We got up at 3:10 am, ate a snack and pulled on some clothes. We got in the car and drove to the meeting point for the boat tour. We were the last to arrive, at 3:55 am. We met Keith from Lava Ocean Adventures, and joined the caravan of cars down to the Isaac Hale boat landing. There, we boarded the Lavakai, a 34-foot twin engine boat, with 8 other passengers for the 16-mile trip to the lava flows. It was a damp and dark trip, but when we saw the red glow from the lava we all perked right up. The captain, Shane, said this was the best flow he’d seen in a while, 15 or so fingers of lava oozing and dripping into the sea. Every so often, a heavy flow of lava would hit the water and sparks would fly up into the air. We also saw a number of lava bombs, floating "footballs" of steaming, hardened lava. The captain brought us as close to the flows as he safely could, about 20 yards. We were periodically engulfed in warm steam, which cleared to give us another great view of the glowing flows. It was an awesome sight to behold. On the way back, we saw some of the coastal sights, including several lava tubes (there was one halfway up the cliff, above the surf, where ancient Hawaiians hid their children during wartime). We also saw a number of newly-forming black sand beaches, and Daniel, the first mate, pointed out evidence of lava flows from the 1700s to the 1980s. Sadly, it was too early in the day to see spinner dolphins.
We got back to our car a bit before 7 am, wet and cold but exhilarated. We drove back to our B&B, where Jess got a nap while Jer laid things out to dry and showered. Then he got Jess up so she could shower and dress, before heading to the breakfast room at 8:30 am. Petra had prepared quite a spread for us — French toast with syrup and jam, tea, juice and fresh fruit plates (papaya, banana, kiwi, grapes, pineapple and fresh lychees). She sat with us and chatted for a while, which was really nice. We would highly recommend Hale Makemae to anyone visiting the Big Island, and its a great base for going on a Lava Ocean tour!
Eventually, we wandered back to our room and Jer packed our bags. We loaded the car and drove down the coast, along Rte. 137, stopping at MacKenzie State Park for a great view of the surf crashing into the cliff (a volcanic ledge). Then we headed to Hilo Airport, returned our rental car and got a quick lunch at the airport restaurant. Then it was time to fly to Honolulu, and from there to NYC (via Minneapolis). Our Hawaiian Airlines flight from Hilo to Honolulu was quite pleasant — we got to see several other islands from the air en route, as it was a clear day. Also, on our approach to Honolulu Airport, we flew over Pearl Harbor, and we could see the ghostly wreckage of ships below. It was quite an eerie sight.
Once we arrived at Honolulu Airport, we stopped in several shops in hopes of buying a box of Toffee-Macs and more decaf Kona coffee. We failed on both counts, and the Mauna Loa chocolate-toffee coated mac nuts are definitely inferior to the Hawaiian Host Toffee-Macs (which are more like Heath bars made with mac nuts). Still, we made the long walk to our gate in time to get our boarding passes, and we were even able to arrange for seats together on both legs. Then Jer rushed off in search of a snack, while Jess waited with the luggage; he returned with a cup of Cold Stone, yum! A few minutes later, it was time to start boarding our flight to Minneapolis (where we would have a tight connection to NYC). In Minneapolis, we had time to grab breakfast at Einstein Brothers before boarding the flight to NYC, which arrived on time. We then headed home for a nap!