Big Island

Our last stop on the Hawaii island-hopping tour is Big Island. The name says it all: The island is so large that it takes about 2 hours to get from one side to the other. That’s why we are staying 4 nights on the tropical, moist east side in Hilo, and 3 nights on the dry west side in Kona (where the Ironman World Championship takes place). The volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa - both over 4000m high - reside on the island, but the main attraction (if you are a tourist and not worried about your house being buried under lava) is the Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting intermittently for years.

We visit this volcano and its surroundings with both old and young lava flows. Currently, it erupts approximately every 2 weeks for about half a day or so... well, the last eruption was 3 days before our arrival - a classic miss, you could say. Otherwise, there are some waterfalls on the tropical side, while the dry side features beaches and snorkeling spots - we explore everything sensible, but always keep half an eye on Kilauea and would drop everything should it start to rumble. Well, it didn’t rumble, and so we have 'only' pictures of the mentioned attractions...

Fun fact: Hawaii is the southernmost state of the USA, and Big Island is the southernmost of the larger islands - of course, here you will find the most southern point of the USA, which we also visit. Here we enjoy massive waves...