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Tonight's dinner was again at KMC, a buffet dinner with
steak as the main course. At under $12, a very tasty
dinner.
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We were in luck as lava viewing
was supposedly good that night. Armed with
flashlights, face towels to cover against lava
fumes, we proceed to the lava fields. Even in a
car, the trip down took over 30 minutes. With no
street lights, walking to the lava was like being
in Twilight Zone. Flickering flashlights as hoards
of tourists and locals approach the lava. The flow
was so active that is was less than a few hundred
yards where cars park. Park rangers like Josh
mantain safety into wee hours of the night. It was
good we had an official guide who knew what he was
doing.
Approaching the red molten lava
is like being in a blast furnace. Even at a hundred
feet away, you can feel the warm air radiating into
your face. At about 5 to 10 feet away from the
oozing red lava, it was like opening a convection
oven and sticking your face inside. What makes it a
lot more scary is the overpowering smell of sulfur.
The wet damp towel around your face helps, but not
much.
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That's Josh looking very official in his
uniform
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Scarier is that as you stand a
few feet away from the red lava flow, you are
stepping on lava that has hardened no more than 3
days ago. By some misfortune and the floor cracks,
you may get swallowed and melted by red hot lava
underneath.
As we head back to the car, Josh
gives us a short lecture inside one of the vistor
center huts. We'd like to thank Josh for showing us
the time of our lives ! We hope we can repay your
effort next time you are at our neck of the woods.
Aloha my friend....
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