After the volcano action, we flew over to Hilo's airport to stop for a refuel. Hilo is the wettest city in the US, averaging about 130" a year. And it's actually not the rainiest place on the island, a spot just north west of Hilo gets like 240" of rain a year. Thanks to the northeasterly tradewinds and Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the east side of the island gets 100+ inches of rain a year, while areas north of Kona get 10-20" of rain a year. So we were really, really lucky to get a clear day to fly over Hilo and the east side of the island.
Macadamia farms with pine tree wind breaks
The surf was very calm that day, too. The pilot said it's usually pretty choppy with whitecaps.
These are called gulches, little valleys created by the volcanoes. On the east side they are very green. On the west side, they are very black.
We drove on the road through this one later in the week.
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