Tropical Topics, Maui Edition: Island-hopping.

The time came to say aloha to Maui and move on to our next destination, the Big Island, also properly called Hawai'i. We took a little commuter plane. There is no security gate to speak of. The check-in lady at the counter (a Texas girl) makes a determination about your safety risk by giving you a once-over . The pilot was, like, 16.



There were nine passengers, a family of four from Dallas, two other Southerners (judging by accent), a hippy local dude, and the two of us.

The pilot's navigations system looked a lot like the NeverLost in our rental car.



Leaving Maui...











The Four Seasons.



An old lava flow on Maui's south coast. Or maybe not so old, depending on your perspective.



In sight of the big island, 30 minutes later.





The airport in Kona is right on top of a lava flow. It really does seem like landing on Moon . It's a lava flow with asphalt on top.