Woman's body found off Kalapana

[anony_mouse]

quote:

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Originally posted by bluesboy

I'm just curious, when did the lava tours start? I don't remember them happening when the flow was closer to the chain of craters end. I also did not notice or hear of tours much when it shifted towards the kalapana end. Not exactly sure when that was, maybe 2007? Then there was that whole period with the county viewing area and the yellow brick road, which was all highly regulated and organized, by what seemed like mainly local Hawaiians. That seemed to be a very well run affair with lots of good vibes. Then in 2010 I believe, the flow shifted even closer to kalapana, taking out the kipuka with the old jeep trail, some house in kalapana gardens, foxes landing, and other sections of that kipuka, almost reaching auntie kaawaloa's house. (That entire kipuka is called a horst by the way, which is a coastal geologic feature which describes a land facing fault. It's called the hakuma Horst and is the reason that kipuka survived the flows back in the 90s). After that series of flows is when the security seemed to change and the viewing became poor. That's when it seemed to me that the tours started up, possibly by some legal precedent that allowed then to take place, whereas before they could not. From what I understand about where the 10 acre parcel was, it seemed to be right near the Horst, closest to the lava field - a fairly advantageous place given the flow maps at the time, in addition to the longstanding history of kalapana.

Can anyone provide accurate clarification?

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To the best of my knowledge, there were not very many tours prior to the old ocean entry flow. As I stated in a much earlier comment (pg. 36)the owner of the company that is presently known as KCT, formerly known in the past as "the mean/local guide", ran most of the big tours.

When I began going to the lava for my own personal hobby, or to assist others in non-profit tours, there were only small handful of other tours that were active. They were mostly unlicensed, ill-organized, and generally conducted financially "under-the-table".

There were also active boat tours being done during this time, but I can't say whether they were "bootlegging" their trips in a similar fashion to the land tours or not. At that time, it was an extremely lucrative business for all, and well-guarded by "local" bullies once the Hawaii county guard clocked out.

Everything I've said pertains to 2007-2008. Prior to that, I have no knowledge.