I heard the chime of my alarm, but it felt surreal. I finally woke up and looked at my iPhone, it was 1:45 AM, and my alarm was calling for me me to get out of bed. I heard the ocean, and the palm fronds percussively beating against each other. I felt the breeze on my face, and I could smell the sea air. My body didn't want to get up, but my mind knew I would regret it if I didn’t. I turned over to say goodbye to my wife, but she wasn’t there. I sat up, and I heard her making coffee for me in the kitchen. I’m lucky, I know. I packed my gear and prepared for the drive, followed by the 6-mile hike over the lava fields to the G61 ocean entry. The Volcano Goddess Pele

had recently awakened from her slumber, and I was hoping she would smile upon us that day. My local guide, Bruce, picked me up at 2 AM and welcomed me with a shaka gesture . We arrived at the lava fields around 3 AM, and started our journey into the night. We were trying to use our red headlamps to protect our night vision, but they didn’t provide much light for navigating over the rough terrain. After walking for a while, I checked my iPhone. I felt like we must be getting close to the lava flow, however, we had only travelled a mile and a half and I realized there was still a long way to go. At this point, some words from Robert Frost entered my mind. 

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep…. ~Robert Frost

         Bruce looked up at the inky sky and asked me if I could identify a constellation. I recognized the shape, but I could not name it. After some debate, we agreed it was the Southern Cross.

    Hawaii is the only US state where you can see the Southern Cross and the North Star together in the night sky.

         We were finally getting closer, and I saw the huge smoke plume from the lava entry into the ocean. I could feel the wind at our back, which was good because this was blowing the steam plume generated by the lava entering the ocean away from us. However, I could still smell the sulfur. Bruce handed me a respirator mask, and told me to be prepared to don it if the wind shifts. The plume carries sulfur dioxide (SO₂), which can cause permanent scarring to your lungs if it is breathed in. Furthermore, when the 2,000 - 3,000 degree Fahrenheit lava falls into the ocean, you get another chemical reaction. Salt water consists of water (H2O) and salt/sodium chloride (NaCL). The hot lava vaporizes the salt water, and you end up with hydrochloric acid (HCL) in vapor form. The warm vapor rises and then condenses as it cools manifesting itself as acid rain over the ocean. It is a little surreal seeing a cloud of acid rain over the ocean. I paused for a moment and was in the process of pondering this when Bruce told me to be prepared to use the umbrella as a shield from any volcanic ash or airborne silica that might blow our way. If there was a wind shift, we also needed to be prepared to cover ourselves quickly. We were traveling to the recent G61 ocean entry lava flow, where a bench collapse occurred only 2 weeks ago on New Years Day, 2016. The collapse swallowed 26 acres of volcanic bench and 4 acres of the lava fields into the ocean. We were walking adjacent to that area, and I noticed that Bruce was tapping the lava field with his umbrella. I was laughing to myself because it looked like some form of primitive seismic testing. It was not quite as funny when I queried Bruce, and he told me he was listening for hollow reverberations, which may indicate a collapse or unstable ground. He was serious, and told me the story of how this process had literally saved his life before. I must have had a look of concern on my face, but Bruce showed me the shaka gesture to instill some semblance of calm within me.  We continued to approach the plume. It was completely dark out, and the silica glass on the lava field was extremely slippery. I considered everything that could go wrong, and started to question the sanity of this endeavor, but the thrill of seeing the lava kept my adrenaline pumping. When we looked over the 80’ cliff, all we could see was a plume of white smoke, and I was disappointed. Then, the wind shifted slightly, and revealed a huge gush of lava pumping out of the cliff like a fire hose.