Our first night in Hilo, Hawaii (the big island), I had the opportunity to do everything I absolutely despise all at the same time. This is for you Annabel! You wanted to hear about the awful times on the trip too so you knew that our journey wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops. Well here’s a winner:

Ofer and I had heard of a boat trip that takes you along the shore of the Big Island to view the coastline of the Lava Tree National Park. We were told that if we were lucky we would be able to see not only the amazing lava formations and some of the most rare terrain but maybe even some lava actively flowing into the ocean. (Disclaimer: if you are the mother of either of the trip participants it is suggested that you wait for the next blog entry to continue reading.) This was all we were told. It was a pricey trip but we were so excited to catch a glimpse of the molten rock gushing over the cliffs and spewing shards of glass as it crashed into the water. (This trip is for boys (and girls who are into this sort of thing of course)….and I would have given anything to have replaced me with Asi or Eli for this excursion.)

After getting quite lost looking for the docking site we finally pulled up to see a group of families standing under an awning trying to stay out of the rain…yes rain, it gets better. Just then our guide started a disclaimer. “This is a real ocean, this is a real boat and the principles of both apply. If you all run to one side of the boat, it will flip (Oh crap). The ocean will get bumpy, I promise you will get wet (This is sounding worse and worse). Is anyone prone to sea sickness?” I raised both arms. He looked at me with a smirk and moved on, “Those of you who are brave enough to even be here, it is your best bet to sit on the left side of the boat toward the back, that is the ocean side instead of the coast side and it should be less bumpy there. But when you are ready to make your ‘donation’ to the ocean please do so off the side of the boat and as far toward the back as possible. Sea sickness will travel faster through this boat than swine flu, so try to show as few people what you are up to.” This was clearly not the leisurely cruise Ofer and I had expected. We both knew by this time that this was only going to be good for a story.

We climbed up a ladder to board the boat, I said to the man holding the ladder, “Here’s hoping I’m not memorable”. The boat was then lowered backwards into the ocean. I said to Ofer, “If we really want to I’m sure we can still jump out here and live”. But we both were hoping that it wouldn’t be as bad as we were anticipating. The age span on the boat ranged from 9 years old to 75 years old. A 75-year-old grandma was on the boat! If she could do it, so could I. I had made the wise decision to take a Meclizine pill an hour before as a test to see what this new version of Dramamine would do for me.



Then the boat began charging into the ocean. The next two hours were very likely two of the worst of my life. As we began trailing the coastline 2 tour guides stood in the back of the boat and yelled data at us military style. We heard about all of the earthquakes that happen in this region. We heard about the pieces of the cliff that unexpectedly break off and crash into the ocean causing a surging wave (right at us of course). We heard about how many people had died in boating excursions, in fishing excursion, in beaching excursions when tidal waves came in and swept them clear into the abyss. We heard about the homes that have been lost over the years due to the continuous flow of lava throughout the region. We were told how deep these waters were, that if the water were cleared below us it would be as if we were in an airplane looking down at the earth. We were told stories about people being chased and eaten by sharks in these areas or being bashed into the sides of the cliffs by the force of the waves…the waves that never stop, never slow down that are relentless in their power (Awesome, I was ready to go home).

Maybe, just maybe if I didn’t have an incredible disposition to seasickness I would have enjoyed the view. It was beautiful (in retrospect), there were slabs of cooled lava that looked like giant black ice cubes as if they had been cut by a razor sharp knife. There were holes and tunnels created by the lava. Some were large enough that the men of the villages would hide their women and children in them when the area was being attacked or when there was a tornado or hurricane.


There were smaller tunnels that acted as lava blowholes. The lava would be churned from the center of the earth and forced out of the blowholes like giant garden hoses spewing lava 20 feet away into the ocean. There were also strings of lava dripping down the sides of the cliff. As lava is still flowing upwards it encounters already hardened lava and it squeezes its way through to make different sized strings, I imagine it like a play dough spaghetti maker.

The captain would bring us in pretty close to the seaside, what felt like one wave away from certain death to view the formations. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) we did not see any active lava flows but we were able to see steam escaping from different areas on the cliffs and red tinted rocks that seemed to be glowing with the heat from inside of the earth. At one point I started to smell something burning and at that certain patch of the ocean we felt a dramatic change in temperature. The guides confirmed that we must be close to some lava activity although we could not see it. They said that the land we were looking at was like Swiss cheese; filled will different sized holes that the lava was flowing through just beneath the surface.


As I said, this all would have been incredibly breathtaking had I not been trying to control my body’s natural reactions the whole time. The boat was being pounded by the waves and we were being splashed with water. Every minute or so the crowd on the boat would give a shriek in unison as the boat slapped down after flying off a large wave. I kept my head turned at a comfortable angle toward land and thought about the wedding, thought about our engagement, thought about being in bed in the hostel and tried to convince myself that I was watching this on National Geographic. Ofer was wonderful and would check in on me every ten minutes or so to see how I was doing. Unfortunately I was in the rarely reached shock phase that I couldn’t answer him verbally and would only give him a head nod. I couldn’t tell at this time whether he was enjoying the trip or not. He was going back and forth between taking videos, pictures and holding on to the handrail with two hands just as I was.

After about an hour and a half we turned around to head home. This is when things really got rough. We were now on the coast side, the bumpy side. It was getting dark and the ocean was unforgiving. I felt like I was driving a jet ski with my eyes closed. Almost every wave became an opportunity for the ship to get air-bound, which was followed by a sudden pound back into the ocean. I could hear the guides right behind me acknowledging the roughness of the waves.



They started to tell us about one other time that was worse than this, there was lightning on both sides of the boat as they were being thrown around the ocean just as we were now…so I suppose it really could have been worse. After what seemed to be a lifetime we saw the red beacon showing that we were almost home. Ofer rubbed my shoulders and said, “We made it baby”. I asked him what he thought of the trip, expecting him to say it was awesome, incredible, once in a lifetime experience and instead he told me “A total nightmare”. I love my fiancé. Although Ofer is not one to get seasick he said this was a real test for his stomach too. We drove back into town talking about what a terrible night we had and how we are just not built for the ocean. Even the next morning we still felt seasick. As I told Ofer, “I am glad that on this trip I was freezing, pummeled by waves, got sick to my stomach and heard stories mostly about ways to die on this island in one shot. I now will feel no guilt in saying I don’t want to deliberately sign up for any of those things again on this trip”.

The next day we decided to take it easy, we deserved it!! We went to a botanical garden and it definitely restored our love of The Big Island.