What's in the Sandwich (Islands)?: Hawaii (The Big Island) Day 2, 10/31

Of the four islands we've been to, Hawaii is the one that has surprised me most. It is described as the youngest of the islands, and with all the lava rocks around, I believe it. Some are only now being reclaimed with vegetation. I guess I also got used to smaller islands, but Hawaii is the size of Rhode Island. It's also the only one I've seen cactus plants on, a well as rain forests. The dry and wet sides of the island seem more pronounced, to me anyway.

We were scheduled today for a helicopter tour at 12:15 pm in Hilo. We left our hotel at about 8:30 am and got to Hilo about 10:30. We quickly stopped at a farmers' market in Waimea since I wanted to try breadfruit. I found a stall that had it, but it was the whole fruit which he said needed cooked. I said our hotel wouldn't let me do that. I don't think they get many tourists there.

Our helicopter tour started out with a safety briefing and then all of six (there were four others in our group) filed into the aircraft. I was lucky and got a window seat.

Our helicopter was on the right

I'll admit I was nervous about it, but I'm glad I did it. There was no dramatic lava flows into the sea or visible eruptions, but we did see some lava bubbling in a crater and a good aerial view of some waterfalls that you can't see on the ground because they're on private/government property.

Views from the helicopter

We drove around to the northern part of the island along HI 270.

Lookout View

Made a quick stop at the Akaka Falls State Park. It has a 400 ft tall waterfall--higher than Niagara Falls.

Along the trail in Akaka Falls State Park

The Akaka Falls

We didn't quite make it to the northern tip of the island, but we were close. The last stop of the day was a little town called Kapaau. The Kamehemeha statue in Honolulu is a copy. This is the original which was found in a junk yard in the Falkland Islands.