I've been harboring serious desire to see lava in person for the last decade. I missed several episodes of interesting lava ocean entry in Hawaii due to my inability to escape the day job in time to go. That threat was very much in play as this latest episode started happening in May. All though June and July I watched the eruption and the news intently, chomping at the bit to go. I watched all the videos from Mick Kalber and all the photos from Bruce Omori, in awe at the power of Pele and the destruction she unleashed. The eruption of 1955 lasted 88 days and had many similarities with this event so I figured it would stop before I arrived. Nevertheless I scheduled a charter helicopter flight for the morning of the 31st, which was day 92 of this eruption. To my surprise, the river was still flowing when we took off at 5:30am from Hilo Airport. The sight was something to behold. An 8 mile river of lava to the ocean glowing in the pre-dawn light. Near Fissure 8, the river was something like a thousand feet wide. The entire PGV power plant (green) could fit inside the river. After 27 consecutive days at the day job office, seeing this made me forget about all of it. There were just two more collapse events at Kilauea's summit after we flew and Fissure 8 stopped erupting a couple days later. We made it just in time.
Comments welcome, even if it's in this currently huge font.
The lava river stopped a few days after we flew. I wonder if it was still going if the feet of rain falling on the Big Island from Hurricane Lane would have cooled the surface to the point where it crusted over completely into a massive lava tube. Glad I was able to see it while it was still luminous.
