Kilauea by Helicopter

I wish I had new words.....seriously, this is how I feel right now as I sit down to right about this experience.

I've been following Kilauea online since it erupted, yet nothing prepared me for the actual sighting.

Initially the thrill was just being in a chopper.... the take off...the ocean... the boats......and then she, Esther, our pilot, slowly drew up to the sighting of the erupting fissure, a fissure which had grown tall enough to now be given it's own name. It was a sight, or rather a feeling that's hard to articulate.

I was just spellbound, breathless almost I think....goosebumps ..I think my eyes teared up too....was dumbstruck...literally, just couldn't talk .....it was more of a gut level feeling, a bodily reaction so to say.....face to face with something awe inspiring and overwhelming. 

I think it was about being witness to one of the most primordial forces of nature, raw and fierce. Molten lava pouring out and the flowing river of fire...a force that can only evoke awe. And that's when you realize that any other such force of nature is normally spread out and you don't get to see it's origin or core, like there's no one place it's focused on, as it is in a volcano. 

Plus knowing this is in a sense creation......new land getting created.......likely to last millions of years, and to be watching it happen. There's also something lethal about it's singularity and ferocity......plus the perspective of destruction and creation.

It was all of that that came together to create that experience.

The experience in pictures:

At the reception. 

Waiting for our helicopter. Kamlesh aunty and diksha...and Sailesh and Marion Joe.

As we took off

The coastline

Leveling with the clouds :)

The lave flow

The force and speed with which it's flowing out is quite scary...just guzzling out

These areas have all been evacuated

The lava river

Where the lava river flows into the sea

Deech in flight, Esther our pilot and Sailesh behind

Another picture of where the lava is flowing into the water. You can distinctly smell the sulphur in the air.

Way back we flow over the river Wailuku, and some of the waterfalls

A waterfall

More waterfalls from the air

Getting off

A picture with the chopper

Kamlesh aunty, for the insane experience.....thanks, thanks, thanks.... for the chopper treat, for having inspired and insisted that we come to Hawaii....and for thus enabling this once in a life time experience.