Hawaii – Lava!!

If at first you don’t succeed then… say what the hell and get the credit card out for the first time this whole trip and blow some money making it happen! So having got so near to the lava a few days ago it was time to get up close and personal which could be done one of two ways – sneak past the park rangers and hike out across fresh lava fields with the possibility of the new dried lava collapsing to find fresh flowing lava underneath, maybe a little too up close! Or, pay ‘Lava Roy’ as he is known locally to take you out in his boat ‘The Protector’ and have the experience of a lifetime that way. So the fantastic plastic took the hit and off we drove down to a beach on the south coast where we would meet Roy and launch the boat. It was a Saturday afternoon and it also seemed that every local wannabe LA bad boy was here celebrating the weekend. I was going to adopt a funny walk, pull my shorts down so the waistband was by my knees and put my cap on at a jaunty angle to fit in but instead opted to hide by The Protector hoping it wasn’t just the lava it would protect us from! Anyway, we jumped on board and launched into the surf carefully avoiding children and surfers before Roy pulled back the throttle on his 300 horse powered boat and we literally flew out over the incoming waves. Today was apparently a below average swell day in Hawaii, so as we speeded out around the coast we got to see first hand what small swell looked like! It was huge!! As we sat in the boat one minute we were riding 20ft high above the sea as you rolled with the wave, then 2 seconds later we crashed down with a thud and were surrounded by a wall of water on both side higher than the boat. We pummelled our way along the coast for 45 exhilirating minutes before reaching the most amazing sight!
As we approached you could see steam rising into the sky, we got our first glimpse of the lava from about 500m away and the brightness and glow was amazing, it was flowing straight off the new land formed by dried lava (the area in the last 10 days or so had grown around 7 acres) and into the sea. The boat slowed down and we drifted to around 50m away from the shoreline, in front of us was around 200 metres of coastline where lava was pouring into the sea from several locations. It oozed and slid into the sea before letting off huge clouds of steam, as waves rolled in and over the top of the lava they were instantly evaporated by the 2400 degree lava. The sea all around us steamed as the lava heated it up, the water was hot enough to severely burn if we were to get splashed! As big chunks entered the sea huge plummes of steam went up followed by mini explosions as the lava shattered into small pieces. We sat bobbing on the boat transfixed by the lava ingoring the fact that the smell of sulphur was getting stronger and any change of wind direction meant it stung the back of your throat and eyes, but hey, we were about 50 meters from lava as it flowed into the sea so what did we care! We cruised up and down the this small section of coastline in awe as we watched one of the most destructive forces mother nature has on offer glupe into the sea almost harmlessly. The boat was still being thrown around all over the place and as many pictures as I got of the lava I had equally as many of the sky, the sea or the side of the boat! We were there for around 30 minutes and it was just starting to get dark, plus a storm cloud was coming our way so it was time to get out of there and enjoy the white knuckle ride back to the dock. We bounced off swell, cut through waves, ran from rain clouds and surfed the waves back into the small dock we’d left from, minus most of the homeboys that were there earlier. We sat in the car for a few minutes giggling like a pair of kids before pulling it together enough to drive back to town. Next time we umm and err over spending money on potentially a once in a lifetime experience all we need do it remember today! WOW!