Best place to see volcanoes

[Mary229]

This will be our first trip to Hawaii.  For our ports which port would be best for a volcano day.  I intend to rent a car for that day. Thank you.

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Mary229

[CruiserBruce]

Hilo would be the best.

[princeton123211]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

For our ports which port would be best for a volcano day.

As Bruce said, activish is Hilo, although you will most likely not see any sort of active lava.

 

But you'll see volcanos in various states of decline virtually everywhere you go. You can go to the top of Haleakala in Maui (which I don't recommend if its your only day in Maui) and Diamond Head in Honolulu. You wont be wanting for volcanos. 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, princeton123211 said:

As Bruce said, activish is Hilo, although you will most likely not see any sort of active lava.

 

But you'll see volcanos in various states of decline virtually everywhere you go. You can go to the top of Haleakala in Maui (which I don't recommend if its your only day in Maui) and Diamond Head in Honolulu. You wont be wanting for volcanos. 

I like to schedule a volcano day when in an appropriate region.   We are retired geoscientists.   Thanks for the info. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

The only active volcanoes in Hawaii are in Volcano National Park on Hawai'i Island (Big Island). To see the active volcanoes you would go out of Hilo.

[BermudaBound2014]

Hi Mary, I’m on the big island right now. Came here for a few weeks before hopping to Maui for the remaining winter. As mentioned, Book from Hilo. I took these photos yesterday. Daylight to dark from the Kealea lookout.  Plenty of lava to see…. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[pcvtmom]

I highly recommend visiting Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. We recently did a tour (through Shore Excursion Group) that was phenomenal!

[Mary229]

20 hours ago, pcvtmom said:

I highly recommend visiting Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. We recently did a tour (through Shore Excursion Group) that was phenomenal!

Was it an active excursion?  We are thinking rental car but with the right guide who walks and knows geology we would pay 

[pcvtmom]

Our guide was knowledgeable, but for a more detailed explanation, you could visit on your own and use the park rangers as your source of information. If you go to the national park website, there's more info on what is available.

[disneyochem]

Here’s a link to a volcano tour led by two geologists:  https://hawaiigeotours.com/.

 

We’re booked with them later this year on our visit.  Even though my undergraduate degree is in geology (I’m a chemist, hubby a retired engineer), we wanted to visit the area with experts.

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by disneyochem

[onyx007]

Yeah, as others pointed out all the islands of Hawaii have once been volcanoes and many extinct or dorming craters are visible on almost every island. The whole Kailua Bay on Oahu is a submerged caldera of a super volcano.

 

But the only active one is on Big Island and probably best to see from Hilo, if you can and your cruise alllows it, stay till it's dark and you see the whole lava much clearer then by day...