Forces of Nature

[americanhero]

I was interested in seeing real hot lava for years. But I never thought I could stand in front of the hot stuff and basically touch it. You won't do that, I swear.
I also never thought of shooting pictures and video footage of a lava flow that was only a couple of minutes old.
Interested? Then join me on this tour to the real hot stuff.


The first time I heard of a guided tour to the actual lava flow was last year. Awesome!!
It was exactly that kind of trip I wanted to do. This May was exceptional with a lot of activity and surface lava. So I went spontaneously to Hawai'i and was lucky to get on a tour. Normally there are only 2-4 people on such a trip, but the increased activity also increased the number of people who wanted to see the lava.
Starting at 4 am in the morning we walked across the older lava fields near Kalapana on Big Island. Luckily it wasn't raining that night and a beautiful starlit sky was above us. Our tour guide Chris was simply awesome. He knew all the spots where to go and guided our group securely to the actual lava flow.
You never know where it is. It is changing its direction permanently and no one can guarantee a surface flow.
But we were lucky that night and shortly before we reached a small and newly created black sand beach there was a new surface flow breakout.
In the foreground I could see the glowing steam of the actual lava flow and the clouds were raising high in the sky. And the sound of the hot lava entering the cold sea - it was absolutely amazing.
A dream came true for me.

Here are some impressions of that trip:




the new surface flow


new hot stuff


Ring of fire


a lava fall


steaming beach



To get a real impression what it is like to be on such a hot place here is a small video clip.

Video Clip

[gnwatts]

Fire, stone and water. Beautiful.

[ibenick]

Very nice, Yvonne. I made it to this area a couple of years ago and had a great time watching it from a distance. I didn't get to see much of the actual lava flows but something big happened while we were there sending lava and rock exploding out into the ocean and creating a cloud that blocked out the sky. Really amazing. Next time around we'll have to get the close up view.

[americanhero]

I didn't get to see much of the actual lava flows but something big happened while we were there sending lava and rock exploding out into the ocean and creating a cloud that blocked out the sky.

wow, awesome!! I think it was a collapsing lava delta or lava bench. These whole new areas are very unstable and sometimes they just collapse into the sea.
The see such a collapse must be really spectacular, but only when you are on a secure place.
Thanks for your kind comment.

@gnwatts:

thank you, I really appreciate your comment

[blueeyes]

Now that is how you take a vacation. Do something spontaneous and out of the ordinary. Nice pics!

[Philippe]

Wow ! Awesome pictures, Yvonne.

I also like very much this one on your Flick album.

Philippe

[oldno7]

amazing shots, thanks for sharing

[americanhero]

Wow ! Awesome pictures, Yvonne.

I also like very much this one on your Flick album.

Philippe

Thanks Philippe, I really appreciate it.
The shot you linked was a little bit mistaken. I forgot to switch off the headlamp.
But it was a weird formation of lava, like a lobster.

Now that is how you take a vacation. Do something spontaneous and out of the ordinary. Nice pics!

Normally I'm not doing these extraordinary things. But I couldn't resist
I used a lot of my Delta miles for this trip...

[americanhero]

I found a few more shots.
The first one shows how close I got to the lava flow. I guess just a couple of feet. I could almost touch it.
It was so hot out there, unbelievable.



And here is one with a little bit of the action. Now and then the lava flow reached the ocean and when the cold water hit the hot lava, it started to explode.

[jdgibney]

Wicked Cool!

[americanhero]

Wicked Cool!

thanks

[poiboy]

Very beautiful shots, makes me miss home. My parents took us kids to the lava flows a few times, unfortunately for me, I was always back to the car first with an asthma attack. Beautiful nonetheless.

[arindam]

wow, amazing shots (#3 and #5 are simply awesome! just a suggestion, in #5, you might want to remove the little bit of sky in the top right and in the top center)! Seeing how close you were to the lava flow, did you take any precaution for protecting your camera/lens?