HILO or as R Berman would say HILU

ALOHA!

For the past two days I thoroughly explored the coastal city of Hilo, Hawaii. Hilo is located on the North Shore of the Big Island, Hawai’i. The Big Island is the largest of the islands and all the other islands can easily fit inside of it. The main attractions of the Big Island are its five volcanoes, two of which are active, and Volcanoes National Park.

The ship arrived in the port of Hilo at 5 AM, Monday morning, and we were woken up and sent through customs by 6. The ship was cleared at around 8 and everyone rushed off to step on land for the first time in a week. A lot of people felt “landsick” or like they were still swaying at sea even though they were on land. Once you step into the main section of the pier there are lots of Hawaiian guides, taxis, and companies waiting to pounce and take us around.

My friends Rachel, Jill, Jenny, and Ricky all jumped in a cab and explored downtown Hilo. We went to a farmers market and a couple of the shops (keep in mind it’s 8:30 AM and the majority of stores are still closed). We found an amazing café, Bear’s Coffee and got some food. The one thing I haven’t been able to eat on the ship is my standard Turkey and Cheese sandwich so even though it was early I ordered one. After eating and walking around a little more, we got in a shuttle for $2 a person, and went to Richardson Beach. On the way to the beach, our shuttle driver, Teresa, insisted on pulling over and buying us beer and an ice chest for the beach- it’s legal to drink alcohol on Hawaiian beaches.

We got to the beach and there were already a lot of SASers there. This was the first “black sand” beach that I ever went to, and for those of you who don’t know what a black sand beach is, it basically translates into black volcanic rock. The “sand” part of the black sand beach was missing. Anyway after carefully trekking in flip-flops around beach boulders we found a nice rock and stayed there for a few hours enjoying the sun and ocean.

Jill, Rachel, Ricky and I headed back to downtown Hilo where we met up with our friend Luke and had lunch. If anyone’s interested, hot dogs in Hawaii are legit red.

I was able to buy a Luau ticket and went to a Luau that night. The program consisted of a tour of the University of Hawaii- Hilo campus (they have a fishbowl too), then going to their agricultural farm where the Luau took place. We made leis, enjoyed the performances, and ate (squid, pork, rice, salmon, chicken and noodles, and Hawaiian Poi). One of the cooler performances was done by a group of Samoan students who did a cultural dance. They definitely had the most fun out of any of the other performance groups. The energy and noise they produced was insane. I also attempted to Hula Dance on stage… that went well… Most importantly and memorable, I played with two Hawaiian children, a five year old boy and his seven year old sister. Both were adorable and after telling the girl my friend thought we looked alike, she quickly responded that we didn’t look alike but that I looked like Carly from iCarly.

Post Luau a bunch of us went to Margarita Village. Note: Margarita Village is NOT Margaritaville. No Jimmy Buffett was present. The bar was close to the pier but I think the amount of SASers was too much for the small place. It got more fun as the night went on, but bottom line was that I was in bed by 12:30.

Day 2 of Hilo started out with a Helicopter Tour of the “ring of fire,” some waterfalls and the ocean. Rachel, Jenny, Jill, Ivy, and I joined Pilot Will Curry, and honestly the whole experience was really cool. We were assigned seats in the copter but I luckily got to sit right next to the pilot in the front. We were all given headphones and microphones to communicate with. It was my first time in a helicopter and they are really fun, I barely felt use land. We went over the ocean where we saw lots of humpback whales followed by waterfalls, craters, VOG (fog caused by volcanic gases), the aftermath of a volcanic eruption and LAVA. The helicopter ride was definitely worth it.

I’m collecting flags in each country and on the first day in Hilo I bought what I assumed to be was a Hawaiian flag but in reality an American flag. After this realization we headed back to downtown Hilo for lunch, a second visit to the flag store- this time correctly purchasing a Hawaiian flag, and a homemade ice cream shop. The final big trip in Hilo was to a Wal-Mart. We had to stock up on snacks, DVDs, and last minute items we forgot from home. After Hawaii we will be on sea for 12 days straight until we get to Japan. These snack items were pretty important.

We have to go through security at two different points before being allowed back on the ship. The first time the check is done by the pier security and the second check is performed by SAS crew members. The main reason is to make sure we don’t sneak on alcohol or other prohibited items. I bought some sealed turkey and string cheese at Wal-Mart for my room (we have a fridge in our room) but was skeptical if it would be allowed on. Cold cut meats apparently aren’t allowed but since it was sealed I figured I would see what happened. I put the turkey at the bottom of the Wal-Mart bags in hopes of the staff being lazy. After easily making it through security check number one, I of course was intensely checked by SAS security, and the turkey was obviously found. The lady let me keep the turkey, “this time,” but made me give her my ID. She wrote me up for bringing in turkey… apparently turkey is the new vodka.

I’m happy Hilo was our first port and we got used to being off the ship in our own country. A lot of SASers think it will probably be our lamest or worst port only because it’s in the US and there wasn't that much going on. All I know is that I had two great days and if that’s the worse place we’re going to I’m in for a very amazing trip. I’m actually in Honolulu right now and resting before we go out but more about Honolulu in a later post. Aloha and mahalo for following/reading/commenting on my blog.