We took a boat for about half an hour along the coast near Kalapana. The trip is short on paper. On the water, with everyone quiet and holding on to something, it felt considerably longer than that.
Heat comes off a lava flow in a way you feel before you understand it. We kept our distance the whole time. Nobody on board asked to get closer. That surprised me then. It does not now.
The rest of the trip moved at another speed entirely. I based myself near Kailua-Kona and did very little for several days, mostly driving and stopping. The weather changed from one side of a valley to the next.
I had expected the volcano to be the whole story of the trip. It was only a part of it. What I remember is the time between places, and how quiet the coast was a few miles further along.
