Pohoiki Lava Tours

I don’t get it! I’m born and raised on the Hilo side of the big island. Okay, I’ve been living in Honolulu for some time now but I do get back to Hilo for regular visits… My most recent visit to the big island taught me that I must live under a rock (and I don’t mean lava rock) because I never NEVER stopped in at the Pohoiki Beach Park which is the start of the Pohoiki Lava Tours.
The Lava Tours were not running… I guess because of the present eruptions… but what I saw was Mother Nature and Madame Pele at their best.
And the beach area was beautiful; blue waters with white crested waves with little pavilions where people bring their grills and beach chairs to soak in the sun, sea and comradarie. A must repeat for myself and a must do for you if you’ve never been

Captain Melvin Brown is fantastic! His rates are better than any of the other tour operators we paid $ 120 per person, He’s experienced (which you want when you’re going out to visit a live volcano from a small boat i.e. putting you life in the hands of a total stranger. We learned Melvin has been fishing these waters for 40 + years and has saved other boats when they get into trouble on the rough waters. This is a no frills kind of operation, very mom and pop so don’t be alarmed by the casual way they handle reservations. Often they wait to see if the waters are calm enough to go out and they try to get 4 people signed up for each time slot. If you make a reservation, they will be on time, and well prepared. By far the best way to see the lava!

We were in Hawaii Sept 2010. Wanted to see the lava flow, so went to the Kalapana viewing area. Saw videos of lava flowing into the ocean & thats what we wanted to do. It was 8:00pm and we started talking to the tour operators, we wanted to go that nite itself & most of them were done for the nite and next tour was 5:00am. Through contact of a contact, we found Melvin Brown (captain of Pohoiki Lava Tours)
We left from Isaac Hale Park. It was another adventure finding this place in the dark.
At 9:30pm we were on a boat with Melvin off to see Lava flow into the ocean. Melvin took us sooo close to the flows and we stopped at multiple spots and just watched the flow. Melvin was in no rush & waited for us to say when we were ready to head back.
We got back at 11:30pm & had a 3 hour drive back to Kona. Melvin was kind enough to offer us his couch so we would not have to drive back or find a motel that late.
All in all. 5 stars for :
1) From time we spoke to him, to time we were on the boat, less than1 hour
2) No rushing, take your time to enjoy the lava flow
3) Just a great guy
4) Very reasonable prices compared to other boat tours ($ 130/​per person)
Additional phone number: (808) 937‑0012