My friend Jess and I really wanted to visit Big Island (aka Hawaii Island) to see the volcano erupting so we planned a trip together. There’s no telling if the volcano will actually be erupting or not, so we planned to do a lot of other adventures along the way and hoped to see the lava. Both of us were afraid to look at the eruption status all week; we were holding our breaths. Then, Jess checked the morning of our trip and saw a report that it had stopped… boy, were we disappointed. We decided to put it in the schedule anyway.

We checked in to our AirBnB which was about fifteen minutes from the prime viewing point. We headed there around 9:15pm. The viewing point was down a little path off what was crater rim drive. Crater rim drive closed in 2008 during eruptions. It’s mainly intact on the part we walked aside from a big crack. This is the sky as you get closer to the crater… we were trying not to get our hopes up but it was hard not to!

We’re getting closer…

And then you see the lava and you’re completely in awe of it. It’s the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced… like you’re in a museum or a movie. You can hear the cracking sounds the volcano makes.

I’ve been asked if you can feel the warmth. I will clarify that we are actually really far away… thankfully. The pictures above are zoomed and cropped.

Regardless, as we walked back to the car we felt it get about ten degrees cooler. When we were watching the lava, I don’t remember feeling cool, but at the car I did.

Next time, I’ll remember my actual zoom lens (I grabbed the wrong one, face palm!), my tripod, and a chair. I’d love to video the people walking down and their reactions… it’s priceless, especially the children. We completely lucked out. I took a series of videos which you can watch on my playlist below. I haven’t watched them all, skip to 47 seconds in of the first video. I’m still working on my videoing skills, ha! The second video is pretty neat as well, just let the first plat to the end. Definitely could use a tripod.

We went back the next day and it wasn’t as “explosive” should I say. However, still worth the effort. It would’ve been considered amazing had we not seen day one, but now I guess I’m spoiled!

Man, I’m not sure any travel adventure will ever top this.

I did get nervous at some points… like what if this really did blow up big time? But it’s one of those things I guess you just look past. I could’ve sat with a bag of popcorn for forever watching it. If the pictures worth a thousand words, being there is worth a million.