Hilo

What a quaint little town! Everybody has been so friendly. The local security guards who have to escort us out of the Radio Bay area have been a huge help in arranging where we should eat, what rental car company to go with, etc. They are so laid back here; we had to pretty much beg the Agricultural inspector to come down and check us out. We cruised the dinghy around the entire Hilo bay, and admired all the jagged black lava rock juxtaposed with the graceful thin coconut trees sprouting between them. Quite a beautiful place.

Jon's brother Chris is here, he flew into Hilo yesterday. After we get some pesky little errands done like laundry and maybe a few boat repairs, we're going to start on all those splendid hikes we've been excited to check out.

Lots of the other cruisers med-moored to the back wall have so many years of experience, it makes us look like newbies. They've been to Mexico, sailed the South Pacific, New Zealand...many of them are still on one huge continuous trip. All have been super friendly and genuinely want to help out. What camaraderie exists amongst those who live a life on the water!

The "rivalry" (if you could even call it that, Hawaiians are the definition of mellow) between Kona and Hilo is pretty funny. It seems whomever is from one side of the island claims that the other side is really "lacking aloha." We will find out on the 25th, when we plan to cruise over to Kona by rounding South Point. 

More pictures are in our album area below, if you'd like to see some shots from the passage and a couple here from Radio Bay.