THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII

                                           Our position today:  Hilo, Hawaii

Photos from our "Mini Thanksgiving Day Parade" yesterday evening here on the Mariner

                                                  I like Santa's elves!!!!

                                          Lots of "sail-boarders" were out yesterday

                                                         Departing Maui

"Armadillo Eggs" is what we call these jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese.  My favorite hors d'oeuvres.

                           My dessert last night.  Pumpkin tart with marshmellow topping.

        Today we are on the Big Island of Hawaii and docked at Hilo, the largest city and county seat.  Hilo is also the wettest city in the world with over 140 inches of rain per year.  It is a low overcast day today which is obscuring the volcanoes.  It's also the largest of the Hawaiian islands and actually larger than all the other islands combined.  Population of the island is nearly 200,000.  The southernmost point in the 50 states of the United States, Ka Lae is on this island.  The island was formed by volcanoes and still has 3 active volcanoes:  Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Kileuea.  Because of these still active volcanoes the island is still growing.  You have seen the lava flow here in news lately threatening homes.  Interestingly enough, if measured from its sea floor base to its highest peak, Mt Mauna Kea is the world's tallest mountain, even taller than Mt Everest.  The island has suffered tsunami damage from earthquakes in Alaska (1946), Chile (1960), and Japan (2011).  Sugarcane was the backbone of the economy here for a century but the last plantation was closed in 1996.  Tourism now drives the economy.  Agriculture is a growing part now also with macadamia nuts, papaya, flowers, vegetables, and coffee beans (Kona Coffee).  It is also home to the largest cattle ranch in the United States, the Parker Ranch with 175,000 acres.  Walmart is the fifth largest employer on the island.
        Our tour today, "Panoramic Hilo",  departed the ship at 9:00 am and was only 2 hours long.  There were only 3 stops on the tour so it was the "old folks" tour.  Most people on our tour were 80+.  The stops were for only 20 minutes each and it took about that long for these folks to get off and back on the bus.  They were all very nice folks though.  Hope I'm not one of them in future!

                                                            Banyan trees

                                              The very beautiful Liliuokalani Park

                                                Red African Tulip tree with red blooms

                                                                Monkey Pod trees

                                            Their Viet Nam Veterans Memorial

This is the Shinmachi Memorial that was erected to honor the many people of Hilo who lost their lives to the tsunami of 1946.

                                                    Gold statue of King Kamehameha

                                           Our tour bus--Roberts Hawaii tour company

        Grey skies today at Hilo.  I thought this was sunny Hawaii???  We will be sailing at 4:00 pm today.  Leaving the Hawaiian islands and will have four sea days enroute to our next port on Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia.  I hope we have a better ride than we did on crossing to Hawaii.  We had reservations tonight in Prime 7 Steakhouse but I cancelled it this morning.  Beef Wellington is on the dining room menu tonight and we love that.  Doing Prime 7 on Sunday instead.  I must say I was a little disappointed with our turkey dinner last night.  The stuffing was very dry and the turkey gravy was a brown gravy that tasted like it came from a McCormick's mix.  Shouldn't complain as food has been excellent rest of the cruise so far.  In showroom tonight is the concert pianist again so not going.