Time to begin discussing Puna lava viewing site

[randomq]

MarkD, sounds like more jobs! At $500 a head we can afford a few.

[kalakoa]

Probably the only way to make this work is grant the new lava fields to the Feds as an extension to the HVNP, that way they can allow tourists without County "assistance".

Of course, the lava will be long cold before the studies are complete...

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Remember the Big Island movie Black Widow starring Debra Winger?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-UCAQoJLKg

She meets a man who wanted to build a hotel with a volcano view. From what I recall, the County gave him permits...

[MarkD]

Wonder if there is any new info from county and state officials on the proposal to open a viewing site. Meanwhile we have this stunning lava river flowing to the sea.....

Saw a video clip posted here a couple days ago; at least 50 people were standing watching the river: a mix of residents, scientists and civil defense workers (judged by their garb).

There's apparently some 60-80 homes stretched along the north side of the river; residents have various ways to walk over and see the view.

Reports are that resident entry is tough; every person in the resident's vehicle is closely questioned as to why they are entering the area.

Heard from a reliable source that one homeowner is sneaking in lava viewers in the trunk of his car for $100 bucks a head. He then walks them out to view the lava river.

Sheesh it's just about as hard to view the lava river from the ground as it was to cross the Berlin Wall post WWII.

Meaning, according to another resident, the tourist helicopters are flying like crazy. Would tourist buses to a viewing site, which might reduce the number of helicopter flights, be something the community could tolerate?

[macuu222]

I went to the library in Pahoa about 8:00pm tonight to drop off my overdue book. I couldn't find a place to park. The parking lot was filled with tourists trying to get a good shot of fissure 8 and the red glow. Kaleo's was packed and the Bank of Hawaii parking lot was full. If anything...the lava flow seems to be good for business.

[Monkey C]

Maybe we could start doing tours to the shelters and the FEMA center too - just so tourists could have a look. There are already free shuttles ready to go. Whadda ya figure: disaster tour -hundred bucks a head?

[glinda]

Remember the Big Island movie...

If we’re going to mention all the B rated greats made on Hawaii and featuring our beloved volcano I would be remise not to take the opportunity to recommend When Time Ran Out… which, imo, is the best by far of all of them..

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081747/?re...lmg_act_24

But, more to the point of the topic.. what would be the drawbacks of encouraging county/state to open up a viewing area at the flow’s edge at the end of Red Road?

Besides the impacts on the communities sightseers would pass through to get there this seems to me to be the best possible viewing area that could accommodate that sort of activity without too great an impact on others.

From a safety point of view any changes up by the vent could be immediately threatening to the people that are there, With those fast moving flows if the levee were to break things could get dicey fast. As such any change could immediately turn the Pahoa area into an emergency oriented situation that is best not burdened unnecessarily. Down in Kapoho the lava is moving much slower and the grade is less and all told is a much safer place for people to enjoy viewing the eruption without inconveniencing others.

Also, if the county would allow it, there is room for all the commerce that grew up in Kalapana. It could be a win win situation, all but for the folks in Waa Waa, who probably are currently loving the solitude that the closure of four corners affords them. But OMG the viewing from there must be world class. The wide open landscape, the weather, the air, a view up to the vent and down to the ocean entry, people would have a truly great experience in relative safety and no real adverse effect on those otherwise impacted by the eruption.

Would the view be obstructed by Puu Kuku and Kukae? Could a viewing area be created there? Are there cultural issues? Burial grounds? Land ownership issues? I would not like to offend, but think the opportunity to see, to feel, to smell and hear the eruption is one we should be looking for ways to share. Is there something wrong with my thinking?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I read this on Hawaii News Now:

In the past 10 days, about a dozen people have been cited for loitering in lava zones, some of whom are eligible to be disciplined under new guidelines established by Gov. David Ige earlier this month. Of those cited, four were in Hawaiian Paradise Park, Lava Tree State Park, three at Paakili, and several others in the Mackenzie State Recreation Area.

Does anyone know how you can get arrested in HPP for loitering in a lava zone?
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38441...00-penalty

I alternate between thinking of the planet as home — dear and familiar stone hearth and garden — and as a hard land of exile in which we are all sojourners. Today I favor the latter view. The word “sojourner”... invokes a nomadic people’s sense of vagrancy, a praying people’s knowledge of estrangement, a thinking people’s intuition of sharp loss: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” - Annie Dillard

[reni]

Must be incorrect!!! I sent them an email news@hawaiinewsnow.com

[randomq]

Well, it is a "lava zone", 3 to be exact...