Close-up view of Pele's wrath

So the last two weeks I was on the island of Hawaii and my husband, his parents and I decided to do a 2-day, 1-night trip over to Hilo in order to see Mt Kilauea's current lava flow (which you can currently only see well from the water). Happening upon Lava Ocean Adventures, we decided to do the Sunrise Lava Tour.The tour was well worth it and our pictures in no way do it justice. You are so close to the lava, the air is warm and the boat captain takes you through a ride in the mist. The only pictures that really came out were these two (probably the farthest away the boat was from the lava and after sunrise), but the pictures on Lava Ocean Adventures home page (on the right side, top two) are what it really looked like when we were there.
They get you so close to the lava flow, I almost felt like I could use a yardstick to touch it. Now my in-laws have seen just about all of the flows since 1981, so this might not have been quite as neat when they could walk up to the flow, drop a coin, and watch it melt, but it was still a great experience. If you are out in Hawaii anytime soon, I fully recommend looking this small boat crew up.

For more reading on Pele's story, there is a good abbreviated version here and the Volcanoes National Park has some very interesting and up-to-date information on both the Volcanoes and their legends.