Hey everyone!! At the moment im in Honolulu, Hawaii!! But I’m going to fill you in on what happened in Hilo, Hawaii and then go from there. Okay so I arrived in Hilo on Jan. 25^th. My friends and I woke up at 4 am so we could watch us dock in Hilo! So incredibly early, but very worth it. While we were standing on Deck 7 at the front of the ship, we saw an absolutely gorgeous shooting star fly across the sky towards the city lights of Hilo! The star left a blue/green/purple streak across the sky. We saw about 3 or 4 other shooting stars following that one, but they weren’t as amazing.. 

We were allowed to clear the ship at around 8 am. Soon as we exited the port we went to go find a taxi driver that could take us to Acaca Falls for cheap. Our high hopes were shot down when one particular taxi driver told us it would cost about 100 bucks to get there. We politely told him that there was no way.. and we moved on to the next taxi driver. Haha his name is Paul, and hes awesome. We basically told him that we wanted to do some hiking and then jump into the beach afterwards. He offered to take us to a locals beach, where all the surfers hang out at. There was a beautiful rainforest behind it, where we could walk and see waterfalls. The taxi ride cost 21$.. split between the 3 of us. We saved a lot of money. So, we hiked the gorgeous rainforest! Got naked in the rainforest (changed into our swimsuits hehe) and then went down to the beach ( it was called Honoli’i) to do some swimming. We ended up asking some of the locals (named Brent, and Daisy) where we could find some food. That conversation turned into our life stories, and the details about our semester at sea. They were super nice, unfortunately there wasn’t anywhere to eat around there. So we just continued to swim. After a little bit, Daisy came back down to the beach, came up to us and was like “hey, my moms going into Hilo. Would you guys like a ride?” We all responded with a “hell yeah!” and quickly dried off and ran up the hill to their car. We met Daisy’s mom at the car, and she was wayyyy chill! Her name is Jen, and she had a broken leg.  We introduced ourselves, and told her whats up. She actually wasn’t a “local” at all. She and her family had moved from Colorado about 3 months ago to Hilo, But she was so intelllegent!! She knew all the facts about.. everything Hawaii! Haha We were kinda hanging around the car when she asked us if we had seen the whales. My jaw dropped and I gave her a good stare until I finally responded with a “WHAT!!! WHERE??!!” She grabbed her binoculars and told us we weren’t allowed to leave until we each saw a whale jump out of the water. Jen taught us how to watch for the whales. They were breaching left and right! It was the most beautiful thing ever!! The whales were having too much fun out there. We spent a good 15-20 minutes whale watching. She also showed us where the sea turtles were hanging out right there on the beach.. where we were swimming!! I hadn’t seen them at all! So we finally took off towards town. She was asking us what we felt like eating, and we basically told her to take us somewhere cheap and delicious. She also asked us what we had planned for the rest of the day. We didn’t exactly have an answer to that. So she decided we should go see Rainbow Falls. She drove us to rainbow falls after showing us around Downtown Hilo. We hiked a bit, with Daisy and her little sister Isabella (11) , while Jen waited at the bottom (because of her broken leg.) It was a gorgeous hike!! The girls showed us the Banyan tree forest (which I completely fell in love with, and didn’t realize trees could be so gorgeous). The girls were just as intelligent as their mother! They knew all these facts about the trees, and they knew the names of all the trees! It was insane. They are homeschooled.. that’s why. Haha. Anyway, so we left the falls, and Jen decided we needed to see a Macadamia nut field, strawberry guava field, papaya field, Mango grove( it was on the side of the road. The road was gorgeous though!!! It looked like we were in Fern Gully. There was a ceiling of trees. It was like a tree tunnel!), Issac Hale beach park(it was a total pro-surfer district. And amazing. We watched the surfers for a bit, and then climbed some crazy trees right there on the beach. Oh ps. There was a crazy hippie van there. It was rainbow striped and had a hundred bumper stickers on the back.. yeah it was also from Oregon. So that made me really happy.), Banyan tree state park, Malama Ki forest reserve, and this amazing volcanic cliff where the ocean crashes into the side, and people fish off of it. It was glorious. So, in conclusion… Jen, Daisy, and Isabella are amazing people!! They took us all around the island and we had an absolutely amazing time with them! On the way back to the port Jen showed us where the beaches are so we could go swim there the next day. There were sea turtles just hanging out at the beach, sleeping and such. It was awesome. So of course we stopped to take pictures with them!! We exchanged information with our new friends, and said our goodbyes. In total, we spent 12$ each. It was a good day.        Later that day we went to a Lu’au through SAS. It really wasn’t cool.. at all. The only part I really enjoyed was the entertainment dances. The Samoans were crazy and amazing.

So, that was day 1. Our first port. And it was glorious. Alright.. Day 2 (Jan 26): A lot more chill. The girls (Rachel and Caitlyn) and I had to run to wal-mart to stock up on snacks and purchase things that we forgot to bring. We then went to an organic vegetarian grocery store and had the BEST spinach and feta cheese calzone. It was the most delicious thing ever. After lunch we headed back to the boat, and then we walked to the beaches by the port. It was a really nice walk, and the beaches were gorgeous. You have to understand that the beaches in Hilo are all rock. Which is fine.. but your feet get really raw after like.. 2 minutes. So anyway we continued walking down the street until we found this homemade ice cream shop. Where we bought Chai tea floats (my float had cookies and cream ice cream in it. It was heavenly!!) The walk back to the port was really nice and relaxing. I spent a lot of the afternoon watching the whales from the back of the ship. I really adore watching them. Before we left Hilo, Rachel and I asked around to find out how to get on the shoreline (which is like.. a rock wall that goes across the ocean/harbor.. kinda like in Free Willy.. when he jumps over that rock wall.. yeah like that.) because I saw people fishing on it and I really wanted to adventure out there. IT WAS AMAZING! I absolutely loved jumping from rock to rock out in the middle of the ocean. It was kinda scary actually. I think that’s why I liked it. This is my time to try new things.

So that was Hilo, Hawaii. I absolutely LOVED Hilo! And I really think I could live there someday. Rachel and Caitlyn and I decided we want to open a shop in Hilo. Maybe like a café, or a book store or something. But its going to happen. Not until after I see the rest of the world though.

Alright im going to write about Honolulu in my next blog.

ENJOY!!