From there, the pilot took us right down to the edge of the ocean to see where the active flow (which runs mostly under the cover of older, hardened lava), emerges to drop into the sea, setting off big clouds of steam and constantly reshaping the shoreline.




Steam rises where lava meets the Pacific.




With the three helicopters from our tour company all in the air at once, and the hour-long flight winding down after a visit to some clusters of waterfalls to the west of Hilo leading us all back towards the airport at once, it was inevitable that all the helos over Hilo would end up in the same piece of Hawaiian sky. (You can see one of the sister aircraft through the centre windscreen.)




Sadly, it was time to end the flight. Neither Emma nor I had been in a helicopter before, but we both found it quite fun and comfortable. I had expected a lot of vibration, but in fact it was quite smooth and not unlike some of my adventures in Cessnas.

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