Late last fall, the Lava started flowing into the ocean again after many months of flowing towards the town of Pahoa. Everyone was relieved and I was quite pleased to see the steam plume that rises from the hot lava hitting the ocean. This time it was about 5 times the size as I've seen it before, and it has been going strong ever since. It's only about a 25 minute walk to get to the ocean entry now, a lot better than the 2 hours each way it used to be.

The lava flowing into the ocean is what creates the black sand that makes up most of the beaches on this side of the big island. The beach in this picture is only a couple of weeks old. The sand is like shards of glass because it hasn't had time to be tumbled smooth by the surf. It's hard to capture in this picture, but it was so pristine, it was one of the most beautiful things I have seen. It really left an impression on me.

One night before the lava got to the ocean after flowing towards town, it crossed the road to the old parking lot at the end of the road. There were acres of glowing lava, that were awesome to see. Here is my friend Salita contemplating in the glow of the lava. It ended up being quite a bizarre scene that night, with hundreds of people out to see the lava crossing the road. They were drinking and partying, and blasting music, it was quite surreal in contrast to the natural force in front of us. It reminded me of burning man.

One night I was inspired to head out to the lava by myself and was greeted by the most incredible lava fountain I have ever seen. It would go off like Old Faithful for about 3 minutes every 30 minutes. You can see some video here.

Someone from a Carlos Santana video project saw it on YouTube and is licensing one second of the video from me! When it's done, you'll be able to see it here:

architectsofanewdawn.com/

Here is a closeup of the base of the steam plume lit up by lava.