Well I have returned from my 1^st vacation with my husband and without the children in 18 years.  Am I ever In Hot Lava!

                              When I landed in Kona my husband greeted me with the traditional Hawaiian greeting. A beautiful lei of flowers. Sweet..:)  it smelled wonderful...all the while giggling to myself because of the pun also known.." got lei'd "           

So as we are driving down the Queen Kam'ahumanu Highway and looking out at the expansive lava fields,Checking in with the normal how was the flight? Etc...  My husband asks me,

"How do you feel about taking a boat to see the lava flow?"

 I say, "ooh that sounds exciting" while remembering another boat trip I took many years ago to Molokini..... tooo many Mai Tai's.

Hey, I can do this... after all I grew up boating all over the San Juan Islands...

 Fast forward - we had to wait a few days because Madame Pele, the goddess of the volcano, had taken a break. We were waiting for her fury and a full boat..

 Driving to the other side of the Island you can go a few ways. Since we were staying in Kohala we could go Saddleback road or Scenic.

We first went on Saddleback, that was an adventure! Just wanted to check out where we needed to meet "The Lava Guy" Lava Shane.

Saddleback for the most part is just like it sounds, bumpy for most of the way and if you think it's a short cut to the other side of the island, think again.

We needed to meet him at a boat launch in Pahoa. Which means you need to go through Hilo and about halfway to Volcano.  Arriving at the boat ramp you could see it was a Surfers dream as well.  

 So the next day we take the other way through Waimea and stopping at Akaka Falls, picked up a couple of cinnamon rolls for a friend we were going to visit on our way at Ed's Bakery.The walk to the falls was fairly quick and simply beautiful!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Finally Finally our time has come and we are on our way to the Boat Launch.  We arrive just as our boat is pulling in from another charter. I was analyzing their faces and trying to fiqure out if all was good. It was a look... a look I had never seen before.

 All of our boatmates had arrived and we were getting ready to go. We hop on the boat and soon we are launching into a harbor full of surfers. They all throw our Lava guy a hang loose and we are on our way.

So as we headed toward the upward curl of smoke

we had some time to get to know everyone, my husband was talking to "Lava Shane" of Lava Ocean Adventures,  and I was able to visit with our Hawaiian guide Skosh. These guys are fun and very interesting. A little education thrown in and definetly a good time so far. But nothing prepared us for what was to come...

 As we are motoring toward the Lava Flow, we notice the area where people hiked in to view from Volcano National Park. They are a fair distance away as we pass. We are getting closer and you can feel the heat and steam rising from the ocean.

Now I know why I had never seen an expression like the ones on the previous charter. You cannot describe it adequately, it was just pure amazement.

There were a number of flows, pure liquid hot magma! From the center of the earth! From "Pele... the the Hawaiian goddess". Unbelievable.. I felt like I was in a National Geograpic magazine. feeling the heat and steam..  it was mesmerizing and yet something more...almost dare I say.. O

 As we are heading back, a stunned silence be felled us for a moment and then the chatter.

The moon almost full had found it's way through the clouds and it was then that I felt pure joy. Looking out across the vast ocean with the moon shining brightly and the experience we just encountered I looked over to my husband and felt pure joy. Now I know, the man I married so long ago, has given me so such happiness.

                                              What an amazing experience!