[IntrepBerkExplorer]

My film “Lava Luau” can be seen on the web if you have a high speed internet connection. It features five islands: The Big Island of Hawaii, with Volcanoes National Park; Maui, including whale watching and the Haleakala Crater; Molokai and its historic leper colony; Oahu with the Arizona Memorial and Diamond Head; plus Kauai’s Waimea Canyon and a helicopter ride over this most beautiful island.

“Lava Luau” is a free, non-commercial, streaming video on the Windows Media Player. No ads and no strings attached. I sell absolutely nothing.

My video site is:

http://www.geocities.com/intrepidber...rer/Video.html

The brand new gallery of Hawaii still photos can be viewed with any modem at:

http://www.geocities.com/intrepidber...r/Page13D.html

There are 30 of my other amateur travel videos on-line covering all seven continents, including Antarctica, Japan, Australia, Mayan Pyramids, Africa, China, Bali, and Russia.

The planet is yours, including my Home Page giant galaxy of still pictures, which you can view with any modem, at:

http://www.geocities.com/intrepidberkeleyexplorer/

The Intrepid Berkeley Explorer

[NewZealandGuide]

Thats awesome getting so close to the volcano like that, were you just lucky or is that one constantly erupting?

[IntrepBerkExplorer]

NewZealandGuide,

That amounted to pure luck. The volcano was in a phase lasting for quite a while in which lava reached the sea. I just happened to be on the Big Island at the correct time in late January 1993.

If you watch the film carefully, there are idiots right on top of where the danger is. They can be seen running away from plumes of hot ash.

I am actually much further back, and quite safe from the lava. But putting the video camera on the ground, with an attachment that doubled it's power to zoom in, gave me a picture that was entirely steady and, after much practice, aimed exactly where the action was.

Hours went by as I waited for semi-darkness to produce those stunning colors of the lava plume.

The actual danger was that I needed some light to avoid breaking a leg on the rugged ground, full of holes, which stood between my perch and the road where I had left the rental car. After that final shot, I evacuated the area very carefully before it was pitch dark. The bed and breakfast place in Volcano had given me a small flashlight, which was useless. I felt fortunate to reach the road.

The Intrepid Berkeley Explorer