Hilo

Today we were in Hilo and we had a private tour booked..  We met the guy outside the gate and he took us to his van.  There was also another couple already in the van and he indicated he was picking up more people so the 3 of us were stuck in the very back.  We drove and picked up the rest of the people in our tour who were also from the ship but he told them to get off the ship earlier so he took them to a park which is where we picked them up.  We went to Rainbow Falls first and that was very cool.  Debbie about gave me a heart attack as she climbed out on the ledge to take a photo.  It was quite good but not worth her life.  Next we went to Volcano National Park and went to the top to view the caldera and saw the steam vents along the way.  Then we went to the crater and saw people walking across the floor of the crater.  This is supposed to be dangerous because of the sulfur levels.  This was a very educational and interesting day.  We also stopped to see the lava field that just stopped a few feet from the road in 1972 and the lava is surprisingly light..  Of course one of the guys on our tour had to take a piece when he was told not to so if the ship sinks, it is his fault.  We went to the Orchid Gardens from there and they were beautiful and then to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plantation.  That was interesting too as they have 250,000 trees here.  Someone pulled it up on their iPhone and it was huge and we were right in the middle of it!  We got back to the ship about 4:15 and all of us were whipped just from getting in and out of that van to many times today.  We had dinner and are now waiting for our night cruise past the volcano which the captain says will happen and about 10:30.  I am fighting to stay awake to see this now so I will report in the morning before I post this.  Sorry for the delay in getting this up and posted.