RTW - week 32 (Hawaii)

We have began our journey home, but in order to make the long flight across the pacific, we decided we would "settle" on a stop in Hawaii. The flight itself was another red eye, this time with Hawaiian Airlines. After all the budget lines we have been taking, we felt real spoiled. We even got to check our bags, making our flight totally stress free and easy. Woohoo, livin'!

Our house swap wasn't to be available till the next day, so we used some of our credit card points to get a room at the Sheraton. One of the draws to this hotel is that their restaurant, Rays on the Bay, shines a bright light onto the water after sunset to draw the manta rays up to feed. Big Island is one of the best places to see mantas in the entire world, but with our girls being just a tad too young to night snorkel, we thought this would be the next best thing.

What we didnt realize upon arriving at the hotel, is that they have an amazing waterslide. Score! We had a hard time pulling the kids away from the pool for dinner with the mantas. It was incredible to see these giants leap out of the water, bucket list checked for sure.

Our home for the next 12 days is a small studio home on the opposite side of Hawai'i outside the town of Hilo. This is the side of the island that is mainly dominated by locals. If you are a tourist, chances are you will never leave the Kona side. We love the opportunity to get down and dirty with the real side of a country, so we relished the opportunity.

The week we left for our trip, 8 months ago, Kilauea started to errupt. Now normally this wouldnt have been a concern, but as it would happen, our home was located in the very small part of the island that was currently shut down due to numerous fissures opening. Over the next 6 months, the volcano had no intentions of slowing down spewing lava upwards to 30 feet into the air. More than 2,000 people lost their homes, and the island itself grew 690 acres.

We watched closely over the next few months, questioning whether or not we would even be able to make it home through Hawai'i since it was looking unlikely. It wasn't untill October that it seemed that the Kilauea had settled. Our home was still in one piece, however most of the attractions on that side of the island were completely totalled and overrun with new obsidian.

When we finally reached the island, it was overwhleming to see the new lava, to see the destruction that we had been following so closely over the past few months. It was an awesome feeling walking on this new formation, seeing nothing but wide open spaces of lava where communities and jungle used to reside.

It was a humbling experience. This planet still has the final word doesn't it? And where there is death, there is life again.

Volcano National Park was still incredible to visit. To see years of abuse from these volcanoes, it felt like walking on another planet. Sadly though, we did not get to see any active lava, which is one of the main reasons people do come to Big Island.

Big Island is one of the most diverse of all the islands. Black volcanic beach in the morning, followed by powdery white sand in the evening. What a contrast!