Lava and Snorkeling oh my

Hello all, Last night we sailed from Hilo to Kona - Both on the big island of Hawaii. At 9:45 last night (that is 3:45 AM EST) we saw the lava flow from Kilauea. I posted some pictures up on flickr but they do not do it justice. You could see glowing orange lava in several spots from the top of the mountain down into the sea. As the lava flowed into the sea there were huge plumes of steam that role from the ocean as the lava was cooled into rock. It was amazing to see exactly how the Hawaiian islands have been formed over millions of years. There are only two ways to see this lava flow - One is by Helicopter and that can be done during the day when I am told the effect is not as stunning. The second is via cruise ship!! It was simply amazing if you ever get the chance this cruise is worth it to see the lava flow.

Today we are in Kona - Home of Kona coffee. We took a wonderful half day snorkeling trip aboard the Kamanu. The boat holds 24 so you get to go out snorkeling with a very small group and that is much better then going with 100+ on some of the other boats. We started out from the harbor and saw scores of dolphins swimming and jumping about. It was really neat to see all the dolphins - Sorry no pictures as we left the cameras back in our stateroom while going on the all water event. Next we motor'd over to a cove to snorkel. The cove was very good and the staff was wonderful with folks who were first timers - I highly recommend the Kamanu folks if you are in Kona. The fish size and variety was nowhere near as wonderful as Molokini on Maui but was worth the trip while in Kona. Next the crew motor'd out to the open sea then raised sails and we sailed around for 45 min or so. The trip included lunch and drinks!! All in all a wonderful trip.

We then walked around the shops in the cove area and ate lunch at Bubba Gumps in Kona. Lunch was excellent - We both had some variation of shrimp! We then returned to the ship were I sit writing this post. Tonight we head for Kaui where we spend 2 days.