day with the tour group. After landing at Hilo and boarding the bus, our first stop was the Mauna Loa macadamia factory.  I got a look at some of the production line.

Preparing the macadamias for chocolate 

Macadamias on the production line

Then it was on to Akatsuka Orchid Garden.  This place had some interesting flowers.

Orchid

Orchid

I like this one best.

Next up: the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  The first thing we saw here was the Thurston Lava Tube.

On the way to the lava tube.

Inside the lava tube.

Further up the mountain is the Halemaumau Crater, a pit crater within the much larger summit caldera (6 miles across) of Kilauea.

Halemaumau Crater

The summit caldera 

After lunch was a quick stop at the Punaluu black sand beach.  It would've been great to spend more time here, but we did get to see two sea turtles.

Punaluu Beach 

The sea turtles.  We had to stay 100 feet away.  They are not endangered anymore but they are still protected.

The last stop before our hotel was the Royal Kona Coffee Company.  They had free samples which were all good.   They had a great peaberry blend, but it was $49 for a half pound.  Fe will forgive a lot, but there's no need to intentionally test my luck.  So I just drank more samples.

View from the balcony 

Did you know:  there are five volcanoes on the island of Hawaii--three active, one dormant, and one extinct.