This Lava is OUT OF CONTROL

And once again, the lava tube has broken through and is flowing better than ever:

Lava Flow Video

They must be using drones to get these awesome videos.

And because stupid knows no bounds... here's a video of a guy SWIMMING in the boiling water under the lava flow.

SWIMMING with Lava Video

Aloha y'all!

And Yet ANOTHER Lava Update !!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of days after my last lava post, the cliff collapsed again and changed the lava flow yet AGAIN.

Here’s what it looked like as it happened:

Latest Cliff Collapse Video

This is from a local news report. Lots of talking. You really don’t need sound to see what happened.

Stay tuned... It's anybody's guess what will happen tomorrow.

Aloha y'all!

Amazing Lava Update

I'm sure you've seen on your local news about the big collapse on New Year's Eve. The delta --previously formed by this flow-- collapsed (20 acres worth) and a section of the cliff (the exact spot where I was standing last summer) also fell away. Luckily, no one was close enough to get hurt.

This collapse exposed the lava tube, which is frequently described as a fire hose. So the lava is no longer oozing out (as shown in my previous videos). It's GUSHING in the most amazing way.

This is what it looked like earlier this week:

USGS Lava Flow Video

Turn on sound if you can. The geologist who narrates is very good.

Aloha!

Big Waves

This time each year, we have some mighty waves.
They can be very dangerous ( more than one tourist has already been swept to their death this week)...
...which is why Sophie waited in the truck while I risked life and limb to get this video.

Shortly after taking this, I turned my back on the ocean --a BIG NO NO-- and a wave caught me by surprise, soaked me up to my waist, and carried my shoe about 20 feet up the beach. I was focused on keeping my iPhone dry, but I could hear people all around me screaming. 

Look in the distance at the water spouts that shoot up from these waves.

Aloha y'all!

Kona Women's March

I hope you were able to attend the march in YOUR city.
There were about 3500 marchers here in Kona.

New Year's Eve

Fireworks are only slightly illegal on the Big Island. Costco sells huge boxes of legal fireworks the week before New Years, and everyone on the island seems to have access to the illegal ones too.

From sunset until 2 or 3 AM, this is what I see from my lanai:

Kona Palisades Fireworks Video

!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lava Fall Update

Remember my story about hiking out to see the lava flowing into the ocean?
Well... that won't happen again. This past weekend, that entire area (26 acres) collapsed into the ocean. No one is allowed out there any more, and there's even a "no fly" zone above there. You'll understand why when you see the steam plume that went shooting into the sky.

Video One 

Video Two

As far as they know, no one was out there when this happened (the park rangers knew something was about to happen from the underground rumblings).