North America - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 208

both Wild Side and the Wild Dolphin Foundation.
For prices, itineraries, booking and more
information on other cruises, see W www.sailhawaii.
com; T [phone].

278 wATch LAVA Become LAnd
in hAwAii

The best place to really appreciate Hawaii's
volcanoes is Big Island, thirteen percent of
which is given over to the Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park. This World Heritage Site offers
surreal trekking opportunities around Kilauea,
one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, where
you can watch lava flow from the fissures in the
ground and form new landmass before your eyes
as it cools and hardens when it makes contact
with the sea. Alternatively you can hike to the
top of the dormant and regularly snow-capped
Mauna Kea (at 13,677m above sea level, actually
taller than Mount Everest given that two-thirds
of it lies beneath the Pacific). Some of the world's
most powerful astronomical telescopes sit on its
summit, one of the best places on Earth to view
the night sky.
Big Island has some great eco-friendly
accommodation too. Situated in the aptly named
village of Volcano right on the border of the
national park, Volcano Guest House's cottages
are solar powered (including the hot tub),
while a permaculture garden provides much
of its food. It's a very family-friendly place,
too, with a couple of cows, several dogs and
ducks scurrying all over, and a forested garden
of ponds and small waterfalls to explore. For
a wackier alternative, the off-grid and solar-
powered Lava Lova offers accommodation in
funkily decorated yurts and two old (and non-
operational) campervans situated 1.5km up the
face of Mauna Loa.
Both places are closely connected to their local
communities, and are happy to recommend and
arrange hikes through the national park or the
bird-filled rainforests that cover much of the
rest of the island. The waters around the shores

are also teeming with life - you can stand on a
black-sand beach and watch humpback whales
breaching a few hundred metres out to sea, or
go diving at night with shoals of manta rays.
But the most unforgettable experience on Big
Island is watching the sun set from the summit
of Mauna Kea, as the mountain forms a perfect
triangle of shadow across the clouds and ocean
that stretch out beneath you, pointing the way
back to the US mainland 2500km away.

Daisy the Daydream bus; Lava
flowing into the sea, Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park

Need to know There are no passenger boats from
the US mainland to Hawaii, although it is possible
to go by cargo boat (see p.344 for details). The
Hele-On bus ( W www.hawaii-county.com) offers
free transport around Big Island. Volcano Guest
House: W www.volcanoguesthouse.com; T +1
866 886 5226. Lava Lova: W www.gladtravel.com/
lovalavaland/oceanviewbigisland.aspx.