As a dramatic nine-month run of lava flow from Kilauea Volcano’s Puu Oo cone slowed to a trickle last month, so did visitor traffic.
Earlier this year, when an ocean-entry flow at Kupapau produced a massive gas plume just outside the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park boundary, up to 1,500 visitors would turn up at the Kalapana public viewing area managed by Hawaii County.
Since the ocean entry halted Aug. 20, the visitor count has dropped to about 300, said David Taylor, a security supervisor at Kalapana Lava Viewing Area, near the end of Highway 130 in lower Puna.
The slowdown has also affected area businesses.
When the ocean-entry flow was yielding spectacular photos and video footage, Lava Ocean Tours, for example, was offering boat tours three times a day six days a week. The outfit now offers one tour on Mondays and Fridays to watch the lava flow on the land.
Sally Pool, who handles reservations for Lava Ocean Tours, said business "really depends on Mother Nature and how good a show she can give us."
At Paulo’s Bistro on Pahoa Village Road, manager Claudio Battaglia said, "We are hit badly," and estimated a drop in dining traffic of about 75 percent.
Lava flows from Puu Oo started in 1983 and initially reached the ocean in 1986, said Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologist Janet Babb. Since then lava from Kilauea has poured into the ocean between 70 and 75 percent of the time.
Noting that the flow has paused many times, Babb said, an ocean entry will likely recur someday.
Taylor echoed that sentiment: "We know it’s coming again. This thing is definitely not over."
The ongoing Puu Oo eruption, at the volcano’s east rift zone, ranks among the longest-lasting Hawaii eruptions in recorded history.
The first written accounts of eruptions in Hawaii date back to the 1820s, when American missionaries arrived on Hawaii island.
Currently the volcano’s active flows on land are inaccessible for viewing. However, visitors can see a nighttime glow from Halemaumau Crater, near the Jaggar Museum at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Since 2008 a lava lake has been swirling beneath a crack in the earth at the crater, Kilauea’s summit caldera.
