Lava boat tour

Posted on: 2018/07/26

Overall, the trip was outstanding. The views were great...a once in a lifetime opportunity. I would recommend this tour to anyone that doesn’t get sea sick.
The only reason I gave 4 rather than 5 stars is I grew up on the Pacific Ocean and have piloted 16’ boat through much choppier waters than we saw. The tour advertises you WILL get wet, and you WILL “feel” the ride, and our captain MADE sure each of us did just that. Unnecessary bottoming out of the boat, turning into waves to drench the passengers and speeding into wave swells made an awesome, incredible trip just good. Speaking to my wife, and several other families that we met on the boat afterward, they all had the same independent view that the captain and crew intentionally made the ride tougher and drenched the passengers to “live up” to their online advertising.
About two weeks prior to our trip, the “lava bomb” was all over the news(yes, it was the same company) and it was well documented that the captains needed to stay at least 900 feet away from lava flowing into the ocean per US coast guard regulations. You’d think that with the recent accident, the captain would’ve been much more safety conscious than what was described above, as well as getting within 150-200 feet on numerous occasions.