Hilo Shore Excursion: the 2018 Flow, the Newest Black Sand Beach in Hawaii

About six hours on the back roads of Kilauea, built around what the 2018 eruption did. That eruption cracked roads open with earthquakes, threw lava fountains 300 feet into the air, and forced nearly 2,000 residents out. It also evaporated Green Lake, which had been the largest natural freshwater lake in Hawaii. The route goes through the areas it destroyed. The beach at the end of it is the newest black sand beach in Hawaii, made by that same flow. Where you stand used to be a boat harbour, and the old ramp is still visible, cut off now behind the sand. There is no swimming there. Along the way: Kaumana Caves, entered through a skylight in the roof, a lava tube built by Mauna Loa, with the colours inside explained; Lava Tree State Park, where the lava trees stand like a petrified forest above a deep fissure; and Pahoa, once a plantation town, now a slower one with wooden boardwalks, which the flow came close to erasing. Hilo itself supplies the first part. Liliʻuokalani Gardens, the largest Japanese garden outside Japan, given by Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1917, with stone lanterns, gazebos and torii gates standing for the Japanese immigrants who came here. The historic downtown, and the tsunamis that shaped it. And Rainbow Falls, 80 feet, where the rainbow forms in the mist off the rocks. Lunch is at a local deli or vendor, and which one depends on the day. Cruise passengers can be collected at the Hilo port itself, under special permit, with departure times moved to fit the ship. Hotel guests meet at the Hilo Hawaiian. The order of the stops can change.