All the Hawaiian islands are the peaks of submarine volcanoes. Only one island, however, is still volcanically active -- the aptly named Big Island, largest in the 2,400-km-long archipelago and unquestionably the wildest of them all.

Dominating Big Island, at least from the volcanologist's perspective, is what my guidebook describes as "the most dynamic and unpredictable place you'll ever visit": the 975-sq.-km Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Here, the cliche has it, you are guaranteed a particularly warm Hawaiian welcome.