We booked a local tour through Vavoom Volcano Tour to hike the Kilauea crater floor. I found them through yelp reviews. Lori was the one who gave us a tour and fortunate for us, it turned out to be a private tour because we were the only ones who booked the crater floor hike that day. It was really cool to see the crater from the top, then hike down to the crater, then across. We also roasted marshmellows at the bottom of the crater on the steam vents. Hiking back up was a killer though. We both felt like we were still rocking side to side like we're on the boat, and that's what made the last part of the hike extra difficult. All in all, this was an awesome experience!
Honestly I was a bit skeptical about this excursion because I heard from one of the table mate at dinner about how terrible the excursion (Booked through Princess) was at Hilo. However this excursion was a lot of fun.
First we went to a waterfall and Wailua River lookout area on a bus. Beautiful scenery. Then took the boat to the Fern Grotto. We couldn't go into the grotto for safety reasons, but the view was beautiful. After we took the boat ride back and went on a tour around the Smith's botanical garden on a tram. Very nice landscape with lots of chickens and peacocks. Then they uncovered the pig that's been roasting in the pit since a night prior. The food offered in buffet line were very delicious, especially the kalua pork bbq beef. It was also nice that they offered all-inclusive maitai :) There were entertainments such as singing and hula dancing throughout these events. Also the Romantic Ceremony was held at the dining hall which also included exchange of leis made with some sort of brown shell.
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