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Pete,

Yes he did, lol.

We stayed in the Kauai Beach Villas in Lihue. It was a central location, on the beach, a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo and it had a washer dryer in the unit that really cut down on dragging so much luggage across the states and half the Pacific. The unit was H4. Plus the complex was just 3 stories.

I chose this location because my husband was attending a conference at the Marriot in Lihue. Which other posters had advised the beach was man made and the sand got everywhere.

We had stayed in a resort each time we had been to Hawaii in past years and now it is only condos for us.

Next year is Maui and I have got a condo already.

I will check back to see how you are doing.

Karin

We'll be in the Volcano area in one week. I understand that the flow changes daily.

I read that the NPS closed some portions of the VNP. I'm concerned also since we have 3 nights at Kilauea lodge and hopefully the air quality will be much better by then and we can be outdoors and (hopefully) do some hiking. It's not look promising though.

Question....Is the viewing area still open and is lava still flowing into the sea?

Reply to adventureseeker,
Answer to ((?))
Yes and Yes. :S-

You can get daily lava flow updates by calling 1-808-961-8093.

Kileaua spewing ash today, fortunate to be back on the mainland #o:
http://www.kitv.com/news/15696915/detail.html

I went out to the viewing area Thursday night. Awesome! It's about a mile closer from where I saw the surface flows two weeks ago, so at most it's only a 30-45 minute easy walk to view.

The lava is still flowing strong into the ocean. Went out last night and it was incredible! There were even waterspouts in the ocean between the two ocean entry points. Here's some pics:
http://tinyurl.com/4zzobl

http://tinyurl.com/3g2vqz

http://tinyurl.com/4kmy6b

http://tinyurl.com/3smoro

http://tinyurl.com/3g2vqz

Reply to matnikstym, nice ((P))!

BTW, how's the ash ((?)), any fallout:?

John~Thanks! Not on my side(Pahoa). Pahala is getting the ash and Kona the vog. Supposedly the sulfur dioxide levels dropped today.

Matnikstym, great pix!! Thanks for posting. Of the 5 posted yesterday, the 4th one of the water spout looks like a Kansas tornado.

Wish I was there, lava flow up close is the one thing we really wanted to see when there in '06 and didn't get to. I'll just live it thru you, keep posting when you get more.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the pics are amazing but the waterspout is incredible. We're going to Oahu the end of May and have been debating a day trip to see the lava. Thanks so much for sharing.

Aloha,

We're just back from Hawaii and went to the lava viewing area on 4/1/08.

There was no visible surface lava (boy, that would have been a show....I was hoping to capture the same photos as the OP). We arrived about an hour before sunset (around 4:45pm) and stayed until 8pm.

We could see plumes of white smoke from 3 distinct areas where the lava was pouring into the sea. As the sun set and the sky grew darker, we saw orange-red bursts of lava in the plumes and from the rocks where the lava was entering the sea. VERY dramatic. At night there were millions of stars in the sky...so worth the drive!

The viewing area is about 50-75 feet away from the closest lava entry area into the ocean. The viewing area was very busy as people were constantly coming and going for the next 3 hours. If you plan to stay for awhile, bring a towel or blanket to sit on. We found a great spot in the very front and sat on the old hardened lava, but had to constantly adjust ourselves to make it comfy.

Keep your fingers crossed as the flow can change daily or even hourly.

Also, go to the Volcanoes Park to see the incredible plume of smoke/ash coming out of the Halema'u ma'u crater which was fascinating. We did an incredible (and easy) 2 hour hike (Pu'u Huluhulu Cinder Cone Hike) across forests and barren lava fields in the park to the top of an old cinder cone which had an amazing view of Pu'u O'o crater which was smoking in the distance on one side and the plume from Halema'u ma'u crater on the other side. It was an awesome site and a cloudy day for us. I can only imagine how incredible it would look on a clear day.

Mahalo to matnikstym for giving great advice. We made sure to park in the turnaround parking area which avoided the much longer walk back to the car.