We just got back from the Big Island last night and it was a short compact vacation. This blog entry is going to read more like a travel guide, because it’s a sort of practice.
We reserved our cottage in Volcano Village through Hawaii Volcano Vacations (http://www.hawaiivolcanovacations.com/index.php?inc=rentals). Hale I’wi (http://www.hawaiivolcanovacations.com/index.php?inc=house&id=5) is a cozy 2 bedroom cottage that rents for $140 (+11%) tax for 3 adults. We were lucky this is low season because we booked late and this was the last one available in the Volcano village itself. It has a nice garden full of tree ferns.
Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky with the rental service. They didn’t give us the Kama’aina discount as promised and we didn’t find the continental breakfast that was included. Several messages to them didn’t get returned, so we ended up buying our breakfasts. And while the house was clean, it smelled of mold when we arrived. Fortunately, the smell went away after airing it out and turning on the gas fireplace, or I don’t know if we could’ve stayed there.
The other cottages I found online are Volcano Village Cottages (http://volcanogallery.com/volcano__village_choice_.htm). The lady on the phone was really helpful and nice, but they didn’t have anything as close or as cheap this time. But this seems like the better agency, which is why it probably books up earlier. I also found Volcano Cottages (http://www.volcanocottages.com/) in the same price range but I never called them.
In the Volcanos National Park, we really liked the Visitor Center movie and information. Last year we saw the Jagger geology museum, which we liked, but we didn’t go back. We did drive around the Halemaumau crater again, stopping at the steam vents and also the rift zone that we missed last time, as well as the inner crater. Then we went in the Thurston Lava tube again with Trude, and this time we took our flashlights all the way to the end of the unlit section.
Then we drove down the Chain of Craters Road to the petroglyphs. Those weren’t as impressive as I thought, but still neat. At the end of the road, we hiked to where the flow covers the pavement and took some neat pictures. The lava there looks recent, with all the cool formations. Unfortunately, we never had the good weather nor the time to hike the Kilauea Iki crater loop-next time.
To top off the vacation (and make up for all the rain) we booked a sight-seeing airplane ride in Hilo on our last day. Since the eruption changed in July, you can’t walk to the lava because it no longer flows into the ocean. The only way to see the flowing lava is from the air, but it’s even more impressive now because it hasn’t made any tubes. The volcano and extent of the flows are really apparant from the air. We went with Island Hoppers (http://www.fly-hawaii.com/above/hilo_tour.html) in a high-wing airplane. It was $155 each +10 tip for the two of them, and then the pilot took me up for free on the next trip. So we tipped him again with our leftover beer from the cottage.
There, do you think I am a good travel guide writer?