Well, the Silver Whisper has docked at Pier 1 in the Port of Hilo.  Waved HI! to Captain Julian Albici from my veranda. Tours are in the $500 range, and I've seen a dozen eruptions in my life.  On the other hand, can you believe this timing?  From Google AI: Kīlauea volcano is currently experiencing precursory activity and overflowing lava at the Halemaʻumaʻu summit crater as scientists monitor the buildup to episode 55 , according to the U.S. Geological Survey - USGS . [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Current Activity and Status Alert Level: The U.S. Geological Survey has set the volcano alert level to WATCH and the aviation color code to ORANGE . [ 1 , 2 ] Summit Overflows: Low-level eruptive activity and repeated overflows from the north vent in the Halemaʻumaʻu crater began on September 7, with activity continuing into September 10. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Lava Flows: Two primary lava flows formed from recent overflows, with one traveling about one kilometer southwest and another...

Time  magazine this morning had this article:   What are the Five Strongest Earthquakes Ever Recorded? #6 was, of course, that massive Russian Kamchatka earthquake of 8.8 magnitude just experienced at 8:25AM local time on July 30.  Amazingly enough, there was only one death, but this was a woman in Japan while evacuating.  So there was none caused by the earthquake itself.   There was another 8.8 earthquake,  Chile in 2010 , which killed around 600, including 25 still missing.  So there is a tie for #6.  I happened to be in Amsterdam, Netherlands that day, but still wrote an article for the Huffington Post entitled  Hawaii Tsunami?   You can click on that link to read the whole article, but I will provide a beginning here: I'm on an around the world odyssey, which you can follow through my   HuffPost postings . Well, my most exciting day is happening right in front of me watching the 8.8 Chile earthquake cataclysm on ...