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My Portrait
Photography
My Nature Photography
6:00 AM thru 1:00 PM
We woke up and looked out to see we had reached Hilo during the the night. Everyone had slept well. For breakfast we tried the market cafe. The food was typical buffet food. We did take advantage of the cooked to order eggs which helped elevate the quality of the meal.
Getting off the ship to meet our tour was painless. This seemed to be a good sign to us as we headed down at about 8:30 and were off in a few minutes. We looked around at the flowers for sale while we waited for out tour guide.
9:00 AM Scheduled
Approximate Duration: 2 ¼ hours
Enjoy a thrilling helicopter flight to see the most geologically active
environment in the world, the Kilauea Volcano. You will fly over Kilauea's most
recent eruption site and follow the surface activity down to the devastated
village of Kalapana. You will view the Puna Forest and black sand beaches. You
will not only view these amazing sites, but also receive an informative
education from your tour guide/pilot over the individual Bose state of the art
headset.
Left within a few minutes of schedule from the pier. Did not get back until noon. This left no time for shopping.
When we reached the airport we were informed that a lava flow had broken out within the past hour. It was more lava than they had seen in a while. This raised the excitement. They then got our weights to balance the helicopter for safety. Next we sat a watched a video on Hawaii to fill time while we waited for the prior group to return. Just before we headed out they assigned us our numbers and helicopters. The numbers would determine our position in the helicopter. Next we got our safety briefing and our personal floatation devices - what no parachutes.
Then it was out to watch our helicopters arrive. We were given instructions on how to board. The good news that none of us was tall enough (8 feet) to worry about ducking to avoid the rotors.
My wife and daughter were in the front, myself and other daughter were in the rear with two other women. The pilot gave us a safety talk and other instructions. Then we were on our way. The headsets used noise cancellation technology to quiet the ride. The pilot set the background music and provided great narration.
First we saw crop lands and forest, then old lava fields, the volcano's crater and finally the thing we were all there to see. Active lava flowing out the ground, burning everything in its path. The pilot made numerous passes at different altitudes. Each pass was made in both directions so both sides would get the best view. Even sitting in the center rear, I could easily see out either side.
After watching the burning red lava (too cool), it was off to the coast to watch the older flow enter the sea in a cloud of steam. This lava was flowing through a lava tube, kind of like an underground tunnel, so it was not visible - only the steam were it hit the ocean.
Then it was back to the airport. On the way we flow over a residential neighborhood that had been wiped out during a prior eruption. Then off in the distance was the Star, waiting for us in port.
We we returned we were told that a video was filmed of our entire flight. It had both in cabin and outside shots. We spent the $20 and felt it was a good piece souvenir after we watched it.
Time for lunch. We went to the Deck BBQ (Chicken, ribs, steak, brats, fried fish) and the Grill since both were by the pool. The lines were short, but finding a table was not possible. So we went into the Market Cafe and grabbed a table there without any problem.
As we left we noticed our sister ship sitting in port - the NCL Wind.
Wife and Kids went to the lei making class in the Spinnaker Lounge. They all said it was a lot of fun. My girls wore theirs to dinner on several nights.
Peeked in on the art auction as they were setting out the art. Photo
My wife to the kids to dinner in the Market Cafe and then dropped them off in Kids Crew.
Drums of the Islands show held in the the Spinnaker Lounge was attended by the three girls while I went to the Cruise Critic Meeting. They enjoyed the show, but did comment that get there early as it can be hard to see from some areas.
I went to the Bier Garten for the Cruise Critic meeting. It was great to put face to names. James Deering (Hotel Director) and Phillipp Reutener ( F&B Director) were there to answer questions. They provided some written information on Fanning Island. They each gave us their cards so we could call if we needed any help. They got our cabin numbers to get us first tender tickets. One of the group mentioned a concern about dining with their kids (shorts), and Phillipp said not to worry. A few minutes later I caught him talking on the phone with the restaurant making sure there would be no problem.
Back to the room to get ready for our dinner at Le Bistro (Menu). Food was very good as we were expecting. The mushroom soup very good. My wife said the escargot was very good. I would have liked to have seen more French pastries on the desserts. As we were celebrating our anniversary (14 years), we had a card for a special treat that had been delivered to our cabin. We gave it to our waiter and received a tasty 6 inch cake, which they packaged for us to take back to the room. They knew we wanted to try the desserts. On the way out, they offered to have the cake delivered so we would not have to carry it (this was another unexpected example of extra good service).
| Our Trip | Pre-Cruise | Sun-Board | Mon-Hilo | Tue-Sea | Wed-Fanning |
| Thu-Sea | Fri-Maui | Sat-Kauai | Sun-Leave | Ship Tour | Home |
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