They say the best way to see the Big Island of Hawaii is from the air. And they're right! This is the largest of all the Hawaiian Islands, larger in fact than all the others combined. It's a long one day drive all around the island, and much of the volcanic area and waterfalls and cliffs can be seen only from above. So we took a 90 minute plane ride.

It was well worth it ; the cost was cut in half since we took in a timeshare presentation.

Flying from the airport south past Kona, then to the east and up north, we had a close and comprehensive view of the volcano activity from Kilauea volcano. (While the island's two best known volcanoes are Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, it is Kilauea that is the active one, and has been active for more than 25 years.)

Then flying up the east coast past the town of Hilo we saw many, many waterfalls. Up north, the largest but dormant Mauna Kea volcano was off to our left, and finally, the cliffs on the northwest corner of the island which were absolutely spectacular.

Come, see what we saw. No, it's not as good as a flight on your own. But you don't have to take a timeshare presentation either ...

If you choose to follow our flight, check out the island map. We took off from the airport (just above 14),flew south past our condominium (16) and Kealakekua Bay, where Captain Cook was killed. Then around the southern tip of the island, and over to the active volcano area where we could see red molten lava spilling into the ocean, around Kalapana. Past the town of Hilo (5) and many waterfalls all along the northern tip (from 7 to 10). Finally, past the big hotel resorts (11-13) and back to the airport. Now we can say we've really seen the Big Island of Hawaii !