Tuesday, May 20, 2008
We met up at the Imiloa astronomy center where we were given a grand tour by Richard Crowe who is a professor of astronomy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and president of the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay. The center is located in a new building with a very unique architecture inspired by the three big volcanoes on the island. It serves as an education center for kids of all ages about natural sciences and astronomy. We also watched several exciting videos on the tour.
After the tour we all got in cars and drove south to Mauna Kea which is a dormant volcano and the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Interestingly, at 13,796 feet (4,205 m). Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world when measured from base to summit, since its base is located on the seafloor about 19,000 feet (5,800 m) beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, bringing its total height to about 33,000 ft (10,000 m). We stopped at the Mauna Kea Base Camp (visitors center) located at 9,000 ft in order to have lunch but also more importantly to adjust to the altitude. Yep, that’s how high we were going. At the summit we got an exclusive tour of the Subaru observatory which serves as the national astronomical observatory of Japan. Being at the summit was an amazing experience because of the views, nature and sense being on top of the world. It is considered to be one of the best suited locations in the world for observatories.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
We started of the day with a joint morning Rotary club meeting at the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and the company of all the attending rotarians plus quite a few outsiders. Our presentation went well we were told so the meeting ended on a high note. We then packed our bags into the truck of our new host Albert Jeyte from the Rotary Club of Volcano. He took us to the local market before we went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum which was a very interesting experience as Hilo have had numerous tsunamis throughout history. We had lunch at the astronomy center before carpooling out of Hilo to the Lundquists Palm Garden where we were going to spend the afternoon. They had also been Sabrinas hosts during out stay in Hilo.
The Palm garden is the home of Carolyn Lundquist and her husband who is from Sweden. He gave us the grand tour and showed us many of the rare palms that he has gathered throughout the years. Carolyn was the team leader of the Hawaiian team that went to Denmark last year. We met her and the team at the distict conference in district 1470. After a snakcs and some drinks we drove out to see the lava flow from the active volcano rushing into the sea. Quite a spectacle with the red light and fizzing sound of lava and water battling it out.
After driving back to the Lundquist estate to get our bags Albert Jeyte drove all of us up to the volcano area in his truck. Mikkel and Stephan were supposed to have stayed at Audrey and Jim Wilson of the Rotary Club of Volcano but they had a problem with a waterheater so in no time new hosts were found. Thanks!
